P plhbg1 Forum Master Elite Joined Aug 30, 2020 Posts 16,089 Solutions 48 Reaction 9,197 Points 4,434 Jul 5, 2023 #1 The sentence should read, “Some husbands do not approve of their wives’ having jobs.” Notice the possessive apostrophe appended to the noun “wives.” Why? Because the noun before a gerund acquires (and requires) an apostrophe to show possession. So it is a grammatical error in the original example sentence to omit the possessive apostrophe at the end of the noun “wives.”
The sentence should read, “Some husbands do not approve of their wives’ having jobs.” Notice the possessive apostrophe appended to the noun “wives.” Why? Because the noun before a gerund acquires (and requires) an apostrophe to show possession. So it is a grammatical error in the original example sentence to omit the possessive apostrophe at the end of the noun “wives.”