’s (your sister’s name) and of ... (the name of the book) |
| A |
We use -'s (apostrophe + s) mostly for people or animals:
- Tom's computer isn't working. (not the computer of Tom)
- How old are Chris's children? (not the children of Chris)
- What's (= What is) your sister's name?
- What's Tom's sister's name?
- Be careful. Don't step on the cat's tail.
You can use -'s without a noun after it:
- This isn't my book. It's my sister's. (= my sister's book)
We use -'s with a noun (Tom/friend/teacher etc.). We do not use -'s with a long group of words.
So we say: your friend's name
but the name of the woman sitting by the door
Note that we say a woman's hat (= a hat for a woman), a boy's name (= a name for a boy), a bird's egg (= an egg laid by a bird) etc.
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| B |
With a singular noun we use -'s:
my sister's room (= her room - one sister)
Mr Carter's house (= his house)
With a plural noun (sisters, friends etc.) we put an apostrophe (') at the end of the word:
my sisters' room (= their room - two or more sisters)
the Carters' house(= their house - Mr and Mrs Carter)
If a plural noun does not end in -s (for example men/women/children/people) we use -'s:
the men's changing room
a children's book(= a book for children)
You can use -'s after more than one noun:
Jack and Karen's wedding
Mr and Mrs Carter's house
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| C |
For things, ideas etc., we normally use of ( ... of the water / ... of the book etc.):
the temperature of the water (not the water's temperature)
the name of the book
the owner of the restaurant
Sometimes the structure noun + noun is possible (see Unit 80):
the water temperature
the restaurant owner
We say the beginning/end/middle of ... / the top/bottom of ... / the front/back/side of ... :
the beginning of the month (not the month's beginning)
the top of the hill
the back of the car
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| D |
You can usually use -'s or of ... for an organisation (= a group of people). So you can say:
the government's decision or the decision of the government
the company's success or the success of the company
It is also possible to use -'s for places. So you can say:
the city's streets
the world's population
Italy's prime minister
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| E |
You can also use -'s with time words (yesterday / next week etc.):
- Do you still have yesterday's newspaper?
- Next week's meeting has been cancelled.
In the same way, you can say today's / tomorrow's / this evening's / Monday's etc.
We also use -'s (or -s' with plural words) with periods of time:
- I've got a week's holiday starting on Monday.
- Julia has got three weeks' holiday.
- I live near the station - it's only about ten minutes' walk.
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