The possessive case is a rule in English. Possessive case in English: features of formation and exceptions

English, being an analytical language, does not, by and large, distinguish between cases, since nouns do not have endings (the exception is the ending in number). All relationships between words in a sentence are conveyed through prepositions.
However, in grammar it is generally accepted that in the English language there are still two cases - common (in fact, the dictionary version of the word, which is used in the vast majority of cases) and possessive ( Possessive Case). Let's get straight to the point:

A beautiful house of my friend’s sister. - My friend's sister's beautiful house.

We tried to screw it up as best we could. In this sentence there are as many as three manifestations of such a phenomenon as the possessive case:

friend 's sister - friend's sister
house of...sister- sister's house
my friend's is my friend

What is the possessive case?

The possessive case is a modifier of the noun that comes after it. The word in the possessive case answers the question “Whose”?

We decided to rephrase this wonderful definition a little and make it more understandable:

The possessive case denotes “owner” (a word with apostrophe or preposition of) object or phenomenon (following word). It turns out that:

a siste r's house = sister- owner (therefore stands with an apostrophe), and house- what belongs to her

friend 's sister = friend- the owner, and sister(rather tongue-tied, but clearly) belongs to him.

a leg of the table= table- owner (that’s why there is a preposition before the word of, expressing the meaning “whose?”), and leg- what belongs to the table.

Formation of the possessive case

The possessive case will be formed differently with animate and inanimate nouns. Here we are talking about possessive case forms.

Animate nouns

The possessive case can be formed animate nouns by adding ‘s singular. Let's call this “pure form”:

mother 's car - mom's car = (whose?) mom's car
Jack 's friend - Jack's friend = (whose?) Jack's friend
cat 's rug - cat rug = (whose?) “cat” rug

In English, nouns in the possessive case always stand before defined by the word (“owner - object”).

In plural we only add apostrophe ‘. The form of the word itself already has an ending -s/ -es. Piling up a large number of hisses in English is not welcome:

cat s’ tails - cats' tails
sister s’ family name - sisters' surname

There are a number of nouns that form their plural by changing their root vowels or word form. Such words will form the possessive case by adding the traditional s':

women 's clothes - women's clothing
children 's toys - children's toys

Possessive case with inanimate nouns

In practice, it is generally accepted that inanimate nouns form the possessive case by resorting to preposition of- we will call this the “prepositional” form. In this case, the “owner” stands after a preposition and after the defined word:

the roof of the house= house - owner ( of conveys the meaning of the question “whose?”) - the roof (whose? what?) of the house

the door of the library- door (whose? what?) of the library

Can't do without exceptions! There are a number inanimate nouns, which will form the possessive case in the traditional way - 's. These words can be grouped according to the following characteristics:

1. nouns denoting time And adverbs of time/ distance/ cost:
a month’s holiday - time
today's paper - adverb of time
a kilometer’s walk - distance
two dollar's worth - cost

2. nouns denoting celestial bodies:

sun's rays

3. collective nouns relating to groups or communities of people/ pronouns replacing animate nouns:

our family's house - group
nobody’s business - pronoun

Possessive pronouns

Another manifestation of the possessive case can be found in possessive pronouns.

In the case where there is a desire to use a pronoun without a subsequent noun, it partially acquires the characteristics 's.

It is my car. - It is mine.
your room - yours
his toy - his
her boyfriend - hers
its leg - its
our house - ours
thier cafe - theirs

This is called the absolute form of a possessive pronoun, which can replace a noun.

P.S. Words in the possessive case have the same properties as possessive pronouns and displace the article. If “owners” are two or more words, apostrophe joins the latter:

Mary and Jack 's flat - Mary and Jack's apartment

In English you can find a number of stable expressions in which the possessive case will be formed against the rules, for example:

for goodness ’ sake - for God's sake

Although goodness is an inanimate and abstract noun, the possessive case is expressed in a “pure” form.

We wish you interesting practice and success!

