Possessive case of nouns in English. Double possessive case. Subjective and objective cases in English

And numerals, which serve to connect words in a sentence. But cases in English, which are variants of the same word (word form), still exist. Fortunately, there are only 3 of them: objective, subjective and possessive. Let's talk about each one of them. C'mon.

Subjective and objective cases in English

To understand the concept of the objective case, we will have to go back in time and remember a little school course Russian language. We all remember that the subject is a word in the nominative case. As for the rest of the nouns and pronouns in the sentence, they will most often be objects. IN English language everything follows the same principle. A pronoun or noun is either the subject ( subject), or an addition ( object). Recall that the subject answers the question “who?” So what"? ( Nominative case). It's easy to guess that subject will stand in subjective case, A additions- V objective case.

A man saw a dog near a building.

There are 3 nouns in this sentence: a man, a dog and a building.
At the first place, as always, is subject for which it is used subjective case in English. Followed by addition a dog, which, accordingly, is in objective case. As can be seen from the example, the form of the noun has not changed.

Object case for pronouns

With nouns everything is simple - they do not change their form for both cases (subjective and objective). But pronouns have their own special form in case they do not take the place of the subject:

I saw him, and he saw me.

Possessive case in English

If everything is more or less clear with the subjective and objective cases, since they correspond to the case forms of the Russian language, then possessive we don't have. We answer questions of belonging (“whose?”, “whose?”, “whose?”, “whose?”) with an adjective. And in English this function is performed by the category of case of nouns and pronouns.

However, the implementation of the possessive function will be different for nouns and pronouns.

To indicate ownership of nouns, use "" s“Moreover, the ending is added to the noun to which something belongs.

This is my mother's bag
This is mom's bag.

If noun ends with hissing or " s", then they simply add apostrophe :

I"ll take my parents" car.
I'll take my parents' car.

It should be distinguished possessive «" s» from verb abbreviations « is» — «" s».

I like John's new blazer.

Whose new blazer is it? Jonah, that's why John's — possessive noun John.

I think John's right.

What is John doing? Is right, so John's — reduction from John is right.

Now let's look at some special cases of using the possessive ending "" s»:

• If the plural form of a noun ends not on « s", then we use the full version of the possessive ending - apostrophe + « s": mouse - mice. The main character is mice"s King. - Main character- King of mice.
• In English there are compound nouns consisting of several words. As a rule, they are written with a hyphen. to such words "" s" is added after the very last word: We all waited for The-Boy-Who-Lived's speech.- We were all waiting for the speech of the boy who lived.

The possessive case of inanimate nouns is formed using the preposition “ of", not endings "" s" (the headquarter of the company). But there are exceptions for:

• Planets - Jupiter's size.
• Newspapers and organizations - Times's editor UNESCO's operation.
• Distances and times - ten meter"s height, a minute"s business.
• Seasons and months - summer's sadness July's hit.
• Cities and countries - Minsk's Main Square, Russian"s elite force.

Words like nature, ship, nation, country,car, water, city, boat, ocean and town - ship's crew, nation's pride car's engine etc.

Pronouns to express belonging also have their own form:

My son is the smartest in his class.
My son is the smartest in his class.

As can be seen from the example, a possessive pronoun must be followed by a noun. However, pronouns have an absolute form, which allows them to be used without a noun or in a different position (not just in front).

He was a friend of mine.
He was my friend.

Where are your socks? -I don't know, but yours are there.
Where are your socks? - I don’t know, but yours are there.

That's all absolute forms of possessives pronouns:

Got me thinking... Who am I writing this to? It was not enough to become a schizo. I’d better go spin the slots ----------

Conclusion

Cases in English perform slightly different functions than in Russian. This can cause difficulties when translating and trying to express your thoughts. But there are only three of them, and the method of formation is easier than in the Russian language - you do not need to remember the spelling of endings, based on such complex concepts as declension, gender and number.

To improve your skills in using English cases, as well as practice using them and clarify the remaining nuances, use the services of an online tutor. It's quick, simple and doesn't even require you to leave your home. Try it ;)

Big and friendly EnglishDom family

Used in written and oral speech, it occurs more often among those who have seriously taken up the study of this subject. It has now become a necessity to own foreign language. And you can master it at a high level only if you thoroughly study the grammatical features of the language. This is where we need information about how many cases nouns have in English, how they are formed and when they need to be used. This is exactly what we are going to talk about in this article.

