Possession Grammar?

Question

How do you write this?

Mary's, the mother's, dog is brown.
Mary's, the mother, dog is brown.
...or something else?

Or does it never work, and I should just write "The dog of Mary, the mother, is brown." ?

Okay...fine...what if it was "Mary, the artist"... I don't want the possession to be of Mary but rather of the dog!

And by the way, you forgot a comma after mother and after Mary.

ML--In my situation, Mary is the name of the mother, not the dog. so your appositive is wrong in this case.

nitesong-thank you!

I should've looked it up before..it is interesting to see how few people know this though!

I found that when a possessive noun is followed by an appositive, the apostrophe +s is added to the appositive, not the noun. and we drop the comma that follows.

We must get Joe Bidwell, the family attorney's signature.

Therefore,
Mary, the mother's dog is brown.

Answer 1

It is awkward written that way. It may be better to use two sentences : Mary's dog is brown. Mary is the mother. or-- Mary is the mother; her dog is brown.

If this sentence is used where the reader already knows who Mary is, then leave "the mother" part off. Mary's dog is brown.

Answer 2

Bill's mother mary has a brown dog.

Answer 3

Mary,the mother's dog, is brown.