Victoria Tetkina

In the case when in the general case it is used without a preposition, it the relationship to other words in a sentence is determined solely by the place occupied in the sentence. If the noun is located before the predicate, then it is subject and corresponds to the nominative case in Russian. If it's worth after the predicate, then it is direct object and is more often used in the accusative case.

• The student(Student: noun as subject) recognized the teacher (recognized the teacher).
• The teacher recognized student(student: direct object).

Between the predicate and the noun, which is a direct object, there can be another noun in the general case without a preposition, denoting a person. Such a noun is indirect object and corresponds to the dative case in Russian.

A noun in the possessive case answers the question whose? - whose? whose? whose?, serves as a definition denoting the ownership of an object. Only animate nouns are used in the possessive case.

Formation of the possessive case

In the singular, the possessive case is formed by adding the ending -"s.

• The girl's hat - Girl's hat
• The hourse's leg - Horse's leg

In the plural, the possessive case is formed by simply adding an apostrophe:

• The boys" books - Boys' books
• The workers" tools - Workers' tools

If there are two or more persons possessing the object, then the ending of the possessive case is added to the last noun:

• Mary and Helen's flat is large - Peter and Helen's apartment is large

Use of the possessive case

When a noun (friends), defined by a noun in the possessive case (Kate's), has with it other definitions (best), then the noun in the possessive case (Kate's) comes before them (best):

• Kate's friends - Katya's friends
• Kate's best friends - Katya's best friends

Along with a noun in the possessive case, a noun with a preposition is used to express ownership of.

• My friend's father = The father of my friend - My friend's father

In English, you often need to answer questions whose? whom? what? etc. In this case we will be dealing with the possessive case. In most cases, the possessive case (possessive case) refers to animate nouns that denote living beings (there are more such words in number). It is to living beings that a quality, sign or object belongs. In this case, the possessive case in English is formed using the ending -s, preceded by an apostrophe (’).

Examples:

• a boy’s sweater => boy’s sweater;
• my mom’s recipe => my mom’s recipe;
• her grandmother’s favorite plaid => her grandmother’s favorite plaid.

Possessive case in English - what is it and why is it needed?

The case is appropriate to apply to people who are the owners of something (qualities, property, characteristics, etc.), and to animals, for example, my cat’s bowl. There is nothing complicated in understanding the rule, as it might seem at first glance. Here are a few examples that will clearly show what we are talking about:

• a boy’s best days - the best days of a boy (whose?);
• a policeman’s rule - a policeman’s rule (whose?).

But! Children’s cakes - children’s cakes (whose?).

You should notice that in the last example the structure of the rule is different from the others: an apostrophe after the ending -s (childrens’), rather than before it (policeman’s). This is explained by the fact that in the last example the noun is plural, not single.

Below is a table with examples in which the possessive case can be formed in English in different ways:

These examples can be turned into effective exercises if you repeat them every day and do different combinations and combinations. For example, instead of ‘’at the baker ′ s'' say ''at the confectionery's'' (in a pastry shop), etc. Simple, easy, but most importantly – effective!

Reference: there are nouns that end with two letters -s => -ss. What to do when this happens? In this case, to a word with twice the amount of -ss, simply add an apostrophe and the ending –s: boss 's pen => boss pen.

On a note! For many, it seems like a problem when you need to make a plural in the possessive case if the words are already in the plural. To understand what we are talking about, let's look at the rule using examples:

• birds’ nests - bird's nests or nests of birds.

As you can see from the example, the word birds is already plural, so there is no need to add another ending -s. You just need to put an apostrophe, it turns out => birds ’ .

One more example:

• the secretaries’ working hours– working hours of secretaries.

Here the situation is similar: the word secretaries is already in plural, as in the previous example, so we just add an apostrophe (’) and we’re done.

On a note! Although inanimate nouns rarely have the possessive case, there are a number of nouns that do have it. This includes words that denote distance and time. Vivid examples:

second, minute, hour, day, night, week, month, year, fortnight.

