This morning, I started copying the lyrics in the CD booklet from
The Beatles into Google Documents so that I can access them more easily. I was surprised to find that a line in "Back in the U.S.S.R." is formatted as "Let me hear your balalaika's ringing out." I'd always understood it as "Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out," but seeing it typed made me realize that it can be understood three different ways:
"Let me hear your balalaika's ringing out" (where "ringing out" is a gerund and "balalaika" [singular] is a possessive noun)
"Let me hear your balalaikas' ringing out" (where "ringing out" is a gerund and "balalaikas" [plural] is a possessive noun)
"Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out" (where "ringing out" is a participle modifying "balalaikas," which is the direct object of "hear")
