The Saxon Genitive

11th form
a) Singular noun + ’s

•My mother’s blouse

•The teacher’s desk
b) Plural noun + ‘

•The boys’ ball was new

•The parents’ bedroom
c) Irregular plural noun + ‘s

•The women’s society

•The children’s toys
 Proper names ending in –s usually get only the
apostrophe, although ‘s may also be used, in either
case the ending of the noun being normally
pronounced /iz/:

•Dickens’ novels /’dikinziz/

•Dickens’s novels /’dikinziz/
 Use :
1.Proper names:
Deborah’s native town

2. Names of persons
My sister’s doll
Your neighbour’s car
 Note!!!
When the “possessor” is represented by several words, the possessive
ending is added after the last one only.
•The boy and the girl’s toys (they have the same toys)

If each possessor is followed by ‘s, this means that the possessed

objects differ
•The boy’s and the girl’s toys ( the boy has some toys and the girl has
others)

Similarly, ‘s can also be added to a whole phrase:

•My brother-in-law’s job
•The woman next door’s husband
3. Collective nouns
The government’s decisions
Our company’s success

4. Names denoting other beings than persons:

Pussy’s kittens
A spider’s web

5. Personifications
a)Abstract nouns:Liberty’s defence
b)Names of countries: Romania’s mountains
c)Names of celestial bodies: the Sun’s rays
6. Names of vessels, boats, ships:
•Our ship’s crew

7. Names of chronological divisions or nouns denoting measurements,

distance, weight, worth, etc.
•You must come to tomorrow’s meeting
•Have you read today’s newspaper?
•She came back after a year’s absence
•We have got a week’s holiday
•The patient needs eight hours’ sleep every night
•They had a ten minutes’ conversation
 Also:
• A foot’s distance
• A stone’s throw
• A hair’s bredth
• Two dollars’ worth
• Within arm’s reach
 8. Idiomatic expressions
• For God’s sake
• For goodness sake
• For heaven’s sake
• Out of harm’s way
• To be at death’s door
• To our heart’s content
• In my mind’s eye
• At one finger’s end
• To get one’s money’s worth
• A needle’s eye
• One’s heart’s desire
• At one’s wit’s end
• A pin’s head
• At sword’s points
• On a razor’s edge
• The journey’s end
 !!!!!!
Sometimes the Genitive is used elliptically, that is without the
“possessed object”:
a)When the “possessed object” has already been mentioned and we
want to avoid repetition:
•Mary’s blouse is more beautiful than her sister’s.

b) When one of the following words: church, department store, hotel,

shop, theatre, a person’s house, etc. is understood:
•We visited St. Paul’s
•She is going to the grocer’s/butcher’s/baker’s
•I will stay at my aunt’s
 Exercise
Underline the answer which is correct or more likely.
•1 I was surprised by the announcement of yesterday /yesterday's announcement.
•2 They left their homes because of the extension of the airport/the airport's extension.
•3 The guitar playing of David / David's guitar playing has improved enormously.
•4 The completion of the road I/The road's completion was ahead of schedule.
•5 At the supermarket, I found I'd brought the shopping list of last week / last week's shopping list.
•6 It's the responsibility of the firm who built the houses / the firm who built the houses‘
responsibility.
•7 That isn't much use, it's the calendar of last year / last year's calendar.
•8 I was shocked by the opinion of Alice / Alice's opinion.
•9 He gently patted the shoulder of his brother / his brother's shoulder.
•10 He's the friend of a man I know at work /a man I know at work's friend.
•11 The evacuation of the building / The building's evacuation took only 10 minutes.