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    Learn English > English lessons and exercises > English test #108964: Possessive or genitive Case





    > Other English exercises on the same topics: Speaking | Idioms | Genitive [Change theme]
    > Similar tests: - Vocabulary: greeting people - Genitive case - Vocabulary: on the phone - On the phone - Interacting with someone - Dialogue : What time...? - Conditional clauses - Differences between Like and As
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    Possessive or genitive Case


    After revising possessive adjectives and pronouns, we're going to review the use of the genitive case, also called 'possessive case', which is often ill-treated by learners.

     

    1) The GENITIVE CASE:  construction. 

    The Genitive Case or  Possessive Case  is used when the possessor is a living being, a group or an Institution. You must then add  's  to singular nouns or to plural ones which are not ending with an - s . You simply add   '  to nouns in the regular plural.

    ex: Olie's birthday party. The children's toys , the company's Headquarters, Manchester's football team.The boys' hats.

     

                                       

     

    2) Should we put an article or not?

    It must be noticed that ‘the possessed object ' is NEVER preceded by an article.

    ex:  Mom's necklace; Tom's new car; Mr Pierce's house.

      

    On the contrary, if there is an article in front of the possessor, it MUST be used in front of the English genitive, unless you're dealing with a generalisation :

    ex: The scientist's new computer a poor man's rags; the teacher's books.

    BUT :  Young people's problems. Rich people's luck.

     

    3) The ‘Possessive Case' or Genitive Case is also used to express a date or a duration:

    ex : A ten minutes' crossingan hour's waiting.

    ex : Yesterday's papernext week's meeting.

     

    4) If there are two (or more) possessors:

    ex : His parents' car => His parents have one car only.

    BUT  Paul's and Susie's kids... => Paul and Susie each have different kids.

     5) Whose = questioning or giving information about the possessor ...? : 

    Whose? can be used before a noun=> Whose car is this ? = (it then behaves like a possessive adjective.)

    Whose? can also be used as a pronoun => Whose is that car? = (whose is then followed by verb).


    Now that you know a lot about possessive adjectives and the 'possessive case', you should notice the parallelism ot the constructions between the 3 structures : Whose car... , Teddy's car, and his car = possessive indicator + noun (WITHOUT A  DEFINITE or INDEFINITE  ARTICLE)

     

    Let's talk about Mr and Mrs Richard, and Mr and Mrs Ford in the exercise.

     

                                                                  





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    1) Is this new car? No! It's ... It's grey... red! Of course not! car is red, but is white! 2) Are these kids? Yes! I know they are step-parents. Each already had a kid! But you know, the baby is ! He was born just a few months ago...
    A story of shoes!!! Swapping is funny !
    3) Kym, these aren't your shoes! ? 'They're , she lent them to me!' 'Are you kidding? You're not wearing YOUR shoes?! Do you mean that Sara's wearing your shoes now?' 'Oh no, Mom! She's wearing ! She told Lisa:' shoes are too big for me and they'd fit you! Lisa replied: 'I like them, but I can't have them, because I'm wearing jeans today... But I can ask : either or ... depending on the sizes of their shoes...' And she took ...' 'Well, well... What a story! It's a good thing you have only a few best friends...'








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