Cases in English: case systems, the use of prepositional constructions. Possessive case of nouns in English

English grammar does not have a case system similar to Russian, but it has its own special case, which has no analogue in Russian. More precisely, there are such constructions in our language, but they refer to a completely different part of speech - adjective. What is it? As you probably already guessed, today we will talk about the possessive case of nouns in English. We will study this branch of the English language system and learn how to use it correctly by working through this skill with the help of an exercise.

In fact, the English language nominally has as many as three case forms: subject, object and possessive. Why nominally? Because in practice, visible changes with the word occur only in the possessive case . The remaining two cases are a kind of marker for revealing the syntactic role of the word.

The subjective form, as the name implies, always belongs to the subject, that is, the subject performing the actions. The object case of nouns indicates that these words play the role of an object in a sentence. But, again, we repeat, this theoretical knowledge is of little use in practice, because in both cases the noun will have the same dictionary form. Putting a noun into the possessive case is another matter. Here the form changes, and a special grammatical sign appears. But we will talk about this in more detail in the next section.

Meaning and formation of the possessive form

To express the belonging of objects to any person or other subject, the possessive form of words is used. In Russian, adjectives get it, and in English - nouns. There are several ways to form this case.

Singular

Singular words are characterized by two constructions. If we are talking about the description of an animated person, then the stem of the word undergoes changes: an apostrophe ‘ and the ending s are added to its ending.

Sheneeds Jack 's phonenumber She needs Jack's phone number.
Itis mother 's birthdaytoday - Today is my mother's birthday.

This rule applies even when words end in -s or similar sounds.

Liz 's exercisesweresimpler – Lysina's exercises were easier.
It is hard, but it is such an actress's life-This ishard,butsuch isa lifeactresses.
It is Mr. Fox's letter-This islettermr.Fox.

It is important to note that this ending has different pronunciations. When it is preceded by a voiceless consonant, it is read like a Russian C, and if the last letter of the stem is a voiced consonant or vowel, then s is pronounced like a Russian Z. A separate case when the word ends in –s and combinations similar to it (-sh, - ch, -se, -x). In such a situation, the ending is voiced by the Russian IZ. To quickly memorize these rules, it is recommended to perform small exercises to read the examples aloud with the correct pronunciation.

As for the inanimate category, it is possible to form the possessive case of nouns for it in English only with the help of a preposition. We note right away that there are several exceptions to the total number, but there will be a separate discussion about them.

For most inanimate nouns, the possessive construction has several components.

I forgot the end (1) of (2) the story (3) – Iforgotthe endthisstories.

Consider a few more examples to work out this scheme.

This page of the book is yellow-Thispagebooksyellow.
I heard the sound of the train – II heardsoundtrains.
My friend sat at the end of the hall – Myfriendsatinendhall.

Plural

For animate nouns, the formation of possessive forms has some nuances.

Those words that already have the ending -s in the plural, when put into the possessive case, add only an apostrophe to the ending of the stem.

There are boys' toys in the boxATthisboxlietoysboys.
The actresses' dresses are very expensiveDressesactressesveryexpensive.
The browns' house was built in 1986Housebrownovwasbuiltin 1986.

Nouns that have a special form of the plural form the possessive form using the combination ‘+s’.

There are a lot of women's shops in the streetOn thethisstreeta bunch ofwomen'sshops.
He bought the deer's horns at the souvenir shopATsouvenirshopis heboughtthesereindeerhorns.
The children's pictures are simple and brightThesechildren'sdrawingssimpleandbright.

The possessive case of inanimate nouns coincides in construction with the singular form.

The legs of the chairs were brokenlegsthesechairswerebroken.
I often walk on the roofs of the buildings – IoftenI'm walkingonroofsbuildings.
My wife likes the flowers of the fields – mywifelikefieldflowers.

As can be seen from the examples, the formation of possessive forms does not cause any particular difficulties. But before solving the exercises, it is necessary to deal with the already mentioned exceptions.

Possessive case of nouns in English - table of exceptions

It so happened historically that some inanimate nouns form possessive forms according to the type of animate persons, i.e. appending an apostrophe and s. Consider such situations using the table.