The concept of cases

First, let's figure out what cases exist in English. The table, examples of use and translation options will not give us a complete understanding of the topic, since everything there is taken briefly, condensed and designed for an experienced user. You need to carefully study each case separately and understand the similarities and differences from cases in the Russian language. This is necessary to facilitate the assimilation of the material. So, in English there are two cases:

1. The case is common, called Common Case.
2. The possessive case is translated as Possessive Case.

What is case itself? This is a grammatical trick that helps express the relationship of a noun to other words in a sentence. Initially, back in ancient English, there were several cases similar to Russian:

• nominative;
• genitive;
• dative;
• accusative;
• instrumental.

But over time, with changes in linguistics, most of the cases disappeared, leaving only two. We are still dealing with them to this day. This cannot but please language learners, as the understanding and use of words in sentences has become much easier.

Common case

When discussing the topic of how many cases there are in the English language, it would be appropriate to start with the common case. This grammatical nuance is not reflected in any way on the form of the word, and its meaning is so vague that the words can be used in different situations and contexts. The general case has two uses:

1. As the subject of an action, essentially serving as the subject of a sentence: The frog jumps high. He swims fast.
2. As an object of action, acting as a recipient. I gave it to the man. He called us at 4.

It is worth noting that this distinction does not have any effect on the noun. It stood in its form and will continue to stand in the same form. But with pronouns the situation is different. Their form also depends on what function they perform, whether they are an object or a subject. We will see this clearly in the examples in the table.

Like these simple examples you can see the difference in the form of the pronouns. As for nouns, their form does not change. We determine the meaning of a word and its relationship to other words in a sentence by its place in word order. This factor makes English one of the easiest languages ​​to learn. Except established order words also have prepositions that help to understand what role a particular noun plays in a sentence.

For example:

• They made it with a knife. They did it with a knife. The preposition with helps to correctly determine the function of the word “knife”.
• He goes to school. He goes to school. The preposition to also helps to correctly interpret the use of the word “school”.

Possessive

Next, speaking about how many cases there are in the English language, we move on to the second case - the possessive. Already from the title it becomes clear what question it answers: whose? whose? whose? whose? To denote this pronoun, special possessive forms are used:

This is the case if we're talking about about pronouns. The picture is different for nouns. There are two options for expressing this case:

1. Use of an apostrophe and ending -s.
2. Application of the preposition of.

If the noun is animate, then the first option applies here. For example, mother's bag, brother's book etc. Moreover, it is the apostrophe that shows what belongs to whom. If the noun is not alive, then using the first option is incorrect, and a preposition comes to the rescue, for example: the door of the room - the door of the room, the part of the story - part of the story etc.

Features of the case

As we continue to discuss how many cases there are in the English language, we must not forget about the peculiarities and exceptions for which the English language is so famous. So, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• if a word consists of two or more parts, then the possessive ending will be added only to the last one: passer-by’s ticket - passer-by’s ticket;
• if this form refers not to one, but to several words, then the ending will also be added at the end of the phrase: father and mother’s room - mom and dad’s room;
• If the noun is plural, only an apostrophe is added to it: sisters’ dinner - sisters’ lunch.

Exceptions

There are a number of inanimate words to which the possessive ending -s can be applied:

• measures of time and distance: today’s bus - today’s bus;
• cities, countries: Russian’s industry - industry of Russia;
• newspapers, organizations: OBSCE's car - OSCE car;
• words: nation, country, city, town, ship, car, boat, nature, water, ocean;
• months, seasons: winter's weather - winter weather;
• planets: Jupiter's light - light of Jupiter;
• established phrases.

Speaking about how many cases there are in English, the number of exceptions should also be taken into account. This is the most important point. After all, everyone knows: it is not so important to learn the rule as its exceptions.

Using prepositions

English cases also help express prepositions in practice. There are several most popular prepositions that convey the meaning of the dative and

• Preposition to. Shows the direction of action and conveys the dative case: She goes to Mike. She goes to Mike.
• Preposition with. Used to show the use of an object or tool, and conveys the instrumental case: She was killed with a knife. She was killed with a knife.
• Preposition by. Indicates who or what is performing the action: They saw a bag carried by a man. They saw the bag the man was carrying.

