The possessive case in English corresponds to the possessive adjective or the genitive case of nouns in Russian. It indicates the belonging of an object or object to another. For example: Girl's doll - a girl’s doll. As a rule, a noun used in the possessive case is another definition for a noun.
How is the possessive case formed in English?
This form takes only those nouns that are proper names, animated and part of the inanimate. It is important to know, while studying English, the possessive case of nouns. In the singular, it is necessary to add 's to the original form of the noun. For example: My mother's dress - my mom's dress, Nick's books - Nick's books, the cat's tail - cat tail.
How to pronounce the ending?
It is important to note that it can be read in many different ways. If the word ends in a dull consonant, then the ending reads as [s]: a cat's nose, Nick's leg. If there is a voiced consonant or vowel at the end of the word, then we read like [z]: the children's toys, the dog's tail, the baby's bed. After a whistling or hissing, the ending reads like [iz]: George's bag, the horse's hook. However, if the proper names end in -x, -s , the possessive case in English is formed only with the help of the apostrophe, and the ending is still read like [iz]. For example: Alex - Alex '[`æliksiz], Boris - Boris' [` boːrisiz], Denis-Denis' [`denisiz].
Some features of the use of the apostrophe
British names retain the full form of the possessive case. But Old English, Roman or Greek often have only an apostrophe in this form. For example: Socrates 'stories - stories of Socrates, Tacitus' ideas - ideas of Tacitus, Guy Fawkes 'mask - mask of Guy Fawkes, Cervantes' books - books of Cervantes. Quite often you can find the group possessive case of nouns. English is different from the rest. It adjoins a whole group of words. For example: the man next door's wife - the wife of a man who lives nearby.
Plural nouns
If the plural is formed according to general rules, then an apostrophe is simply added to the word. It should be noted that the pronunciation remains the same: girls [golz] - girls' [golz] toys. If the noun is an exception, then the possessive case is formed according to the rule '' s ": women's hats - women's hats.
Affiliation Relations
Quite often the possessive case in the English language is formed by nouns, which are definitions. Usually they express the belonging of one object to another. For example: the girls 'dolls - dolls (whose?) Of girls, parents' flat - apartment (whose?) Of parents, the boy's car - the machine (whose?) Of a boy. But there are also cases when affiliation is expressed using the preposition of. Often this sentence is called of-phrase. But such a phrase is used only for those nouns that are not proper names. For example: the mother of the girls - the mother of the girls, the speech of the man - the speech of the man, the door of the room - the door of the room, the roof of the house - the roof of the house. This phrase should only be used for inanimate nouns. If the noun is animate, it is better to use “'s”. Quite often, a possessive subject is used for those nouns that describe some subject: goat's milk - goat's milk, pilots 'uniform - the uniform worn by pilots, boys' school - a school in which only boys study.
Nouns that can be used in the possessive case
They can be classified into the following groups:
- those that express distance and time: a week's tour - a weekly tour, yesterday's film - yesterday's film, a kilometre's route - a kilometer route;
- those that call the seasons, months, cities and countries: Ukraine's cities - Ukrainian cities, Moscow's museums - Moscow museums, March's warm - March heat, spring's wind - spring wind;
- those that call geographical concepts: America's lifestyle - the American way of life, the lake's edge - the edge of the lake;
- such nouns as ocean, water, moon, sun, earth, nature, city, country, world, ship and others: the ocean's life - the life of the ocean, the ship's captain - the captain of the ship, the sun's light - sunlight;
- those nouns that relate to technology and mechanisms: the plane's engine - the engine of the plane;
- livestock products that people get from living animals: an ostrich's egg - an ostrich egg, goat's milk - goat milk;
- body parts of animals: deer's horn - antler.
There are such cases that next to the noun, which is used in the possessive case, there is not the word that defines it. This happens when you need to avoid repetition: My father is taller than Olga's (= than Olga's father). - My dad is taller than dad Olga. Also, a definable word can be omitted if it means any institution. It can be a hospital, school, church, etc. Such a possessive case is called independent in English grammar. His examples may be the following: the bucher's - a bakery, chemist's - a pharmacy and others. There are cases of double genitive. This is when the noun in the possessive case is next to the preposition of. You can trace the cases of its use by the example: She is a classmate of my mother's. “She is my mom's classmate.”
In order not to make mistakes in use, it is necessary to perform numerous exercises. Possessive case (English is one of the few that has it) has no other function than possessive. That is why in its use usually there are no difficulties. It is enough to learn basic rules and practice more.