Categories	The words	Examples
Indication of the place, name of the object	dentist's office, baker's shop, hairdresser's salon, chemist's shop, McDonald's restaurantandt.P.	Tomorrow I must go to the dentist's office . Tomorrow I have to go to the dentist. They had lunch at McDonald's . They dined at McDonald's.
Names of countries and cities.	Berlin's, England's, Spain's, Prague's, Warsaw'sandt.P.	I have never walked in the Warsaw's streets . I have never walked the streets of Warsaw. I don't know Spain's traditions . I don't know Spanish traditions.
Time designations.	moment's silence, hour's, day's, May'sandt.P.	It was moment's silence. This iswasmomentsilence. We are going to our dacha in the May's holidays . We are going to our dacha on the May holidays.
Measures of distance	miles', kilometers'andt.P.	This building is at 14 miles' distance from this house. This building is 14 miles away from this house..
Special words	river's, company's, town's, moon's, city's, sun's, world's, ocean's, Earth's	I have visited many city's museums . I have visited many city museums. We have been discussing our company's future for 2 hours, when Peter offered a great idea. We had been discussing the future of our company for two hours when Peter came up with a great idea.

Now we have fully considered the construction of the possessive case of nouns and prepared for the successful implementation of the practical exercise. See you in new classes!

Unlike Russian, there are only two types of cases in English. More precisely, it is more convenient to call them that way. Of course, history remembers the times when there were more of them, but this is long in the past - the language has become noticeably simpler. The names of these cases are general and possessive. to the first (the common case) refers to all words in the form in which we see them in the dictionary. Second case -the Possessive case. The word in it answers the questions “whose?”, “whose?”, “whose?”, “whose?”. We will dwell on this second case in more detail.

Possessive case - what is it?

The English name for the possessive case isthe Possessive case. It comes from the wordpossession- to own, to have. This case indicates that something belongs to someone or something. This form is most often assigned to animate nouns - people and animals that have some kind of object, property, attribute or quality. This belonging is shown using a special sign - an apostrophe (’ ) and endings - letters -s.

Example:

a girl's shoes- girls shoes (whose?);

the engineer's pencil- engineer's pencil (whose?);

students' party- a party of students (whose?).

Possessive case formation

You can see that the location of the apostrophe and ending -smay change, and the second may be completely absent. In order to understand the use of these elements of the English language, you need to familiarize yourself with several rules. These rules are divided into several groups: depending on the number of the noun, on animation, and a few more special cases.

Animated nouns

in singularhappens with the help of the ending -ʼs.

Example:

Sam's car- Sam's car;

Ann's music- Anna's music;

Mary's dress Mary's dress.

If a proper noun in the singular ends in -s, - ss, - x, then to form the prepositional case can be used as -ʼs, and just an apostrophe (’ ).

Example:

Max's book = Max's book- Max's book;

Chris's song = Chris' song - Chris song

Jess's phone = Jess' phone - Jess's phone.

Formation of the possessive case in nounsin pluralis carried out using an apostrophe, but only if this noun is formed by the classical method - that is, with the help of endings -s or - es.

Example:

dogs' tails- tails of dogs;

workers' caps- caps of workers;

sisters' secret sisters secret.

In cases where the plural of a noun is formed by alternating root vowels, the possessive case will be formed in the same way as for the singular - that is, with the help of the ending -s.

Example:

men's clothes- men's clothing;

women's hats- women's hats;

children's shoes- children's shoes.

Inanimate nouns

The formation of the prepositional case in animate nouns is rare and occurs in a completely different way - with the help of a preposition -of. In such a construction, the one who owns stands after the preposition and the word being defined.

Example:

the cover of the magazine- magazine cover;

the door of the library- library door;

the history of the Russian language - History of the Russian language.

But there are many exceptions here, in which the formation of the possessive case of plural nouns will occur in the usual way - with the help of the ending -'s.They can be divided into several groups depending on the type of word:

Nouns denoting time, distance, and cost

Example:

a month's holiday- monthly holidays;

today's magazine- today's magazine;

a night's walk- night walk.

Words world - world, country - country, city - city, town - town, ocean - ocean, river - river, ship - ship

Example:

the riverʼs mouth- the mouth of the river;

ship's crew- crew of the ship;

Boston's streets- Streets of Boston.

