G
ESC
  • Type to search across all units
← All units

Unit 81 · Articles and nouns

-'s (your sister's name) and of ... (the name of the book)

Study

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 do not use -'s after a long group of words. So we say:

›

my friend's mother

›

but the mother of the man we met yesterday (not the man we met yesterday's mother)

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.

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 () after s:

›

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 children

›

Mr and Mrs Carter's house

C

For things, ideas etc., we normally use of:

›

the temperature of the water (not the water's temperature)

›

the name of the book

›

the owner of the restaurant

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

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

We also use -'s for places. So you can say:

›

the city's streets

›

the world's population

›

Italy's prime minister

E

We 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 ten minutes' walk.

Noun + noun (a bus driver) ➜ Unit 80 a three-hour journey, a ten-pound note ➜ Unit 80E -'s (= is or has) in short forms ➜ Appendix 5.2

Exercises (4)

0/4 exercises checked
—
81.1

In some of these sentences, it is more natural to use -'s or -'. Change the underlined parts where necessary.

  1. 1
    Who is the owner of this restaurant?
    ✓ 正确，无需修改example
  2. 2
    How old are the children of Chris?
    Chris's childrenexample
  3. 3
    Is this the umbrella of your friend?
  4. 4
    Write your name at the top of the page.
  5. 5
    I've never met the daughter of James.
  6. 6
    How old is the son of Helen and Andy?
  7. 7
    We don't know the cause of the problem.
  8. 8
    I don't know the words of this song.
  9. 9
    The friends of your children are here.
  10. 10
    What is the cost of a new washing machine?
  11. 11
    The garden of our neighbours is very small.
  12. 12
    The hair of David is very long.
  13. 13
    I work on the ground floor of the building.
  14. 14
    I couldn't go to the party of my best friend.
  15. 15
    George is the brother of somebody I knew at college.
  16. 16
    Have you seen the car of the parents of Ben?
  17. 17
    What is the meaning of this expression?
  18. 18
    Do you agree with the policy of the government?
81.2

Which is right?

  1. 1
    Don't step on the cat's tail.
  2. 2
    It's my {} birthday tomorrow.
  3. 3
    Those {} look nice. Shall we buy some?
  4. 4
    {} clothes are expensive.
  5. 5
    Zurich is {} largest city.
  6. 6
    Your {} parents are your grandparents.
  7. 7
    I took a lot of {} when I was on holiday.
  8. 8
    This isn't my coat. It's {}.
  9. 9
    Have you read any of {} poems?
81.3

Read each sentence and write a new sentence beginning with the underlined words.

  1. 1
    The meeting tomorrow has been cancelled.
    Tomorrow's meeting has been cancelled.example
  2. 2
    The storm last week caused a lot of damage.
  3. 3
    The only cinema in the town has closed down.
  4. 4
    The weather in Britain is very changeable.
  5. 5
    Tourism is the main industry in the region.
81.4

Use the information given to complete the sentences.

  1. 1
    If I leave my house at 9 o'clock and drive to the airport, I arrive at about 11.
    So it's about from my house to the airport. (drive)example
  2. 2
    If I leave my house at 8.40 and walk to the centre, I get there at 9 o'clock.
    So it's from my house to the centre. (walk)
  3. 3
    I'm going on holiday on the 12th. I have to be back at work on the 26th.
    So I've got . (holiday)
  4. 4
    I went to sleep at 3 o'clock this morning and woke up an hour later. After that I couldn't sleep.
    So last night I only had . (sleep)