The Possessive Case in the English Language

Jan 17, 2012
Tanja Batista

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Learn how to use the Possessive Case in English.

The possessive case expresses ownership. In English, it is formed in 2 ways:

by adding the inflection 's to the noun base

Tanya's cat meaning The cat belongs to Tanya. (noun base: Tanya)

the possessive case relations can also be expressed by the prepositional of-phrase

the name of the school meaning The name belongs to the school.

The general rule concerning the possessive case teaches students of English that in order to form the possessive case correctly, they should normally use the inflection 's with animate nouns (nouns denoting people and animals) and the prepositional of-phrase with inanimate nouns (nouns denoting things):

Bryan's (Bryan is a person) song / the smell of the food (food is a thing)

However, in reading English texts, students quite often surprisingly notice that this general rule is often broken. For example:

the film's meaning instead of the meaning of the film

As you can see, the above rule is NOT rigid; therefore, the inflecton 's CAN be sometimes used with inanimate nouns as well. Later in the article, I will explain why.

Similarly, you may notice the following:

the owner of the horse instead of the horse's owner

The basic rule has been broken again, so what is going on here? Simply put, the prepositional of-phrase CAN sometimes be used with animate nouns as well. The difference between the inflected genitive (the horse's owner) and the of-phrase is often only stylistic; therefore, both the above examples are completely correct. Also, the of-phrase used with animate nouns can come in handy when you want to avoid the confusion between singular and plural possessive nouns:

the keeper of the elephants or the elephants' keeper (both examples are correct)

The Formation of the Possessive Case with the Inflection 's

I assume that you already know how to form the possessive case with the of – phrase (that's the easier part), so let's check out the rules for the formation of the posessive case with the inflection 's. These are slightly more complex.The possessive inflection 's is added:

to singular nouns

Dad's birthday

to those plural nouns which DO NOT form their plural by adding the inflection -s

women's rights (woman-women)

children's plays (child-children)

Remember that after a plural noun ending in -s, we put only an apostrophe (') after the s:

the teachers' grammar books

The Use of the Possessive Case (the PC)

Now that you have some basic knowledge of the PC, we shall discuss the rules of its use in detail. Here you will find out why the basic rule concerning the use of the possessive case is so often broken.

1. You already know that the use of the PC with the inflection 's is common with animate nouns. These nouns denote human beings and animals:

Jack's shoes / the spider's web

If you have been reading the article from the beginning, you also know that the of- phrase can often be used with animate nouns as well. Still, the inflection 's is generally preferred and much more widely used.

2. The PC with the inflection 's is also used with indefinite pronouns referring to persons:

nobody's fault and not the fault of nobody
somebody's bike and not the bike of somebody

3. Students often don't know how to use the PC with personal names correctly. The following rules will tell you how:

A Personal names ending in –s can either add 's or the apostrophe alone:

Elvis's pink cadillac (this is a more popular choice) or Elvis' pink cadillac

B Classical names nearly always take the apostrophe alone:

Socrates' death / Achilles' heel / Hercules' teeth

C When a personal name ends with –ss we generally add 's:

Strauss's music / Mr Glass's vodka

D Plural surnames take only the apostrophe after their final –s:

the Smiths' new car / the Joneses' youngest daughter

That wasn't too difficult, was it?

4. We also use the PC with the inflection 's with time expressions and expressions of distance:

It's an hour's drive from here to there.
Have you still got today's newspaper? and not Have you still got the newspaper of today?

Such expressions are usually fixed and you should learn them by heart.

5. The use of the PC with compound plural possessives draws mistakes like a magnet. A student of mine once wrote the following:

Susan and Simon's teeth were dirty after the meal.

If Susan and Simon had only one set of teeth, this sentence would be correct. I hope that the two don't borrow each other's teeth when they get hungry. If they do, then I would certainly like to see it. To correct this, I shall write the following:

Susan's and Simon's teeth were dirty after the meal. (She has her own set of teeth and he has his own set of teeth.)

Therefore, the rule concerning compound plural possessives wants you to do the following: if two people own things separately, use the apostrophe and the inflection 's and place them after both possessors in the sentence. For example:

Lola's and Ken's new shoes (She has just bought a new pair of shoes and he did the same.)

If two people own something together, use the apostrophe and the inflection 's and place them after the final possessor in the sentence:

Tanya and Don's new house is wonderful. (Tanya and Don own the house together)

6. You can also use the PC with the inflection 's with the names of seasons, months and days:

I married him on a cold November's day.
In July's heat, the town looked deserted.