**Adverbs of time:today - today,yesterday - yesterday,tomorrow - tomorrow**

Example:

today's paper- today's newspaper;

yesterday's mistakes- yesterday's mistakes;

tomorrow's dinner- tomorrow's lunch.

**With pronouns:somebody - someone,other - another,each other - each other**

Example:

someone's shoes- someone's shoes;

other's signature- the signature of another;

nobody's hat- draw hat.

Names of celestial bodies

Example:

the sun's rays- the lights of a sun;

the Earth's surface- land surface;

the Moon's eclipse- moon eclipse.

Words that mean belonging to a place

In such variants, the case can be used without the word being defined - it can simply be omitted. This form of the possessive case is also called the independent case.

Example:

at the baker's (shop)- in the bakery;

at Granny's (house)- by Grandma;

at the dentist's (office)- at the dentist.

Collective nouns that refer to groups of people or pronouns that take the place of animate nouns

Example:

our family's house- the house of our family;

nobody's business- nobody's business.

The use of case in stable (frozen) expressions

Example:

I live at a stone's throw of our institute - I live a stone's throw from our institute.

Possessive pronouns

Such pronouns can also be a kind of possessive case - in the case when you want to use a pronoun without a noun following it.

Example:

It is my car. - It is mine;
her boyfriend - hers;
our house - ours.

This form of the pronoun is called the possessive absolute - it is with its help that you can replace a noun.

Other, special cases of using the possessive case

As in any rule, there are also exceptions and difficult cases of using the possessive case:

Compound nouns

The English language is rich in such words. They consist of several parts and many people often have a question: to which part should the ending be added? It's easy to remember: in such cases, the ending -ʼsadded to the last word.

Example:

the lady-bird's wings- ladybug wings.

Multi-ownership

We act as in the previous version - we add the ending to the last word.

Example:

Ben and Sam's car- Ben and Sam's car.

Two consecutive words in the possessive case

A very rare situation, but still needs to be considered. It is necessary to use a turnover with the preposition -of with the second word.

Example:

She is my brother's wife's mother replace with She is the mother of my brother's wife - The mother of my brother's wife.

Possessive case and use of articles

There are two rules for using articles in possessive phrases:

Firstly, in cases where the word being defined is preceded by a word in the possessive case that determines it, the article is not used - it is replaced by the possessive case of the noun.

Example:

the car- the car,
Bob's car Bob's car.

Secondly, when a noun in the possessive case is a common noun, it must have an articlea, an, theor, for example, a possessive adjective such asmy, your, his, her, its, our, their.

Example:

a girl's hat- girl's hat;
the dog's toy- dog toy.

Double possessive

A rare thing - double-genitive, which is defined by two phrases following one after another, and standing in the possessive case. But this option is also used, so it should also be demonstrated.

Example:

The girl's half-hour's run - half-hour run girls.

Noun that has the function of an adjective

Sometimes in sentences there is a nuance that not everyone pays attention to - instead of a noun in the possessive case, you can find a noun that acts as an adjective.

It is usually a singular noun that comes before another noun. And it does not require a possessive case, therefore it answers a completely different question - “what?”, And not “whose?”.

Example:

a kitchen knife- kitchen knife;
a newspaper article- article;
money problems- problems with money.

Pronunciation of words in the possessive case

The ending - s, which we add to a noun in the possessive case, is pronounced differently depending on a number of cases - it all depends on what letter this noun ends with. There are three options for how to pronounce such words:

When a word ends inhissing sounds (/S/, /Z/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /t ʃ/, /ʤ/ ) - the ending must be pronounced as /IZ/.

Example:

Max's;
Alice's.

Nouns and names ending inclunk (/k/, /p/, /t/, /f/,/ θ/), should be pronounced with a deaf ending.

Example:

Jeff's;
Nick's.

In all other cases, where a noun or a name ends in any other vowels and consonants, the ending is pronounced loudly.

Example:

Bill's;
Julia's.

This topic is very relevant in English - the possessive case is often used and the quality of language proficiency depends on the knowledge of all the simple rules we have listed. This part of English grammar is quite easy to learn and will definitely come in handy for communication, exchange of information and reading. As always, the key to learning a new language is to practice more.