• In an hour or two 's time - in an hour or two;
• a night 's nap - night sleep;
• a day’s moment - the moment of the day.

And one more nuance. If we are talking about countries and cities, then we also add the ending –s to them:

• London 's theater - theater in London;
• Poland’s products - products of Poland;
• Greece’s financial situation - financial situation of Greece;
• Moldova’s culture - the culture of Moldova.

• World's food problem - global food problem;
• World's health organization - World Health Organization;
• Nature's protection - protection of nature;
• Ship's official number - the official number of the ship.

Important! To learn the lesson, you need to do the exercises regularly. One immediately after completing the lesson to consolidate the information, and then repeat it a few days later so that the information received is not forgotten.

Let's sum it up

The formation of the possessive case is a relatively easy topic in English. There is nothing complicated here. The only thing you need to do to learn a topic well is to practice as often as possible. When doing something around the house, translate it into English. For example, you are asked to heat up soup. Instantly imagine that you are in an English cafe, translate the phrase and ask: ‘Whose soup is to be reheated?’ Whose soup is to be reheated? ''This is my brother's portion.'' It's my brother's portion. And so every day. Remember: success comes to those who try to get it. Believe in yourself and success!

P.s. and don’t forget to regularly do exercises in which you have to create the possessive case. The more often you repeat examples, the faster you will learn and remember them. Simple exercises for children and adults will help them learn the rules of forming the possessive case and help expand their vocabulary. We encourage you to come up with your own examples. Don't be afraid to make mistakes! On the contrary, mistakes teach you, so talk as much and often as possible.

Nouns in Russian. It indicates that an object or object belongs to another. For example: Girl’s doll - a girl’s doll. As a rule, a noun that is used in the possessive case is a definition for another noun.

How is the possessive case formed in English?

This form is taken only by those nouns that are proper names, animate and some inanimate. It is important to know when studying the possessive case of nouns. In the singular, you need to add ’s to the original form of the noun. For example: My mother’s dress - my mother’s dress, Nick’s books - Nick’s books, the cat’s tail - the cat’s tail.

How to pronounce the ending?

It's important to note that 's can be read in different ways. If a word ends in a voiceless consonant, then the ending is read 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 it as [z]: the children’s toys, the dog’s tail, the baby’s bed. After a whistling or hissing ending, the ending reads: George’s bag, the horse’s hook. However, if they end in -х, -s, then the possessive case in English is formed only with the help of an apostrophe, and the ending is still read as . For example: Alex - Alex’ [`æliksiz], Boris - Boris’ [`boːrisiz], Denis- Denis’ [`denisiz].

Some features of the use of apostrophe

British names retain the full possessive form. 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 - Guy Fawkes mask, Cervantes’ books - books by Cervantes. Quite often you can find the group possessive case of nouns. This is what makes English different from the rest. It belongs to a whole group of words. For example: the man next door’s wife - the wife of the man who lives nearby.

Plural of nouns

If 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 - girls’ toys. If the noun is an exception, then the possessive case is formed according to the “‘s” rule: women’s hats - women’s hats.

Belonging relationships

Quite often the possessive case is a definition. Usually they express the belonging of one object to another. For example: the girls’ dolls - dolls of (whose?) girls, parents’ flat - apartment (whose?) of parents, the boy’s car - car (whose?) of a boy. But there are also cases when belonging is expressed using the preposition of. Often such a sentence is called an 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 speech of the man, the door of the room, the door of the room, the roof of the house. This phrase should only be used for inanimate. If the noun is animate, then it is better to use “‘s”. Quite often, a possessive subject is used for those nouns that describe an object: 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 systematized into the following groups:

There are cases when next to the noun that is used in the possessive case there is no word that defines it. This happens when it is necessary to avoid repetition: My father is taller than Olga’s (=than Olga’s father). - My dad is taller than Olga’s dad. Also, the word being defined can be omitted if it means an institution. This could be a hospital, school, church, etc. This possessive case is called the independent case in English grammar. Its examples may be the following: the bucher's - bakery, chemist's - pharmacy and others. There are cases of double genitive case. This is when a noun in the possessive case stands next to the preposition of. You can trace cases of its use using an example: She is a classmate of my mother's. - She is my mother's classmate.

