Possessive - using 's with inanimate nouns.

[Exile]

Hi!

I would like to know when it is not possible to use the "'s" you add to the noun describing the owner.

It is written in my grammar book that "the possessive case may also be used with animals, countries (and places) and expressions of time". But in the examples that follow, there are none of places that are common nouns. The two examples that involve places are : "Norway's oil production" and "California's climate". And what about inanimate things? For instance, can you say "the door's handle", or do you have to say "the handle of the door"?

Could someone please give me precise details about that? Thanks a lot!

 

[pieanne]

No, say "the door handle"

My grammar says the same as yours, but I've learned from native speakers that "a 2 hour's trip" was not half as good as "a two-hour trip".

Wait for a native, though...

 

[rsweet]

Pieanne is absolutely correct.

 

[dnldnl]

With inanimate objects you do not use possessive s. You can either use the form pieanne pointed out or the preposition of.

The door handle, the handle of the door; the computer screen, the screen of the computer... etc., all of these expressions would work fine.

My grammar says the same as yours, but I've learned from native speakers that "a 2 hour's trip" was not half as good as "a two-hour trip".

It's incorrect to say "a 2 hour's trip" since the trip cannot belong to 2 hours. I beleive when the book refers to time, it means things like yesterday's (i. e. yersterday's meeting), today's (i.e. today's headlines), etc.

 

[Thomas1]

As far as inanimate objects are concerned you can used 's with ships and boats, e.g.: the ship's rudder.

Some use 's as well with planes, traines and the rest of vehicles.

In expressions on money when combined with worth, e.g.:
my two cents' worth
a dollar's worht of tamps

I can also remember the expressions with sake:
for God's sake
for heaven's sake

You also use 's with some nouns as for instance:
a/the dentist's/chemist's/doctor's/etc.
it means usually a place where they deal with the clients (a shop, suregey, office, etc)

 

[Thomas1]

My grammar says the same as yours, but I've learned from native speakers that "a 2 hour's trip" was not half as good as "a two-hour trip".

It's incorrect to say "a 2 hour's trip" since the trip cannot belong to 2 hours. I beleive when the book refers to time, it means things like yesterday's (i. e. yersterday's meeting), today's (i.e. today's headlines), etc.

My book gives such examples too, I think it's correct as the trip lasts for two hours and thus this is a certain period of time that encompasses the trip so in a way the trip belongs to two hours (it is similar to today's newspeaper or a week's holiday).

Anyway, the usage in everyday language may be indeed different.

 

[pieanne]

Yes, it's "short" for
the doctor's office (is it an office?)
the butcher's shop
my cousins' house.

It's usually preceded with either "at" (indicating situation) or "to" (indicationg direction)

 

[pieanne]

<It's incorrect to say "a 2 hour's trip" since the trip cannot belong to 2 hours. I beleive when the book refers to time, it means things like yesterday's (i. e. yersterday's meeting), today's (i.e. today's headlines), etc.>

Of course the trip cannot belong to the 2 hours But it was once stated as correct in the grammars.

 

[MrBobby]

I would say that both are perfectly acceptable. When you use "the door's handle" it's used to emphasize that the relation between the door and the handle or after you have introduced the door by itself previously. For example:

The door was on the left side of the room. The door's handle was red. (better yet: It's handle was red)

 

[dnldnl]

I bet Exile will be even more confused after reading all these different replies . It now seems to me that technically possessive s could be used with practically every noun, although in terms of spoken speech, there are cases where it's better to use the alternative forms.

 

[Thomas1]

I would say that both are perfectly acceptable. When you use "the door's handle" it's used to emphasize that the relation between the door and the handle or after you have introduced the door by itself previously. For example:

The door was on the left side of the room. The door's handle was red. (better yet: It's handle was red)

For the sake of clarification:
Should it read it's handle... or its handle...?

I'd opt for its but I'd like to get some other opinions

 

[mplsray]

Hi!

I would like to know when it is not possible to use the "'s" you add to the noun describing the owner.

It is written in my grammar book that "the possessive case may also be used with animals, countries (and places) and expressions of time". But in the examples that follow, there are none of places that are common nouns. The two examples that involve places are : "Norway's oil production" and "California's climate". And what about inanimate things? For instance, can you say "the door's handle", or do you have to say "the handle of the door"?

Could someone please give me precise details about that? Thanks a lot!

When speaking of the type of handle used for a door, you would say the door handle. But the door's handle could be used when speaking of a particular door--that is, when the with the emphasis on the door itself--as in, Not only did it need to be stripped and repainted, but the door's handle was rusty.

It's not appropriate to refer to the door as an "owner" of the handle, as you imply in your message. The term possessive case is thus misleading: Using the term genitive case instead helps one to avoid the myth that the marker 's cannot be used with inanimate objects. As Kenneth G. Wilson points out, in his Columbia Guide to Standard American English under the article Descriptive Genitive, "In fact, the genitive case--in English as in Latin before it--has always had many more purposes than simply indicating possession, and descriptive (and other nonpossessive) genitives are and long have been Standard English." Wilson gives as examples of the descriptive genitive the mountain's top and a day's pay.

 

[pieanne]

It is "its handle".

 

[pieanne]

I'm all with you here, mplsray... Isn't it also called the Saxon genitive?

Many languages have their genitive case: German, Greek, Roman...

 

[konungursvia]

You can certainly use the possessive with inanimate objects, but it implies some degree of personification in certain contexts. As for "it's handle was red", this is is an error, and should read "its", because the contraction "it's" represents "it is". In the case of door handle, the reason we can use this and so often do is the Teutonic tendency to make compound nouns, e.g. book-case, chimney-sweep, schornsteinfeger.

 

[pieanne]

When you say "Teutonic", is it the same as "Germanic"? (Dutch, German & English)

 

[konungursvia]

When you say &quot;Teutonic&quot;, is it the same as &quot;Germanic&quot;? (Dutch, German & English)

Yes, I meant it in that way essentially, though Germanic is the group the Romans perceived as Teutonic, and Teutonic is the group we Norsemen think of as Teutonic. So I include Icelandic and the Scandinavian languages.

 

[Exile]

Very interesting. Thanks a lot everyone! For the moment I'll think about it. I might come back should I have another question to ask.

 

[MrBobby]

For the sake of clarification:
Should it read it's handle... or its handle...?

I'd opt for its but I'd like to get some other opinions

You're 100% right.

 

[Mike]

It's as previously noted is the contraction for it is. Its however, is the possessive adjective (my, your, his, her, its, our, your their).

And really, it's fine to use the possessive apostrophe with an inanimate object. Not so common, but totally correct, grammatically. The hinge of the door but the door's hinge.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Dimcl]

I would say that both are perfectly acceptable. When you use "the door's handle" it's used to emphasize that the relation between the door and the handle or after you have introduced the door by itself previously. For example:

The door was on the left side of the room. The door's handle was red. (better yet: It's handle was red)

Better yet.... "its handle was red". "It's handle" would be "it is handle"

 

[dov]

<Deletion>
's is I believe in these examples an indication of ownership for a brand <deletion>
If 's implicitly designate the name of a shore/store/compagny, i infer that it can not be found for the name of a product (which is not a place...), could it ? in short, can we say "I'm eating a Mc donald's" or does it sound weird?

<Keeping the discussion to English only. Nat>