The Possessive Case of Nouns

Any is always used after negative words (hardly, never, without, seldom, rarely).

Some – Any – No – Not Any – Every

	Adjectives	Pronouns	Adverbs
		people	things	places
+	some any	someone/somebody anyone/anybody	something anything	somewhere anywhere
?	any	anyone/anybody	anything	anywhere
-	no/ not any	no one/not anyone nobody/not anybody	nothing not anything	nowhere not anywhere
+ - ?	every	everybody (all the people) everyone	everything (all the things)	everywhere (in all the places)

v Some is normally used in a positive sentence before uncountable nouns or plural countable nouns.

There’s some cheese left.

Some is also used in questions when we want to make an offer, a request or when we expect a positive answer.

Would you like some hot chocolate?

Could I have some cake, please?

Did you buy some oranges? (= I expect you bought.)

v Any is normally used before uncountable nouns or plural countable nouns in questions.

Are there any more apples?

Any and its compounds can be used after if in a positive sentence.

I doubt if anyone can help me.

Any can also be used in positive sentences meaning it doesn’t matter when/which/who/where.

You can come any day you want.

You can go anywhere you want.

v No/Not any are used before plural countable nouns or uncountable nouns in negations.

There is no cheese left. or There isn’t any cheese left.

There’s hardly any food left.

v Every is used before singular countable nouns. Every and its compounds take a verb in the singular.

Every student has a task. (= all the students)

Everything is ready for the wedding. (= all the things)

v The above rules apply to the compounds of some/any/no/every.

There’s someone in the office.

To show possession, we can use both the of + noun and the possessive case.

English nouns denoting living beings (and some nouns denoting lifeless things) have two cases the common case and the possessive case.

To make the possessive case of nouns in writing, we add ’s (apostrophe s) to singular nouns and to irregular plurals that don't end in –s:

Philip’s car, the women’s hat

We add ’ (an apostrophe) to regular plurals (which end in –s):

the boys’ football boots

the girls’ room

the Carters’ house

possessive’s is used:	of + noun is used:
1. for people and animals Tom’s sister the cat’s tail	1. for things, ideas the name of the book the handle of the bag
2. for a group of people and organizations the team’s success the company’s decision	2. for a group of people and organizations the success of the team the decision of the company
3. for places the city’s streets the world’s population Kyiv’s parks	3. for places the streets of the city the population of the world the parks of Kyiv
	When we are talking about a process, or a change over time only this construction is possible: the reconstruction of the airport
4. with time expressions yesterday’s newspaper tomorrow’s meeting Monday’s lesson
5. with periods of time, distance, weight ten minutes’ walk two hours’ flight three miles’ trip nine kilos’ bag

Notes:

v We can use ’s after more than one noun:

Peter and Mary’s wedding

Mr and Mrs John’s house

v To make the possessive form of names ending in -s we can add either ’ or ’s:

It’s Derek Jones’ (or Derek Jones’s) new sports car.

v The noun following a possessive form can be left out when we talk about someone’s home or some shops and services, e.g. the newsagent’s, the chemist’s, the hairdresser’s:

We’re going to Linda’s for the evening. (= Linda’s home)

I must go to the butcher’s this morning. (= the butcher’s shop)

We also usually leave out the noun when the meaning is clear in cases like: “Whose hat is this?” – “ Richard’s. ” (rather than Richard’s hat.) This is the so-called absolute possessive.

v We use of + possessive case/possessive pronoun when there is a determiner, (this, some etc.) before the noun:

That’s a poem of Steve’s. (= one of Steve’s poem)

They have some books of mine. (= some of my books)

v When the noun is a long noun phrase we prefer to use of + noun:

What is the name of the man who phoned you?

Дата добавления: 2014-12-29