In order not to make mistakes in use, it is necessary to perform numerous exercises. The possessive case (English is one of the few languages ​​that has it) has no other function than being possessive. That is why there are usually no difficulties in using it. It is enough just to master the basic rules and practice more.

Unlike the Russian language, there are only two types of cases in English. More precisely, it’s just more convenient to call them that way. Of course, history remembers times when there were more of them, but this is a long time ago - the language has become noticeably simpler. The names of these cases are general and possessive. To the first (the Common case) refer to all words in the form in which we see them in the dictionary. Second case -the Possessive case. The word in it answers the questions “whose?”, “whose?”, “whose?”, “whose?”. We will dwell on this second case in more detail.

Possessive case - what is it?

The English name for the possessive case isthe Possessive case. It comes from the wordpossess- to own, to have. This case indicates that something belongs to someone or something. This form is most often assigned to animate nouns - people and animals that possess some object, property, attribute or quality. This affiliation is shown using a special sign - an apostrophe (’ ) and endings - letters -s.

Example:

a girl's shoes- girl’s shoes (whose?);

the engineer's pencil- engineer’s pencil (whose?);

students' party- student party (whose?).

Formation of the possessive case

You can notice that the location of the apostrophe and ending issmay change, and the second may be completely absent. In order to understand the use of these elements of the English language, you need to familiarize yourself with several rules. These rules are divided into several groups: depending on the number of the noun, on animation, and several other special cases.

Animate nouns

V singularoccurs with the help of the ending -ʼs.

Example:

Sam's car- Sam's car;

Ann's music- music by Anna;

Mary's dress- Mary's dress.

If a singular proper name ends in -s, - ss, - x, then to form the prepositional case it can be used as -ʼs, and just an apostrophe (’ ).

Example:

Maxʼs book = Maxʼ book- Max's book;

Chris's song = Chris' song - Chris's song;

Jess's phone = Jess' phone - Jess's phone.

Formation of the possessive case in nounsin pluralis carried out using an apostrophe, but only taking into account that if this noun is formed by the classical method - that is, using endings -s or - es.

Example:

dogs' tails- dog tails;

workers' caps- workers' caps;

sisters' secret- the secret of the sisters.

In cases where the plural of a noun is formed by alternating root vowels, the possessive case will be formed in the same way as the singular - that is, using the ending -s.

Example:

men's clothes- men's clothing;

women's hats- women's hats;

children's shoes- children's shoes.

Inanimate nouns

The formation of the prepositional case in animate nouns is rare and occurs in a completely different way - with the help of the preposition -of. In this construction, the one who owns comes after the preposition and the word being defined.

Example:

the cover of the magazine- magazine cover;

the door of the library- library door;

the history of the Russian language - history of the Russian language.

But there are many exceptions in which the formation of the possessive case in plural nouns will occur in the usual way - using the ending -'s.They can be divided into several groups depending on the type of word:

Nouns for time, distance and cost

Example:

a month's holiday- monthly holidays;

today's magazine- today's magazine;

a night's walk- night walk.

Words world - world, country - country, city - city, town - town, ocean - ocean, river - river, ship - ship

Example:

the river's mouth- river mouth;

ship's crew- ship crew;

Boston's streets- streets of Boston.

Adverbs of time:today - Today,yesterday - yesterday,tomorrow - Tomorrow

Example:

today's paper- today's newspaper;

yesterday's mistakes- yesterday's mistakes;

tomorrow's dinner- tomorrow's lunch.