As you can see, with the help of such simple tricks, English grammar manages to convey all the necessary information both in written and oral form.

English, being an analytical language, does not, by and large, distinguish between cases, since nouns do not have endings (the exception is the ending in number). All relationships between words in a sentence are conveyed through prepositions.
However, in grammar it is generally accepted that the English language still has two cases - common (in fact, the dictionary version of the word, which is used in the vast majority of cases) and possessive ( Possessive Case). Let's get straight to the point:

A beautiful house of my friend’s sister. - Beautiful house my friend's sisters.

We tried to screw it up as best we could. In this sentence there are as many as three manifestations of such a phenomenon as the possessive case:

friend 's sister - friend's sister
house of...sister- sister's house
my friend's is my friend

What is the possessive case?

The possessive case is a modifier of the noun that comes after it. The word in the possessive case answers the question “Whose”?

We decided to rephrase this wonderful definition a little and make it more understandable:

The possessive case denotes “owner” (a word with apostrophe or preposition of) object or phenomenon (following word). It turns out that:

a siste r's house = sister- owner (therefore stands with an apostrophe), and house- what belongs to her

friend 's sister = friend- the owner, and sister(rather tongue-tied, but clearly) belongs to him.

a leg of the table= table- owner (that’s why there is a preposition before the word of, expressing the meaning “whose?”), and leg- what belongs to the table.

Formation of the possessive case

The possessive case will be formed differently with animate and inanimate nouns. Here we are talking about possessive case forms.

Animate nouns

The possessive case can be formed animate nouns by adding ‘s singular. Let's call this “pure form”:

mother 's car - mom's car = (whose?) mom's car
Jack 's friend - Jack's friend = (whose?) Jack's friend
cat 's rug - cat rug = (whose?) “cat” rug

In English, nouns in the possessive case always stand before defined by the word (“owner - object”).

In plural we only add apostrophe ‘. The form of the word itself already has an ending -s/ -es. Conglomeration large quantity Hissing words are not welcome in English:

cat s’ tails - cats' tails
sister s’ family name - sisters' surname

There are a number of nouns that form their plural by changing their root vowels or word form. Such words will form the possessive case by adding the traditional s':

women 's clothes - women's clothing
children 's toys - children's toys

Possessive case with inanimate nouns

In practice, it is generally accepted that inanimate nouns form the possessive case by resorting to preposition of- we will call this the “prepositional” form. IN in this case“owner” stands after a preposition and after the defined word:

the roof of the house= house - owner ( of conveys the meaning of the question “whose?”) - roof (whose? what?) of the house

the door of the library- door (whose? which?) of the library

Can't do without exceptions! There are a number inanimate nouns, which will form the possessive case traditional way - 's. These words can be grouped according to the following characteristics:

1. nouns denoting time And adverbs of time/ distance/ cost:
a month’s holiday - time
today's paper - adverb of time
a kilometer’s walk - distance
two dollar's worth - cost

2. nouns denoting celestial bodies:

sun's rays

3. collective nouns relating to groups or communities of people/ pronouns replacing animate nouns:

our family's house - group
nobody’s business - pronoun

Possessive pronouns

Another manifestation of the possessive case can be found in possessive pronouns.

In the case where there is a desire to use a pronoun without a subsequent noun, it partially acquires the characteristics 's.

It is my car. - It is mine.
your room - yours
his toy - his
her boyfriend - hers
its leg - its
our house - ours
thier cafe - theirs

This is called the absolute form of a possessive pronoun, which can replace a noun.

P.S. Words in the possessive case have the same properties as possessive pronouns and replace the article. If “owners” are two or more words, apostrophe joins the latter:

Mary and Jack 's flat - Mary and Jack's apartment

In English you can find a number of stable expressions in which the possessive case will be formed against the rules, for example:

for goodness ’ sake - for God's sake

Although goodness is inanimate and abstract noun, the possessive case is expressed in a “pure” form.

We wish you interesting practice and success!