If you expect cases in English to be similar to Russian, you will be disappointed. But you will definitely not be disappointed that with cases in English everything is very simple. English nouns have, apart from the common case, only two case forms and have one form more.

In English, only three cases (cases) can be distinguished, while the first and second coincide in form for all nouns:

Subjective or nominative when a noun or pronoun performs the function of a subject;
Objective or accusative when a noun or pronoun performs the function of an object after a verb or preposition;
Possessive, which shows the possession of something.

In the case of nouns, the first and second cases are usually combined into one - common case. But pronouns (pronouns) change in form in all three cases.

subjective case

The subjective case is used to identify the subject in a sentence. Nouns in the subjective case do not change in any way and remain in their original form. The same applies to place names:

I	I
You	You you
He	He
She	She is
It	It/it
We	We
They	They are
Who	Who

Examples:

The tree fell on my car A tree fell on my car.
Paul owns this website Paul owns this site.
I hope to finish my homework tomorrow I hope to finish my homework tomorrow.
She enjoyed her English lessons She enjoyed her English lessons.
He is very bad person- He is a very bad person.

Objective case

Refers to an add-on. Complement is what the subject directs its action to. In English, a noun or pronoun that is an indirect or direct object is always in the object case.

Nouns in the objective case do not differ in form from the subject case, but they change:

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Me	me, me
You	You / you, you / you
Him	Him, his
Her	Hey, her
It	This
Us	Us, us
Them	Them
whom	To whom

Examples:

Robert fixed the car Robert fixed the car.
I want a new book– I want a new book.
All my friends celebrate Thanksgiving Day All my friends celebrated Thanksgiving Day.

Possessive

The task of the possessive case in English is to show that something belongs to someone or something.

Nouns in the possessive case acquire a number of features:

show the ownership of the object, answering the question "whose?";
always stand before another, defined by a noun;
are always animate (for inanimate, the common case and the preposition of are used).

The formation of the possessive case goes like this: at the end of a singular noun, an apostrophe and the letter s (‘s) are added:

It is girl's guinea pig- It's a girl's guinea pig.

If the singular noun ends in "s", then two options for the formation of the possessive form are acceptable:

add only an apostrophe at the end of the word;
add an apostrophe with the letter 's.

However, the differences here are only written - both versions sound the same orally:

James' ['GeImsIz] wife is a pretty woman“James' wife is beautiful.
James's ['GeImsIz] dog bit a rat James's dog bit a rat.

To plural nouns ending in “s” when forming a possessive form, only an apostrophe is added. The pronunciation does not change:

Boys play X-box The boys are playing X-box.
Boys' X-box is broken– X-box boys is broken.
Alex' X-box- Alex's X-box.

If not formed with the endings “s” and “es”, then the possessive form is formed in the standard way - with the help of ‘s.

People's behavior is very strange“People's behavior is very strange.
A beard is an important component of men's style The beard is an important part of a man's style.

Pronouns in the possessive case take the following form:

My	My
Your	Yours, yours
His	His
Her	Her
Its	His
Our	Our
Their	Them
Whose	Whose

How to read possessive endings

After voiceless consonants in the possessive case - s:
After voiced consonants and vowels in the possessive case - z:

After s, ss, j, sh, z, ch and x (as well as the use of an apostrophe without s) in the possessive case - iz:
Charles's, waitress', Sanchez's, wings'

Common case (common case)

A noun in the general case does not have separate endings. In the form of the common case, the noun is written in dictionaries. With other words, it is connected with the help of prepositions and the place it occupies in the sentence. In the general case, a noun can be without a preposition and with a preposition.

Noun without preposition

Nouns without a preposition are translated into Russian depending on the place they occupy in the sentence. The nominative case (what? who?) - the noun that comes before the predicate is translated in the nominative case, being the subject.

The pupil asked the teacher The student asked the teacher.
Accusative case (what? whom?) - a noun that comes after the predicate, is translated in the accusative case without a preposition, acting as a direct object.

The pupil asked the student The teacher asked the student.
The dative case (what? to whom?) - a noun without a preposition, which stands between the predicate and the direct object, is translated in the dative case without a preposition, being an indirect object.

The teacher showed the pupil a picture The teacher showed the student a drawing.

Noun with preposition

A noun with prepositions expresses the relations that Russian indirect cases convey without prepositions or with prepositions.

