1. THE POSSESSIVE WITH 'S
* To indicate possession for people or animals:
a) in the singular, add 's:
Anne's bike.- James's friend.-The dog's food.
b) for plurals ending in -s, just add ':
The boys' mother.- My parents' house.- The ladies' hats
c) For other plurals not ending in -s add 's:
The children's friends.- The women's cars.
d) Note that you can use 's after more than one noun:
Jack and Jill's wedding.- Mr and Mrs Carter's house
e) Note that you can use 's without a following noun.
Mary's hair is longer than Ann's.
“Whose umbrella is this?”- “'It's my mother's”
“Where are you going?” – “To John's”
OTHER POSSESSIVES
* To indicate possession for things:
a) Use of:
The end of the road.- The smell of cooking.
b) For common nouns (house, car, school, etc.) of is not necessary, and the word
position changes:
Car keys.- The kitchen door.- A bus driver.
c) For expressions of time 's is used:
A fortnight's holiday.- Two weeks' rest.
Tomorrow's meeting has been cancelled.
Have you still got last Saturday's newspaper?
d) You can use 's when the first noun is an organisation (= a group of people):
the government's decision or the decision of the government
the company's success or the success of the company
e) It is also possible to use 's with places:
the city's new theatre.- the world's population
Britain's system of government.- Italy's largest city.
DOUBLE GENITIVE
* To emphasize the person who possesses rather than the thing which he possesses.
One of John's friends = A friend of John's.
One of my friends = A friend of mine.