Possessives (2)

's and s' possessive

1 Look at these examples:
This is Lucy, lsobel's daughter.
Excuse me, but where are the men's clothes?
This is a photo of my grandparents' house.
2 Here are the rules for using the apostrophe ('):
• We use 's with names and singular nouns:
Have you seen Ben's passport anywhere?
My boss's office is over there.
• We use 's with irregular plural nouns such as
women, men, children and people:
The women's toilets are next to the door.
• We use s' with regular plural nouns:
The footballers' coach is coming!
3 We usually use of (not an apostrophe) with things:
What's the name of the road? (NOT the road's name)
particularly after words like beginning, end, back,
front, top, bottom.
We might talk about a visit to the cinema:
Did you have a good time? ~ Not really. We arrived
late, we sat at the back of the cinema, and we didn't
see the beginning of the film, (NOT the cinema's back
or the film's beginning)
§ But we sometimes use the apostrophe with places
and companies in the news, or in business:
Madrid's new Museum of Modern Art will open in
February.
Betty Santo is Coca Cola's new boss in Europe.

Grammar in action 4) We can use the apostrophe without a noun, if the

meaning is clear:
‘O We normally use the apostrophe with people, to say This is my camera, but where is Jack's?
that something belongs to someone: We do this when we talk about
Those are Phil’s CDs. (his CDs)
visiting some shops, our dentist and
We use it to talk about other people's things, and their our doctor:
friends and family: I'm going to the dentist's tomorrow.
Lily's dress is wonderful, isn't it? Didyou get some chicken from the
Is that your sister's new boyfriend? butcher's? ~ Yes, butIforgot to get
any tomatoes at the greengrocer's.
We can also use it with animals:
My dogs' names are Victor and Hugo, (their names) When we say the chemist's etc., we mean 'the
chemist's shop'.
§ We use the apostrophe to talk about time. Here, a
businesswoman is talking to her colleague:
Next month's trip to New York will be interesting.
Didyou enjoy yesterday's lunch?

A Talking about other people's things, and their friends and family
Matt, Lucy and their children Thomas and Daisy are having a picnic with their Brazilian
friends, Julieta and Rafi, and their boys, Lucas and Sabino. Add two-word phrases with
's or s'.
LUCY Daisy, have you got Paddy's ccx.(ÿer<a° (camera/Daddy) in your bag? We could
take a nice picture.
RAFI Can you pass me (shoes/Sabino), Julieta? We'll go for a little
walk in a minute.
JULIETA I can't reach them, Rafi, but I think they're under 2 (coat/Lucas).

LUCY OK, smile everyone! Thomas, don't eat 3 (sandwich/

your sister). It's been on the ground.

MATT What a lovely day for a picnic! Where's the 4
(football/boys),
Rafi? We could have a game.

94 Articles, nouns, pronouns, and determiners

 RAFI Good idea, but Sabino needs the toilet first. Are there any 5

(toilets/men) in the park, Matt?

MATT Yes, they're in the cafe. See you in a minute!
DAISY Daddy, I've lost my cup. Can I have a drink from 6
(cup/
Thomas), please?
7
MATT Of course you can. Lucy, can we use the (coats/children) as
goal posts in the football game?
LUCY Yes, OK. But don't play too close to the food, darling.

В Visiting shops
Henry is leaving a phone message. Add the correct shop names. You don't need to use
Write the shop
one of them. names in exercise В
Af В S£l E F [GJ in the correct spaces
j in the picture.

ЯШ
MI
baker's butcher's % florist's newsagent's chemist's optician's

...
'Rosie? I've lost my shopping list, but I think I've got everything. I got some oranges
and some onions at the 4 °.| got a loaf of brown bread at the
.
i
I couldn't get your magazine at the }, because
they didn't have any left. Then I went to the 3
and bought some
more aspirin. Then I picked up your new glasses at the 4. Then I
remembered the steaks, and I went back to the 5. Anyway, I'll be in
town for the next twenty minutes. Give me a ring if you get this message. Bye!'

C Talking about news, politics, business and time

This is the homepage of a news website, showing the main 'stories' of the day. Add 's
five more times after the example.

WORLD v
NEWSWATCH POLITICS
UK
SPORT
EUROPE
ENTERTAINMENT
BUSINESS
HOME
YOU SPEAK OLD STORIES CONTACT US

•Turkey /Prime Minister arrives in Uganda at the beginning of the Africa Trade Talks

• After today meeting, Shell Chief Executive refuses to answer questions from journalists
:
•Film star says that the Government idea for a new airport is wrong

• A small plane lands on the top of a mountain in Peru to help three Australian tourists

•No tickets left for next month concerts by the Philadelphia Orchestra at New York Carnegie Hall

L . 1
Articles, nouns, pronouns, and determiners | 95
 Possessives (2)
Some friends of mine
3 Look at this: 5 Instead of mine, yours, etc., we can say my brother's
What are you doing this weekend? ~ Well, some or Sara's etc.:
friends of mine are going camping and they've It was a good idea of Sean's to go to Paris.
invited me. An old friendof my mother's phoned last night.
Some friends of mine means 'some of my friends' An old friend of my mother's means 'one of my
mother's old friends'.
4 We form these phrases like this:
a/some etc. + noun + of + mine, yours, etc. Grammar in action
some friends of mine
(&> We use phrases like some friends of mine to talk
a neighbour of ours
a classmate of yours about our friends and family, and the things they're
doing:
A neighbour of ours means 'one of our neigbours'. Hello Nick. This is Fran. She's a flatmate of ours.
A classmate of yours means 'one of your classmates': A friendof Sally's has started to work in my office.
Hi David. A classmate of yours phoned an hour ago.

