-s (the girl's name) and of... (the name of the book)

. -s (the girl's name) and of... (the name of the book)

A. We normally use -'s for people or animals (the girl's.../the horse's... etc.):

the girl's name the horse's tail Mr Evans's daughter a woman's hat the manager's office Sarah's

eyes

* Where is the manager's office? (not 'the office of the manager')

* What colour are Sarah's eyes? (not 'the eyes of Sarah')

Note that you can use -'s without a following noun:

* This isn't my book. It's my brother's. (= my brother's book)

We do not always use -'s for people. For example, we would use of... in this sentence:

* What is the name of the man who lent us the money? ('the man who lent us the money' is too long to be

followed by -'s)

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. For things, ideas etc. we normally use of ( ... of the book/... of the restaurant etc.):

the door of the garage (not 'the garage's door')

the name of the book

the owner of the restaurant

Sometimes you can use the structure noun + noun (see Unit 79):

the garage door the restaurant owner

We normally use of (not noun + noun ) with the beginning/end/top/bottom/front/back middle/side etc. So we

say:

the back of the car (not 'the car back')

the beginning of the month

C. You can usually use -'s or of... for an organization (= 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

It is also possible to use -'s for places. So you can say:

the city's new theatre the world's population Italy's largest city

D. After a singular noun we use -'s:

my sister's room (= her room--one sister)

Mr Carter's house

After a plural noun (sisters,, friends etc.) we put ' (an apostrophe) after the s (s'):

my sisters' room (= their room--two or more sisters)

the Carters' 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)

Note that you can use -'s after more than one noun:

Jack and Jill's wedding Mr and Mrs Carter's house

E. You can also use -'s with time expressions (yesterday/next week etc.)

* Have you still got 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.

* Jill has got three weeks' holiday.

* I live near the station - it's only about ten minutes' walk.