With pronouns:somebody - somebody,other - another,each other - each other

Example:

someone's shoes- someone's shoes;

other's signature- signature of another;

nobody's hat- no one's hat.

Names of celestial bodies

Example:

the Sun's rays- the lights of a sun;

the Earth's surface- ground surface;

the Moon's eclipse- moon eclipse.

Words with the meaning of belonging to a place

In such variants, the case can be used without a defined word - it can simply be omitted. This form of the possessive case is also called independent.

Example:

at the baker's (shop)- in the bakery;

at Granny's (house)- by Grandma;

at the dentist's (office)- at the dentist.

Collective nouns that refer to groups of people or pronouns that replace animate nouns

Example:

our family's house- our family's house;

nobody's business- it's no one's business.

The use of the case in stable (frozen) expressions

Example:

I live at a stone’s throw of our institute - I live two steps away from our institute.

Possessive pronouns

Such pronouns can also be a type of possessive case - in the case when you want to use a pronoun without a following noun.

Example:

It is my car. - It is mine;
her boyfriend - hers;
our house - ours.

This form of the pronoun is called possessive absolute - it is with its help that you can replace a noun.

Other, special cases of using the possessive case

As with any rule, there are also exceptions and difficult cases of using the possessive case:

Compound nouns

The English language is rich in such words. They consist of several parts and many people often have a question: to which part should the ending be added? It’s easy to remember: in such cases the ending isʼsis added to the last word.

Example:

the lady-bird's wings- ladybug wings.

Belonging to several owners

We proceed as in the previous version - add an ending to the last word.

Example:

Ben and Sam's car- Ben and Sam's car.

Two words in a row in the possessive case

A very rare situation, but still requires consideration. It is necessary to use the preposition -of with the second word.

Example:

She is my brotherʼs wifeʼs mother replace with She is the mother of my brother's wife - mother of my brother's wife.

Possessive case and use of articles

There are two rules for using articles in phrases with the possessive case:

Firstly, in cases where the word being defined is preceded by a word in the possessive case that defines it, the article is not used - it is replaced by the possessive case of the noun.

Example:

the car- car,
Bob's car- Bob's car.

Secondly, when a noun in the possessive case is a common noun, it must have an articlea, an, theor for example a possessive adjective such asmy, your, his, her, its, our, their.

Example:

a girl's hat- girl's hat;
the dog's toy- dog toy.

Double possessive case

A rare event - double genitive, which is defined by two phrases following each other and in the possessive case. But this option is also used, so it should also be demonstrated.

Example:

The girl's half-hour's run - girl's half-hour run.

Noun having the function of an adjective

Sometimes in sentences there is a nuance that not everyone pays attention to - instead of a noun in the possessive case, you can find a noun that performs the function of an adjective.

It is usually a singular noun that comes before another noun. And it does not require the possessive case, therefore it answers a completely different question - “which?”, and not “whose?”.

Example:

a kitchen knife- kitchen knife;
a newspaper article- article;
money problems- problems with money.

Pronunciation of words in the possessive case

Ending - s, which we add to a noun in the possessive case, is pronounced differently depending on a number of cases - it all depends on what letter the noun ends with. There are three options for how to pronounce such words:

1. When the word ends inhissing sounds (/S/, /Z/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /t ʃ/, /ʤ/ ) - the ending must be pronounced as /IZ/.

Example:

Max's;
Alice's.

1. Nouns and names ending inclunk (/k/, /p/, /t/, /f/,/θ/), must be pronounced with a voiceless ending.

Example:

Jeff's;
Nick's.

1. In all other cases, where a noun or name ends in any other vowel or consonant sounds, the ending is pronounced voiced.

Example:

Bill's;
Julia's.

This topic is very relevant in the English language - the possessive case is often found in use and the quality of language proficiency depends on knowledge of all the simple rules we have listed. This part of English grammar is quite easy to learn and will definitely be useful to you for communicating, exchanging information and reading. As always, the key to learning a new language is to practice more.