Most of the girls stayed home during their pregnancy.

English translation: I think you can leave it

20:26 Feb 4, 2006
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Social Sciences - Anthropology / Teenage pregnancy
English term or phrase: Most of the girls stayed home during their pregnancy.
Two-part Question

Part I

Would this be the correct wording, or should it be "pregnancies" (which looks and sounds strange to me).

Part II

Would it simply be better to restructure the sentence and write: *Most of the girls stayed home while they were pregnant*?

Authoritative, well-reasoned answers appreciated.

Thank you.
Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 09:44
Selected answer:I think you can leave it
Explanation:
I am not 100% sure but another example would be
they stayed home during their illness (I don't think we would say illnesses- unless there was more than one type of illness)

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Note added at 14 mins (2006-02-04 20:41:28 GMT)
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Link - University of Michigan Health System ... Some studies have shown that women who exercise during their pregnancy are less likely to have complications ...
www.med.umich.edu/obgyn/smartmoms/exercise/
Selected response from:

RHELLER
United States
Local time: 07:44
Grading comment
Thank you, Rita. Thanks also to Cilian, Kenneth and SyB for your helpful responses.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
3 +15I think you can leave it
RHELLER
4 +12Most of the girls stayed home during pregnancy
Cilian O'Tuama
5pregnancies
SyB
3 +1...while pregant
Ken Cox


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +15
most of the girls stayed home during their pregnancy.
I think you can leave it


Explanation:
I am not 100% sure but another example would be
they stayed home during their illness (I don't think we would say illnesses- unless there was more than one type of illness)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 mins (2006-02-04 20:41:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Link - University of Michigan Health System ... Some studies have shown that women who exercise during their pregnancy are less likely to have complications ...
www.med.umich.edu/obgyn/smartmoms/exercise/

RHELLER
United States
Local time: 07:44
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you, Rita. Thanks also to Cilian, Kenneth and SyB for your helpful responses.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jack Doughty
3 mins
  -> thanks, Jack :-)

agree  Nesrin: For what it's worth, there are 450,000 Google hits for "their pregnancy" as opposed to 297,000 for "their pregnancies"
4 mins
  -> thanks, Nesrin :-)

agree  Kirill Semenov
19 mins
  -> hats off to you :-)

agree  Tony M: each girl only had one pregnancy. And I prefer 'during their...' to 'while they were...', as it emphasizes the time period, rather than the condition itself. You could possibly say 'confinement'?
24 mins
  -> that term is no longer used and no one stays home; in fact, the clothes show off rather than hide the pregnancy - the world is a changin' :-)

agree  Armorel Young: With Dusty - each girl had only one pregnancy (but not with D. on confinement - that is the time at which the baby is born, not the whole pregnancy.
28 mins
  -> thanks Armorel :-)

agree  Trudy Peters
41 mins
  -> thanks, Trudy :-)

agree  humbird
1 hr
  -> hello Susan!

agree  Premium✍️: They only have ONE pregnancy at a time. :-)
1 hr
  -> merci bien :-)

agree  Ken Cox: This strikes me as the most natural wording (at least for NA). You could omit 'their', but my mental ear wants to hear it. You might say 'for the duration of / during the term of their pregnancy', but IMO that just add words for a dubious benefit.
1 hr
  -> my mental ear (what is that ?) likes it too :-)

agree  Seema Ugrankar
3 hrs
  -> thanks, ugrankar :-)

agree  Sophia Finos (X)
4 hrs
  -> thanks, Sophia!

agree  Alfa Trans (X)
12 hrs

agree  Lori Dendy-Molz: Perfectly OK, but I'd probably go with Cilian's answer as well.
18 hrs

agree  Walter Landesman
20 hrs

agree  Romanian Translator (X)
2 days 1 hr
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24 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
most of the girls stayed home during their pregnancy.
pregnancies


Explanation:
Sorry to go against everyone's opinion, for it can create much confusion sometime, but as an English writer I would put -ies instead of -y. There is a rather simple explanation to this: since we are talking about different girls, thus different pregnancies, it should be their pregnancies. Leaving -y would not be a terrible thing because, as you probably noticed, most people cannot seem to figure out the difference, but still -ies would make it look better for people who are extremely sharp.

SyB
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Refugio: This does not refer to the individual pregnancy of each, but rather the state or condition of pregnancy. That's why Cilian's answere is the best.
53 mins
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26 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +12
most of the girls stayed home during their pregnancy.
Most of the girls stayed home during pregnancy


Explanation:
says it all IMO. Is it not clear that it's their own?

Cilian O'Tuama
Germany
Local time: 14:44
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Tony M: Yes, this avoids any question whatever of plural vs. singular!
1 min
  -> thanks - avoiding the issue wasn't my intention, it just sounds more natural to me this way

agree  juvera
14 mins

agree  Bianca Jacobsohn
32 mins

agree  Refugio: It also makes it clear that they are talking about the state or condition of pregnancy.
52 mins
  -> an unintended extra bonus ;-)

agree  Premium✍️: but the possessive adjective 'their' personalizes their state better.
1 hr
  -> we don't say "he shot himself in his foot", but that's neither here nor there 'cos we don't say "he shot himself in foot" either ;-)

agree  Nesrin
1 hr

agree  NancyLynn: that's what spontaneously came to mind - and as for confinement, what an old-fashioned term, glad it no longer applies as I'm 7 months into mine!
3 hrs

agree  Kurt Porter
12 hrs

agree  Ian M-H (X)
16 hrs

agree  Lori Dendy-Molz: don't see why 'their' is needed -- wouldn't make much sense to stay home for someone else's pregnancy, would it?
18 hrs

agree  Walter Landesman
20 hrs

agree  Sonia Soros
20 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
most of the girls stayed home during their pregnancy.
...while pregant


Explanation:
Another option. It depends a bit on the intended audience and register, but IMO 'during their pregnancy' is the most natural for a medium register, and it conveys the idea of 'for a length of time' better than 'while pregnant', which emphasises the condition.

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Note added at 1 hr (2006-02-04 22:22:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

damn!... make that 'pregnant''

Ken Cox
Local time: 14:44
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Walter Landesman
19 hrs
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