Genitive case (what? whom?) - of, from. The noun here is the definition of the preceding noun.

She had received a gift from her boyfriend She got a present from her boyfriend.
Dative case (what? to whom?) - to, for. The noun here is an indirect object.

You gave the ball to my brother You gave the ball to my brother.
She bought a car for her son She bought a car for her son.
Instrumental case (what? by whom?) - by, with.

The noun with the preposition by is a prepositional object and denotes an active force (after the verb in the passive voice):

America was discovered by Columbus America was discovered by Columbus.

A noun with the preposition with is a prepositional object and denotes an object with which an action is performed:

Molly usually eats with this fork Molly usually eats with this fork.
Prepositional case (about what? about whom?) - about, of. The noun is a prepositional indirect object.

He told us about the play He told us about this play.
Maggy spoke of comics and food Maggie was talking about comics and food.

Video about cases in English:

What is a fall? This is a category in grammar that represents the relation of a noun to other words in a sentence. We are talking today about what role it plays and how the possessive case of nouns in English is formed.

Language history

Case is an essential "attribute" of a noun. In ancient times, Old English was rich in cases. It contained nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and instrumental cases. However, its descendant - modern English, cannot boast of such a quantity. In his "arsenal" there are only two cases - common (Common case) and possessive (Possessive case).

Meaning

It is not difficult to guess the meaning of the possessive case. The name speaks for itself: "to attract" - to belong. In other words, it reflects the belonging of an object, quality or attribute to another object:

The boy's ball - The boy's ball (the boy owns the ball);
The doctor's pen - Doctor's pen (the pen belongs to the doctor);
The driver's car - The driver's car (the car belongs to the driver).

It should be noted that only animate nouns have the form of the possessive case in English (boy - boy, doctor - doctor, driver - driver). If we are talking about the belonging of one object to another inanimate object, then the construction with the preposition of is used (the door of the car - the door of the car).

Education

As you can see from the examples above, possessive nouns in English are formed with an apostrophe (‘) and an ending (-s). The rule is simple and clear, but not without peculiarities and nuances. They are detailed in the following table:

*rule*	*Examples*
If the word ends with the letter s, then there are two options for attaching an apostrophe and ending -s	Robert Burns's poems - poems by Robert Burns Robert Burns' poems - poems by Robert Burns
Plural nouns form the possessive form with a single apostrophe	Pupils' desks - student desks Sisters' hats - sisters' hats Dogs' tails - dog tails
A number of nouns that are exceptions and do not form the plural according to the general rules, in the possessive case "acquire" an apostrophe and an ending	Men's suits - men's suits (men's suits) Women's dresses - women's dresses (women's dresses) People's passports - people's passports
If it is necessary to say that the object simultaneously belongs to two or more persons, then the apostrophe and the ending - s are used after the last	Father and mother's house - the house of the father and mother (they own the house jointly)
If the object belongs to two or more persons, but each separately, then the apostrophe and the ending -s are used after each noun	Tolstoy's and Dostoevsky's books - books by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky (they wrote them separately from each other)
Compound nouns consisting of two lexemes add an apostrophe and an ending S to the stem of the last element in the group	ticket inspector's rules - ticket inspector's rules

Inanimate nouns denoting distance and time can be in the possessive form (six months' trip - a six-month trip, a night's walk - a night walk). Exceptions also include combinations consisting of the names of cities, countries, the words Earth (Earth), world (world), nature (nature), ship (ship): world's end - the end of the world, nature's protection - protection of nature.

The possessive case in English also has names Possessive Case or Genetive Case. If you want to say that something belongs to someone, you must use exactly possessive. As a rule, the possessive case can only be used with animate nouns, but there are some exceptions,
which we will discuss below. By the way, I also have a wonderful one for testing knowledge on the possessive case. If you are looking for possessive exercises -

In English, the possessive case is expressed with ‘s (apostrophe es) or simply " (apostrophe).

Prince's duty - the duty (of whom? Whose?) of the prince;

Students' books - textbooks (of whom? Whose?) of students.

As you have noticed, it is convenient to translate phrases containing the possessive case from the end.

