2021-09-28 14:59:07
#Tip 95.
In
compound nouns, the last part takes the possessive sign. So is also when a phrase is used as a noun.
My
father-in-law’s home is in Easton.
We had a
quarter of an hour’s talk.
Other examples are the following:—
My brother-in-law’s opinion; the commander-in-chief’s orders; the lady-in-waiting’s duties; the coal dealer’s prices; Edward VII’s reign; the King of England’s portrait; half a year’s delay; in three or four months’ time; a cable and a half’s length; the pleasure of Major Pendennis and Mr. Arthur Pendennis’s company (THACKERAY).
NOTE. Noun-phrases often contain two substantives, the second of which is in apposition with the first. In such phrases, '
of' is generally preferable to the possessive.
Thus, we may say either “Tom the blacksmith’s daughter” or “the daughter of Tom the blacksmith”; but “the son of Mr. Hill the carpenter” is both neater and clearer than “Mr. Hill the carpenter’s son.” The use of
’s is also avoided with a very long phrase like “the owner of the house on the other side of the street.”
An objective may stand in apposition with a possessive, the latter being equivalent to '
of' with an object. Thus,—“I am not yet of Percy’s mind [= of the mind of Percy], the
Hotspur of the North” (Shakspere).
https://t.me/Advanced_English_Grammar
380 viewsAdmiral, 11:59
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