Extract:
What word is best to substitute for the underlined words in the following sentence?
The doctor and I went over the doctor’s and my notes.
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A
his
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B
their
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C
our
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D
mine
The word "our" best substitutes for "the doctor's and my" because the possessive pronoun expresses shared ownership between two people.
A) his
"His" is singular masculine possessive—cannot express shared ownership between doctor and speaker. Pronoun number and inclusivity don't match the compound possession.
B) their
"Their" is plural possessive—incorrect number for two people when first-person inclusion is specified. "Their" excludes the speaker from the possession group.
C) our
"Our" is first-person plural possessive correctly expressing shared ownership between the speaker and another person (the doctor). Compound possession with "my" always converts to "our" when joined with another possessor.
D) mine
"Mine" is absolute possessive pronoun used without a following noun ("The notes are mine"). It cannot modify "notes" directly—"mine notes" is ungrammatical; dependent possessive "our" is required.
Conclusion
Compound possession joining first-person "my" with another possessor ("the doctor's") requires conversion to first-person plural "our" to express shared ownership. This grammatical rule ensures pronoun inclusivity matches the dual ownership described.