Possessive case

Use:

1.

a) We often add the possessive’s(omit the apostrophe and the “s”) to personal nouns (e.g. Sally Andrew) to show the relationship of the person to smth or someone else.

Sally’s motorbike (a motorbike which belongs to Sally).

Andrew’s bedroom (the bedroom where Andrew sleeps).

My sister’s school (the school which my sister goes to).

We also use the possessive’s with personal indefinite pronouns e.g. someone, nobody’s.

someone's passport nobody’s problem

b) We can also use the possessive’s with the names of animals.

a dog’s life the cat’s milk

c) We can use the possessive’s with a group of people or with a place where people live, work, etc.

the company’s office the club’s rules

the world’s problem London’s traffic

d) We also use the possessive’s in some expressions of time.

yesterday’s newspaper last week’s football match

next day’s plans

We use the possessive’s with periods of time.

a week’s holiday to days’ work.

Form

a) After a singular noun, we add ’s

my father’s car

Sally’s clothes

b) After a plural noun ending in –s, we add only ’

my parents’ car

the ladies’ clothes

c) After a plural noun not ending in -s , we add ’s

men’s car

children’s clothes

d) We sometimes just add ’ to a singular noun ending in –s.

Sherlock Holmes’ best friend Archimedes’ Law.

But it is more common to add ’s

Mrs. Jones’s husband Chris’s idea

e) We can add the possessive’s to a whole phrase.

Sue and Frank’s daughter

But with a longer phrase, we often use … of … instead e.g. the daughter of the Australian couple who live next door.

f) We can also use the possessive’s without a following noun (when it is clear what or who we are talking about)

My car is next to Ken’s (= … next to Ken’s car)

We often talk about shops, surgeries, etc. in this way.

• She has just been to the hairdresser’s.

• I went to the doctor’s yesterday.

3.

a) We normally use … of … with things.

the name of the school

the middle of the book

the front of the car

the smell of the food

b) We often use … of … instead of ’s with longer phrases.

• Yesterday I met the daughter of the Australian couple who live next door. (Instead of: Yesterday I met the Australian couple who live next door’s daughter.)

4. Double possessive

We can use … of … and a possessive form in a ‘double possessive’.

… of … + possessive

• Sarah is a friend of Simon’s (= one of Simon’s friends)

• A cousin of mine is coming to visit me. (= one of my cousins).

• Sue is having lunch with some colleagues of hers. (= some of her colleagues).

Note that after of we can use a possessive pronoun e.g. mine, hers etc. not a personal pronoun e.g. me, her, etc.

Exercise 1

* Complete the sentences using the correct form of the possessive’s.

Example:

What is your friend’s name?

1. Sarah found somebody – credit cards in the street.

2. The Eiffel Tower is Paris – most famous landmark.

3. The boys – bedroom has just been painted.

4. I read about a murder in this morning – newspaper.

5. Can you borrow your parents – car at the weekend?

6. I need to get some medicine. I s there a chemist – near here?

Exercise 2

* Complete the sentences. Use the words in brackets with the possessive’s or …of …, as in the examples.

Examples:

Have you seen Steven Spielberg’s new film? (the new film / Steven Spielberg)

Have you repair the wheel of the bicycle? (the wheel / the bicycle)

1. We had to leave the cinema early so we didn’t see _____. (the end / the film).

2. We met Sue and Frank at _________ . (the party / Sarah).

3. My flat is on _______ . (the top floor / the house).

4. The bus crashed into ________ . (the back / my car).

5. We heart the news from _________ . (a friend / the woman who works in the post office).

6. There’s a hospital at _________ . (the end / this road).

7. I’ve spoken to _________ . (the parents / the girls).

8. The police want to interview _______ . (the manager / the Black Cat Club).

Exercise 3

* Look at the family tree. Make sentences using the possessive’s and the words in the box.

Examples:

Kate – Ken

Kate is Ken’s wife

Simon and Andrew are Sally’s brothers.

Gloria – Ken

Gloria is Ken’s sister-in-law.

C harles = Daisy

Ken = Kate George = Gloria

Sally Simon Andrew Chris Linda

1. Gloria – Chris and Linda

2. Linda – Chris

3. George – Chris and Linda

4. Chris – George and Gloria

5. Charles – Ken

6. Daisy – Linda and Chris

7. Kate – Chris and Linda

8. Sally, Simon and Andrew – Chris and Linda

mother father sister

son aunt grandmother

sister-in-law father-in-law cousin

Exercise 4

In this exercise you have to join two nouns. Sometimes you have to use an apostrophe (’), with or without s Sometimes you have to use … of …

Examples: the door / the room the door of the room

the mother / Ann Ann’s mother

1. the camera / Tom _________ 5) the newspaper / today ___________

2. the eyes / the cat __________ 6) the toys / the children ___________

3. the top / the page __________ 7) the names / your wife ___________

4. the daughter / charts ______ 8) the name / this street ____________

9) the name / the man I saw you with yesterday _____________

10) the new manager / the company ___________

11) the result / the football match _____________

12) the car / Mike’s parents __________________

13) the birthday / my father __________________

14) the new headmaster / the school ___________

15) the garden / our neighbours ___________

16) the ground floor / the building _________

17) the children / Don and Mary ___________

18) the economic policy / the government ______________

19) the husband / the woman talking to Tom ____________

20) the house / my aunt and uncle ____________________

Exercise 5

Answer the questions using the words in brackets.

1) Whose watch is on the table? (my wife)

2) Whose name is Jane? (my daughter)

3) Whose name is Nick? (my son)

4) Whose flat is this? (my friends)

5) Whose documents are those? (my father)

6) Whose room is it? (my friends)

7) Whose friends are these? (my sister)

8) Whose books are these? (our students)/

Exercise 6

Translate into English.

1) Кімната вашого товариша велика? – Ні, вона маленька, але дуже світла. 2) Ви не відповіли на питання Бориса вчора. 3) Жінка вашого товариша добре розмовляє англійською мовою. 4) Чиї це документи? – Це документи нашого бухгалтера. 5) Ви знаєте бізнесменів цієї фірми? - Так. 6) Як звати вашого викладача? 7) Чий це комп’ютер? – Це комп’ютер мого батька. 8) Де я можу відшукати директора вашого коледжу?