Victoria Tetkina

A moment like, occupies far from the last place in grammar textbooks. Without this theme, how can we talk about the ownership of something? You can still somehow deal with inanimate nouns, but what about in other cases? First things first...

Possessive case rules in English

As you know, Possessive case rules in English are needed to express the ownership of an object to a certain person. That is, today we will learn to say “friend’s house”, “wife’s letters” and so on. The following instructions will help you figure out what's what.

1. According to the standard rule, the ownership of an object is expressed by adding an apostrophe and –s to the animate person to whom the thing belongs.

For example: my sister 's powder - my sister's powder

2. If the object belongs to a plural noun (formed according to the rules, using –s), then you only need to add an apostrophe to this word.

For example: my sisters ’ house – my sisters' house

3. In cases where a noun forms plural In particular, it is recommended to adhere to the standard rule (apostrophe + -s).

For example: the children 's toys - children's toys

4. If in a sentence you need to name two persons to whom something belongs, then an apostrophe and –s are added to the last noun.

For example: Peter and Mary 's apartment – ​​Peter and Mary’s apartment

5. There are phrases with compound nouns. In this case, the apostrophe and –s It is recommended to add to the last part.

For example: my mother-in-law 's dog - my mother-in-law's dog

6. The rules of the possessive case in English usually apply only to animate nouns. That is, inanimate nouns are not friendly with an apostrophe + -s. The pretext we know will help here of.

For example: a piece of paper - a piece of paper

Possessive case in English. Examples

Agree, it’s not at all difficult to start using possessive case in English. Examples, which are presented below, will help you understand even better.

Case is a grammatical category that shows the connection of a noun with other words in a sentence. Previously, there were several cases in English, but over time only two remained: common case(the common case) and possessive(the possessive/genitive case).

The Common Case

Form general case all nouns have. IN general case nouns have a null ending ( car,bird), i.e. this case is not indicated in any way. That is why, in the absence of prepositions, the relationship of such nouns to other words in a sentence is determined only by the place it occupies in the sentence.

Let's consider what functions a noun in the general case can perform in a sentence.

• The noun that comes before the predicate is used in the function subject and corresponds in Russian to a noun in the nominative case.

For example:

Thedog bit the man. — Dog bit a man. (Who bit? The dog.)

• The noun that comes after the predicate performs the function direct object and corresponds in Russian to the noun in accusative case without pretext.

For example:

The dog bit theman. — The dog bit a man.(Who was bitten? A man.)

• If between the predicate and the noun that performs the function of a direct object, there is another noun in the general case without a preposition that denotes a person, it is indirect object. Such a noun corresponds in Russian to a noun in dative case without pretext.

For example:

Maria showed herfriends the photos. - Maria showed to my friends photos. (Who did you show it to? Friends.)

Nouns in the common case with prepositions of,to,by And with help to express relationships that in Russian are conveyed using indirect cases without prepositions. In this case, prepositions are not translated into Russian as separate words.

Nouns in the common case with the preposition OF

Noun in common case with preposition of corresponds in Russian to a noun in the genitive case and is a definition in relation to the noun that precedes it.

For example:

The walls of the house are made of brick. - Walls Houses made of brick. (Walls of what? Houses.)

Nouns in the common case with the preposition TO

Noun with preposition to corresponds in Russian to a noun in the dative case and is used as a prepositional indirect object.

For example:

Maria showed the photos toherfriends. — Maria showed photographs to my friends. (Who did you show it to? Friends.)

Nouns in the common case with the preposition BY

Noun with preposition by corresponds in Russian to a noun in the instrumental case. This combination is usually used in the passive voice to indicate actor or strength. The noun in this case is used as a prepositional object.

The book was written bymyfriend. - The book was written my friend. (Written by whom? A friend.)

The building was destroyed by the hurricane. The building was destroyed hurricane. (Destroyed by what? Hurricane.)

Nouns in the common case with the preposition WITH

Noun with preposition with also corresponds to a noun in the instrumental case in Russian. This combination is used to designate an object with which a certain action is performed. The noun in this case is also used as a prepositional object.

For example:

I can't write withthispen. - I can not write with this pen. (Write with what? Pen.)

Note: nouns in the general case can be used with any prepositions and convey those relationships that in Russian are expressed using indirect cases with prepositions.