D Talking about the things our friends and family are doing
Izzy is writing an email to her friend Rebecca. Use the words in brackets to help you to
make phrases with mine, yours, my Dad's, etc.

Hi Rebecca,
I hope you're enjoying your new job. I think it was ..<?..9.9.9.4. j d я .f?.f..y oy.!7.s.. 0 (your idea was good) to
go to America. I'm sure it's really interesting there. Things are OK here. Some
П
' (some
of my friends) are going skiing next month, and I'm planning to go with them. Then, in the summer,

....................
a 2 (one
of my dad's friends) has invited all the family to his new house in France.
I think it will be fun. By the way, do you remember a 3 (one
of our schoolfriends),
Katie Gray? Well, a 4 (one
of her flatmates) is a singer, and he's just made a
CD! It's actually in the shops now. Can you believe it? Anyway, there's one more piece of news. A
s (one of Paul's colleagues) has asked me to a party on Saturday night. I don't really
У
know him, so I hope it was a 6
(my idea was good) to say 'yes'! I'll tell you about it in
my next message. Bye for now!
S Izzy
— _
Ш
ШШЯЯ
E Amy's party
We use the apostrophe to talk about other people's things, family and friends; to talk
about shops; to talk about news, business, politics and time; and to talk about the
things our friends and family are doing. Amy is having a twenty-first birthday party. If
the underlined phrases are wrong, rewrite them. If they're right, put a tick (/).
DAVE Did vou ao to the jeweller's today / °? I hope you didn't spend
too much! We aren't rich, you know.
MAISIE Yes. Don't worry. I've got Amy bracelet bracelet 0 in my pocket. Who's
that tall man in the corner?

96 Articles, nouns, pronouns, and determiners

 DAVE I don't know. I suppose he's a friend of Amv's 1
. Why?
You can buy the
MAISIE I'm sure he was on yesterdays' TV news 2. Anyway, here things below from
comes the birthday girl. a jeweller's. Match
AMY How nice to see you both! I'm putting quest's coats 3
in the the following words
with the correct
bedroom. Can I take yours? pictures:
MAISIE Dave will take them. Your necklace is beautiful, Amy. Is it a present? apearl necklace
4
AMY It is. actually. Marcus's brother gave it to me. Have you met a gold ring
him? Daniel! {The tollman comes over.) Daniel, this is Maisie, a good friend of my a diamondring
a goldbracelet
s. Maisie, this is Daniel. an earring
MAISIE Pleased to meet you, but I'm sure I saw you yesterday on TV.
DANIEL Hi, Maisie. You probably saw the opening of my company's new shop
6
on Oxford Street. It's the biggest jeweller's in m
7
central London now. So, if you ever want some new €ЁгВ
earrings, or your boyfriend wants to buy you a diamond ring, come and see us!
In fact, you must come to next's month big sale 8. We'll have
some very special prices.
MAISIE I’ll introduce you to my husband in a moment, Daniel, but he isn't Londons' % I ,
number one 9
shopper!
m О
F A conversation with a friend in the street
Mandy and her son Freddie meet Toby in the street. Cross out any words that need
an apostrophe, and rewrite them above. Look up the word 'lottery' before you do this
exercise, if you don't know it.

MANDY Hi, Toby! How are you? How are things going?
brother's
TOBY Well, Mandy. There's not much happening really. MyJjrotHef/ wife, Shelly, is
going to have her fifth baby in June. The other four are girls, so she's hoping for
a boy. Then, my best friend son has decided to go and live in India. He wants
to make carpets, I think. And then, do you remember my sisters? Kate and

Mirabelle? They have a florist in Birmingham. Well, Kate boss won two million
pounds in last week lottery, and she gave Kate a hundred thousand pounds,
and now Kate and Mirabelle are going to travel around the world, and my dad is
going to buy my sister shop. What about you? Any news?
&
MANDY No, my life is really boring at the moment. I've just spent half an hour at the v
dentist.That's not very interesting, is it? And I've just been to the shoe shop as
well and changed a pair of Freddie shoes, because they were too small. And then
Carly, a friend of mine, is going to Spain on holiday next week. I think that's all.
No, wait a moment. Do you remember my parent house in Cornwall?

TOBY Yes?
MANDY Well, I've got a photo of it. Would you like to see it?

OVER TO YOU Now go to page 125.

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