Nowadays, these nouns are more frequently used as noun premodifiers without the inflection 's:

on a cold November day / in the July heat

7. When you want to say that a country possesses something, you get to choose between the inflection 's or the of-phrase. When a country is thought of as a political unit, you can use the inflection 's:

France's social problems / America's allies

If the country is looked upon a purely geographical point of view, the of-phrase is preferred:

the borders of Slovenia

8. You can use the inflection 's with inanimate nouns too. The basic rule concerning the use of the PC is often broken in journalistic English for reasons of space and economy:

the plays's message / the film's meaning / the newspaper's editorial policy

9. With nouns denoting groups of people (collective nouns) you can use the inflection 's or the of-phrase to form the PC:

the government's decision / the decision of the government
the company's success / the success of the company

10. Now let's look at the following sentences:

The games of the children in the garden don't disturb the neighbours.
What is the name of the man who lent us his Mercedes?
What is the man's name who lent us his Mercedes? false

Both include the of- phrase, the possessor, and the defining phrase or clause (of + possessor + defining phrase/clause). In such sentences we CAN'T use the apostrophe and 's with the possessor. Use the of- phrase instead.

11. Nouns denoting objects capable of motion often prefer the inflection 's to the of- phrase:

the ship's crew / the plane's engine

12 The inflection 's is usually used in poetic or rhetorical style when abstract nouns or nouns denoting things are personified:

the wind's roaring

13. Shops take the inflection 's and the word shop is often dropped :

My mum has gone to the butcher's (shop).
I have to go to the greengrocer's this morning.

In names of many department stores, shops, firms, etc. the apostrophe is dropped and the 's is no longer felt as a genitival inflection:

Selfridges (for Selfridge's) / Harrods (for Harrod's)

The Double Possessive

The inflected genitive normally premodifies the headword, i.e. stands before it:

Tanya's (inflected genitive) body (headword)

The only exception is when the headword is joined to the following genitival noun by the preposition of:

a friend of my father's

This structure, which is a peculiarity of English, is called the post genitive or the double possessive. Many students--and quite a few native speakers of English too-- call it ''the pesky double possessive.'' Why? They find it tricky, and I agree that a double portion of the possessive case in the above example may sound a bit funny. However, the double possessive is an idiomatic construction and has a long standing tradition in the English language. You often hear it in the following expressions:

a friend of mine / yours / his / hers /ours / theirs

You will never hear the English say the following:

Cher is a friend of me. / Madonna is a friend of our. false

You will always hear them say the following:

Cher is a friend of mine. / Madonna is a friend of ours.

These expressions are fixed (idiomatic), meaning you should never try to change them. Instead, simply try to memorize them.

What do the above sentences mean?

Cher is a friend of mine. means that Cher is one of my friends.

If I say

A habit of Joan's is to read until midnight. means that One of Joan's habits is to read until midnight.

In summary, the double possessive can be used when the headword is premodified by an indefinite article. (habit – headword)

Sometimes we form ambiguous sentences, and the double possessive is very useful to help clarify the meaning of such sentences. For example:

This is Jane Austen's portrait.

This sentence is ambiguous because it could mean that you're looking at a portrait of Jane Austen or at a portrait that is owned by Jane Austen! If you want to emphasize that Jane Austen owns the portrait, then the double possessive is no longer a funny structure. Instead, it becomes a valuable friend:

This is a portrait of Jane Austen's. (she owns a portrait)
This is a portrait of Jane Austen. (J. Austen is in the portrait)

You can also use the double possessive with an indefinite determiner (any, some, every, each) to express possession:

He has read every poem of Lord Byron's.

You can use the double possessive with a demonstrative pronoun (this, that, these, those) to express possession. This structure often expresses annoyance:

This perfume of yours is too sweet. and not This perfume of you is too sweet.
Those relatives of yours are a nuisance. and not Those relatives of you are a nuisance.

You can use the double possessive with a numeral:

Three articles of Tanya's will appear in the next issue of our magazine.
Two friends of mine are coming to dinner tonight.

When using the double possessive, you should always remember that this structure cannot be used with inanimate objects:

He is a friend of the foundation's. false (foundation-inanimate noun)
He is a friend of the foundation. correct

The Independent Genitive

The inflected genitive can also be used independently, i.e. without the headword:

Whose book is this? Is it Sean's?

In the above example, the headword (book) has already been mentioned, so the inflected genitive in the following sentence can be used without its headword.

This article has shown you that the possessive case in English has quite a few rules which you should try to remember. The rules are very precise, and if you follow them, you will seldom make mistakes in this area of English grammar. The basic rule concerning the possessive case is excellent indeed, but now that you know all the ''pesky'' PC rules, you can start using them immediately to show off your newly acquired knowledge.