Grammar：Possessive 's
【明報專訊】(請看附圖)
■English highway
We use apostrophe "s" ('s), also called possessive 's, as a determiner to show that something belongs to someone or something.
1. Singular noun + 's
E.g. Dr. Panda's new car
(The new car belongs to Dr. Panda)
2. (irregular) Plural noun + 's or '
E.g. James' father
(When a first or last name ends in -s, we can either add ' or 's.)
E.g. children's toys
(Children is an irregular plural noun, like ''men'' and ''people''. The possession means that the toys belong to Mr Wong's children.)
3. Using two possessive 's constructions in the same noun phrase.
E.g. James' father's
(The car belongs to James' father.)
4. Omitting the noun after possessive 's if the places are familiar to the speaker and the listener.
E.g. the hairdresser's salon – the hairdresser's
the doctor's surgery – the doctor's
5. Noun phrase + of + possessive pronoun
E.g. A friend of mine told me that all of the tickets have already sold out.
■Glossary
detailed (adj) 詳細的
joyride (n)駕車兜風
belong to (phr)屬於
familiar (adj) 熟悉的
■Gear up
Circle the correct answers
( ' or 's) below.
1. Can you give me Anthony ' / 's phone number please?
2. My grandparents ' / 's pet is called Nana.
3. A lot of students ' / 's hair are black.
4. The men ' / 's toilet are on the ground floor.
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[Smarties' Power English 第420期]