Formation of the possessive case in English.

just an apostrophe (‘) in the following cases:

with plural nouns, if the plural is formed by adding the ending -S /-ES

doctors' advice - doctors' advice,
boys' trains - boys' trains.

with Greek polysyllabic given names and surnames ending in -S

Socrates' works - the works of Socrates,
Xerxes' army - the army of Xerxes.

with well-known surnames ending in -S

Yeats' poetry - Yeats' poetry,
Burns'poems - Burns' poems

(however, some grammars allow a double spelling in such a case: Dickens' novels or Dickens' novels).

To form the possessive case, we will use only apostrophe es (‘s) in the following cases:

with singular nouns

the girl's eyes - girl's eyes,
the Dad's study - dad's study.

With plural nouns, if the plural was not formed according to the rule of adding the ending -S / -ES .

children's games - children's games,
women's wishes - women's desires.

Pay attention to education possessive case of compound nouns. Here there is a difference from the formation of the plural. Let's take a closer look at this point, since even very literate and knowledgeable people very often make mistakes on this issue. So let's look at the plate.

More examples:

The editor-in-chief's order - the order of the chief editor

The commander-in-chief's qualification - the qualification of the commander-in-chief

The passer-by's comment - passer-by's comment

A special feature of the possessive case in English is the existence of the so-called group possessive case - group genitive. Group genitive denotes the phenomenon of adding "s or ‘ not to one noun, but to

group of nouns

Mum and dad's wish - the desire of mom and dad

to a whole phrase containing a noun

the secretary of states’s private room - personal room of the secretary of state

to group noun + pronoun

someone else's benefit - someone else's benefit

to a phrase with a numeral at the end

in an hour or two's time - in an hour or two

Note. That in such cases "s or ‘ are added exclusively to end element. The only time you have to be careful is when it comes to belonging to multiple nouns.

We considered the phrase mum and dad's wish - the desire of mom and dad. In this context, we are talking about the common desire of dad and mom. In this case, "s or ' is added to the final element. If the phrase were a slightly different mum "s and dad's wishes in the meaning of the wishes of dad and mom (each has their own), then "s or ' would be added to each element.

So in the phrase Bach's and Mozart's music, we add "s" to each element, since Bach and Mozart do not have music in common - everyone has their own.

Uses of the possessive case in English.

We are not allowed to use Possessive Case in English in the same way as we use in Russian. Sometimes membership relationships need to be expressed using an of clause.

So, for example, we cannot say table "s leg - the leg of the table, we must say - the leg of the table.

So when can a genetive case be used?

The possessive case in English is used:

with nouns denoting people and animals

the swallow's nest - swallow's nest

Molly's idea - Molly's idea

with words denoting time or distance

night's rest - night rest

a month absence - monthly absence / month-long absence

a minute's silence - minute silence

a mile's distance - distance in a mile

Please note that with the words today, yesterday and tomorrow, both options for the formation of the possessive case are possible:

today's papers = the papers of today

with names of countries and cities

Britain's museums - museums in Britain

London's sights - sights of London

with newspaper titles

the Guardian's analysis

with the names of organizations and with the words company, firm, government, organization

the company's plans - company plans

the Geographical Society's gold medal

with the words world, country, nation, town, city

the nation's wealth - the welfare of the nation

with the words ship, boat, car

the car's wheel - car wheel

with names of planets and satellites

the sun "s rays - the sun's rays

with some inanimate nouns in set expressions

Absolute Genitive and Double Genitive

Absolute Genitive

Typically, a construct containing a possessive case has the following structure:

Noun (numeral/pronoun) in the possessive case + noun

However, there are also cases where a noun in the possessive case is not followed by another noun. In such a case, we are dealing with absolute possessive case(Absolute genetive). It is used in several cases:

to avoid repetition (tautologies)

Our car is faster than Peter's.

after the preposition of

A friend of my mother's, a cousin of my husband's

for the names of shops, places and other establishments

At the butcher's, at the baker's, at Timothy's, at my uncle's

St. Paul's (Cathedral), St. James's (Palace)

Double Genitive

It is rare to find a noun defined by two consecutive phrases in the possessive case:

My mother's father's people - my mother's father's people
The boy's half-hour's run - the boy's half-hour run

A similar phenomenon is called the double possessive case - Double Genitive.