Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[whiffycat]

Is there a plural for "lifetime"?

The sentences I'm thinking of are: My grandparents are old. They have been through many hardships in their lifetimes.

Should I use "lifetime" or "lifetimes"?

Thanks in advance.

[dragn]

Hi Whiffycat,

Interesting question. Others may have a slightly different take on this, but here's my sense of it.

First of all, let's settle the first issue. The plural of lifetime is lifetimes. It is a countable noun.

To be honest, I would feel most comfortable using lives here:

My grandparents are old. They have been through many hardships in/during their lives.

The perceived differences in using life/lives/lifetime/lifetimes, whatever they may be, constitute one of those gray slippery areas in English where no matter what you say, someone will disagree or offer a counterexample. So, there's really not much to be gained by my trying to "explain" my word choice (and believe me, I tried for about 20 minutes and finally gave up in despair). But that's what I would say.

dragn

[whiffycat]

Thanks for spending all that time, dragn!
I have been confused for a long time about this. I thought it should be "lifetime" because I thought the usage was similar that of their "generation", because their lives happened at around the same time.

I like your suggestion, but of course this question will stick in my mind.

Thanks very much.

[dragn]