CARROTTA
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🔖 Compendium
Grammar
EN
English — Saxon genitive and of-possession
English shows possession in two main ways: with 's / s' (the dog's tail) and with the of-phrase (the roof of the house). Which one you use depends mostly on whether the owner is a person or a thing.
1
How it works
✓ Rule
Add 's to a singular owner (the dog's tail), and just an apostrophe ' to a plural owner already ending in -s (the girls' room). For people and animals prefer the 's form; for things and abstract ideas prefer of (the roof of the house, the end of the film).
2
Examples
| Form | When to use it |
|---|---|
| the dog's tail | Singular owner: add 's |
| the girls' room | Plural owner ending in -s: add only ' |
| the children's toys | Irregular plural (no -s): add 's |
| the roof of the house | Owner is a thing: prefer of |
| the end of the film | Abstract idea / part of a whole: use of |
| a friend of mine | Double genitive: of + possessive pronoun |
| today's newspaper | Time expressions also take 's |
3
Good to know
⚠ Note
The apostrophe marks possession, not a plural: write the dog's tail, but two dogs (no apostrophe). Note also the double genitive: say a friend of mine or a friend of John's, not a friend of me and not a mine friend.