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Possessive nouns express the idea of having (in a very general sense)
which exists between two nouns. Let us practise this grammar below. |
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APOSTROPHE 'S |
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We normally use a possessive (+ 's) when something belongs to a particular
person or thing, e.g. a person, an animal, an organization, group of people,
or a place.
With places we can also say, e.g. "Tomo Uno" is one of the most famous
restaurants in Buenos Aires. Check below... |
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1. |
I borrowed my father's car.
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2. |
I trod on the cat's tail.
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3. |
The company's head
office is in New York. |
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4. |
The government's decision has not been well received.
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5. |
"Reino del Sol" is one of Madrid's most famous restaurants. |
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If a name (or singular noun) finishes in s, we either add
s, e.g Chris's
book or put an apostrophe at the end of the word, e.g. Chris' book. With
plural nouns we put the apostrophe after the s, e.g. my friends'
house. With
irregular plurals which don't end in s {people, children,
men, etc.) we add s. If there are two people, we put the
s on the second name. |
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6. |
It's Chris's book. |
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7. |
It's my friends' wedding. |
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8. |
That's the children's room. |
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9. |
The blonde girl is Alex and Maria's daughter. |
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When s refers to "the house of" or "the shop of", we often omit the word
house or shop. |
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10. |
We had dinner at Pablo's last night. |
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11. |
My mother is at the hairdresser's
right now. |
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OF INSTEAD OF APOSTROPHE 'S |
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We normally use an of phrase, not s, with things or abstract nouns
especially when one thing is part of another. |
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1. |
Can you remember the name
of the film? |
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2. |
My brother lives at the end
of the
road. |
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3. |
The problems
of old age are many and varied. |
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We use of to express possession with a long phrase, e.g. NOT
my cousin in
Rome I told you about's sister . |
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4. |
Helen is the sister
of my cousin in Rome I told you about. |
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With friend, we often say a friend of + name / noun +
's. |
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5. |
Jim is a friend
of my brother's. |
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COMPOUND NOUNS |
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We use compound nouns, not possessive forms, to refer to people or things
in terms of what they are for, what they are made of, what work they do, or
what kind they are. The second noun is the main thing or person, and can be
singular or plural. The first noun, gives more information about the second
noun. It is usually singular, unless it has no singular form, e.g. clothes
shop; tin opener (an opener for tins); history teacher (a teacher of history). |
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NOTE: Compound nouns are usually two separate words, but they are occasionally
joined together as one word, e.g. sunglasses, bathroom or hyphenated, e.g.
house-husband, letter-box. |
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1. |
I need the
tin opener. Do you know where it is? |
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2. |
I bought a huge
flower pot in a
garden centre near my house. |
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3. |
My brother is a
company director and my sister is a
history teacher. |
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4. |
I opened the
car door, got in, and put on my
seat belt. |
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With containers, a compound noun (a wine bottle) focuses on the container
(usually empty), whereas the container + a possessive noun (a bottle of
wine) = focuses on the contents (the container is usually full). Other
common examples are a wine glass / a glass of wine; a jam jar
/ a jar of
jam; a petrol can / a can of petrol; a matchbox / a box of matches; etc. |
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5. |
There was a
wine bottle on the table and two empty
wine glasses. |
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On the next page you will be able to practise
this grammar. |
