The category of case

English nouns denoting living beings (and some lifeless things) have two cases: the common case and the genitive case.

The Genitive

We show possession in English with the genitive form of a noun. We put the possessive before the noun it refers to: Frank’s car. Remember: add -‘s to any personal noun unless it is in the form of a plural ending in -s, in which case just add an apostrophe (‘). This means:

add -‘s to singular nouns and names not ending in -s: a boy’s cycle; Peter’s book;

add -‘s to singular nouns ending in -s: an actress’s life; a waitress’s job;

add -‘s to irregular plural nouns: children’s toys; the women’s circle; sheep’s wool;

add an apostrophe (‘) after the -s of regular plurals: the boys’ bags;

add -‘s to names ending in -s: Charles’s idea; St. James’s Park; Doris’s plans; famous names ending in -s just add (‘): Dickens’ novels;

add -‘s to the last element of the word group: my mother-in-law’s car, somebody else’s book, the man we saw yesterday’s hat.

When we want to show possession with things, we can use ‘of’: the leg of the table. But sometimes we use a compound noun instead of ‘of’: the table leg. We must use ‘of’ when we can’t form a compound noun: the top of the box (not ‘the box‘s top’).

Also we use -‘s and -s’ with some non-living things:

• Fixed phrases: the earth’s surface, journey’s end, the ship’s company.

• Time phrases (singular): an hour’s journey, a day’s work, a month’s salary.

• Time phrases (plural): two hours’ journey, three days’ work, four months’ salary.

• With nouns (substantivized adverbs) denoting time or distance: a moment’s delay, today’s newspaper, a mile’s distance.

• With nouns expressing space and weight, with the names of countries, cities and ships and with the nouns world, country, city, ship, nation, society: the river’s edge, Minsk’s sightseeing, world’s best museums, our country’s famous musicians, the ship’s crew, the nation’s wealth.

• With nouns denoting planets, etc.: the sun’s rays.

• We can use ‘s when the first noun is an organization: the government’s decision, the company’s success.

• The Genitive is used in some set expressions: for Heaven’s sake/for God’s sake, for goodness’ sake, at one’s wit’s end, a hair’s breadth, at a stone’s throw, in one’s mind’s eye, a pin’s head, to one’s heart’s contents, at one’s finger’s end, out of harm’s way, duty’s call, a needle’s point.

Sometimes we find the use of -‘s and of together. This is called double genitive. He was an old friend of Father’s (= one of Father’s friends).

We generally omit the noun after -‘s when referring to work-places, shops and houses: at the doctor’s rather than at the doctor’s surgery, my mother’s rather than my mother’s house.

Exercise 32. Use the nouns in the possessive case:

1) the umbrella of Polly; 2) the newspaper of last Friday; 3) the title of the book; 4) the photo of her daughter; 5) the economy of the country; 6) the car of the Smiths; 7) the decision of the government; 8) the hobby of my husband; 9) the work of the next month; 10) the house of my sister-in-law; 11) the holiday of two months; 12) the bedroom of my sons; 13) the wedding of Elena and Richard; 14) the copy-books of the children; 15) the works of A. Einstein.

Exercise 33. Rewrite the following in the correct possessive form.

Table 2

1	the child – the toys ...the child’s toys...	16	the temperature – the water
2	the women – the clothes	17	Brian and Jack – the father
3	the cats – the kittens	18	Katy and Sarah – the cars
4	the fridge – the door	19	a flight – eight hours
5	my parents – the car	20	Emily – the hair
6	the roof – the house	21	the doctors – the conference
7	the man – the trousers	22	the lid – the box
8	the dogs – the kennels	23	the twins – the mother
9	the teachers – the room	24	my father-in-law – the garden
10	the woman – the money	25	the yacht – my brother's friend
11	the men – the changing rooms	26	the boy – the shirt
12	the train – the windows	27	my sister's husband – the office
13	the old man – the wheelchair	28	the apples – the price
14	the rules – the club	29	the old woman – the umbrella
15	the girl – the eyes	30	a walk – two miles

Exercise 34. Find the word which should not be in the sentence.

1. We all us went to see a film last night. 2. She always enjoys buying them gifts for her family. 3. They admire each the other a lot. 4. They are both of very happy about the news. 5. Every one child has to be at school by nine o’clock. 6. She stood herself up and went to the front of the classroom. 7. Jenny hadn’t realized how far away her own friend lived. 8. I spent the whole of day writing letters. 9. My brother he works in a bank. 10. She likes being by herself own more than being with others. 11. If anyone person calls, tell them to call back in an hour. 12. This shirt is nice but and the other one is nicer. 13. There are a lot of much animals to see in the zoo. 14. Somebody or else will show you how to do it. 15. Whoever he gave you those instructions was mistaken. 16. I don’t know how much about Physics. 17. He hates waking up himself early in the morning. 18. My uncle he owns a large restaurant. 19. All of runners must take their places for the race to begin. 20. The only else thing he could do was refuse the offer. 21. Joe is so busy that he has a very little time to do anything. 22. She is too much young to get married. 23. There was not someone in the room. 24. She turned herself round to see who was behind her. 25. She took someone else’s books instead of her own one.

Exercise 35. Complete the sentences using nouns in the possessive case:

1. My … children are my grandchildren. 2. My … parents are my grandparents. 3. My father has a brother, his daughter is my … niece. 4. My … father is my father-in-law. 5. My mother has a sister, her son is my … nephew. 6. My cousin Alex is my … son. 7. My aunt is my … sister. 8. I have a nephew, he is my … cousin. 9. My … sister is my sister-in-law.

Exercise 36. Translate into English:

ручка двери, ножка стола, горлышко бутылки, крыша дома, потолок комнаты, обложка книги, спинка стула, крыло самолета, крыльцо дома;

пачка сигарет, группа студентов, букетик фиалок, стадо овец, связка книг, набор инструментов;

буханка хлеба, ложка варенья, капля крови, кусок сахара, чашка кофе, бутылка вина, кувшин молока.

Exercise 37. Translate into English using nouns in the possessive case:

1. Семья мистера Брауна сейчас живёт на юге Франции. 2. Это детская игра. 3. Он друг моего брата. 4. Спальни детей наверху. 5. Давайте сделаем десятиминутный перерыв. 6. Мы пошли в соседский сад за грушами. 7. Это машина Смитов? 8. В Москве есть несколько детских театров. 9. Где вчерашняя газета? 10. Это в трёх часах езды от нашего города. 11. Дом моего брата очень старый. 12. Дети Клары и Пита живут по соседству. 13. Зайди в аптеку по дороге домой. 14. Она остановилась у сестры. 15. Дочь моей подруги окончила университет в этом году.

Exercise 38. Translate into English using nouns in the possessive case or of-phrases:

1. Я не знаю результатов вчерашнего теста. 2. Сын моего брата хороший спортсмен. 3. Поверхность дороги была скользкой. 4. Она много пишет сестрам Тамары. 5. Мне нравится новая книга этого писателя. 6. Она выучила слова этого урока вчера. 7. Два дня назад нас навестили племянники Ольги. 8. Это машина коллеги её дочери. 9. Окна дома были закрыты. 10. Одноклассник моей сестры хорошо говорит по-французски. 11. Ручка сумки была неудобной. 12. Комната Джерри большая и светлая. 13. Он сломал кончик карандаша. 14. Учитель проверил тетради учеников. 15. Она не помнит имени брата своего друга. 16. Где ключ от двери. 17. Алла взяла словарь своей подруги. 18. Всем нравится квартира Ричарда.