For example:

I live with my friend.- I live with a friend.

This present is for you. - This gift for you.

The Possessive Case

Regarding the form possessive case, then only some groups of nouns have it (more on this below). The possessive case most often expresses the ownership of an object. A noun in the possessive case performs the function of determining in relation to another noun.

What does the possessive case look like?

Form

The possessive case is formed using an apostrophe and the letter s - 's — or just an apostrophe - ‘ . The first way you can get the possessive case form for nouns that are in the singular (your father -> your father ‘ s book = your father's book). Second way the form of the possessive case is obtained for the plural of nouns, which are formed according to the basic rule (his parents -> his parent s‘ car = his parents' car), as well as for some proper names that end in - s(Socrates -> Socrate s‘ ideas = Socrates' ideas ) .

If the plural of a noun is formed differently than most, then use first way(their children -> their children ‘ s toys = their children's toys ).

Note 1: for a compound noun ‘ s is added to its last element: my mother-in-law -> my mother-in- law ‘ s car = my mother-in-law's car; the passer-by —> the passer- by ‘ s glasses = glasses of a passerby.

Note 2: Mary and Peter 's house = Mary and Peter's house (shared). BUT: Mary ‘ s and Peter ‘ s houses = Mary's house and Peter's house (each has their own) or = Mary's house and Peter's house (each has their own).

With which nouns is the possessive case used?

As mentioned above, not all nouns can form the possessive case. The following groups can do this:

1) animate

Mary's bag - Mary's bag

the boys’ bicycles - boys’ bicycles

the team’s defeat - team defeat

the tiger's cage - tiger cage

2) some are inanimate

• a) nouns that mean time And distance:

a month’s holiday - monthly vacation

a mile’s distance - one mile distance

• b) names countries And cities, as well as words world,country,city:

Germany's policy - German policy

the city’s museums - city museums

• c) nouns ship,boat,yacht:

the ship's name - the name of the ship

• d) some nouns that denote shops:

a/the baker’s / butcher’s / chemist’s etc. (shop) - bakery, butcher shop, pharmacy

a/the travel agent's etc. (office) - travel agency

the dentist’s / doctor’s / vet’s etc. (surgery) - dentist/doctor/veterinarian waiting room

NB! in this case, in a sentence it is enough to use the word directly in the form of the possessive case (for example: I’m at the travelagent's(= travel agent's office). She went to the baker's(= baker’s shop).). Word house also often omitted in such cases (for example: I had lunch at my friend's(= my friend’s house). — I had lunch with my friend).

• e) in phrases for heaven’s sake, for goodness’ sake- For heaven's sake
• f) some set expressions: at a snail's pace- like a snail (very slowly); a hair's breadth- by a hair's breadth

Note 3: With the exception of those listed above, inanimate nouns generally show ownership using a preposition. of.

the roof of the building

the door of the car

Note 4: Two nouns in the possessive case rarely come one after the other. Usually the preposition is used with the second noun in this case of.

For example:

This is the cat ofmy friend's daughter. (instead of This is my friend’s daughter’s cat)

Also of used when a noun denoting the object to which something belongs is followed by a phrase or sentence:

For example:

I didn't take the advice of the woman I met in the city.

In what other cases can the possessive case be used?

On the one hand, the possessive case is used to show ownership. For example: the girl's name.

On the other hand, it can convey certain qualitative characteristics of an object. In this case, we are not talking about belonging, but about the properties of the object.

For example:

a children’s room = children’s room

women's magazines = women's magazines

a Bachelor's degree - bachelor's degree

This is only true if we are talking about a relation to another noun (for example: the roof of a house ofthehouse). Other relationships conveyed in Russian genitive case, are expressed differently in English (for example: chair less table= the chair is smallerthan the table).

Those. by adding -s to the singular form.

The resulting word is pronounced in this case in the same way as the original: parents'- [ˈpeərənts].

Among proper names that end in -s, there are those in which the possessive case form can be formed in either way. For example: Burn s‘ life = Burns ‘ s life; Jone s‘ flat = Jones ‘ s flat.

Regardless of how exactly the form of the possessive case is formed in this case, the ending of the word, as a rule, reads as [...iz]: Jones’ / Jones’s - .