Usage singular vs plural for "in their hands" and "on their face"
Considering that Sam and his brother are waiting together for a movie to start, and each of them has a sugar candy in their hand, and each of them smiles… what will be the most grammatically correct way to say:
Sam and his brother used to wait with a sugar candy in their hand and a smile on their face.
Sam and his brother used to wait with sugar candies in their hands and a smile on their face.
Sam and his brother used to wait with sugar candies in their hands and smiles on their face.
Sam and his brother used to wait with sugar candies in their hands and smiles on their faces.
Tnx!
Solution 1:
The fact that they are both male makes it simpler.
Barring context that hasn't been provided, I would phrase it in the following way:
Sam and his brother used to wait, each with a sugar candy in his hand and a smile on his face.
From a comment, I was asked what if it were a brother and sister.
If we don't specify that each has a candy in one hand (which the first sentence in the question seems to imply), then the form of the fourth sentence in the question will work:
Sam and his sister used to wait with sugar candies in their hands and smiles on their faces.
If the singular gender-neutral third person is allowed, then the following can be used:
Sam and his sister used to wait, each with a sugar candy in hand and a smile on their face.
Note that we can say "in hand" rather than "in a hand" because there is only a single sugar candy, so it would be held in just one hand.
This, however, is awkward. The use of their face doesn't sound entirely natural.
If we specify one candy and one hand and the singular gender-neutral third person is not allowed, the sentence can be easily reworded if face is dropped:
Sam and his sister used to wait, each with a sugar candy in hand and a smile.
Finally, the sentence can be extended so as not to drop any element:
Sam and his sister used to wait, each with a sugar candy in hand and both with smiles on their faces.