Leçon d’anglais – Le S génitif – father’s house or fathers’ house ?

COURS D’ANGLAIS Leçon d’anglais – Le S génitif – father’s house or fathers’ house ?

The genitive S – Marking possession

To mark the possession in English the most common form is the genitive S (le cas possessif). The genitiv S is preceded by an apostrophe:

This is my father‘s car. This is Susan’s idea. The child‘s seat.
This is my friend‘s beautiful house.

To avoid confusion with plural, you may use the form with of:

This is the house of my friends. (plural)

If, however, there is no confusion possible, the genitive S is better.

It is the same with nouns ending with an S:

The actress’s role. The baroness’s dress. The mistress’s garden. Mr Jones’s son. [Pronounce it thee actressiz role. The baronessiz dress. The mistressiz garden. Mr Jonesiz son.]

Attention plural:

In the plural the apostrophe is placed behind the plural S without the genitive S:

The Smiths’ mansion. = The mansion of the Smiths. (family)
The Dagoberts’ treasure. = The treasure of the Dagoberts. (family)
My friends’ party ended early in the morning.
I am not allowed to use my parents’ computer.

But:

Mr Smith‘s mansion. = The mansion of Mr. Smith.
Mrs. Dagobert‘s treasure. = The treasure of Mrs. Dagobert.

There is no plural or genitive S for naming the family:

The Smith family. The Kelly family. (the name of the family is Smith / Kelly)

If you are referring to a famous person, it is more common to place just the ‘s as pronoun.

If the context is clear you do not need to specify the noun:

Mike‘s car is faster than Ben‘s. (Ben’s car, the car of Ben)
We ate at Carl‘s last evening. (at Carl’s house)
Whose pencil is this? It’s Catherine‘s. (the pencil of Catherine)

Shared possessions

If a possession is shared only the last subject is followed by a genitive S:

This is Mike and Susan‘s car. (This car belongs to Mike and Susan.)

If things are not shared, every subject is followed by a genitive S:

Mike‘s and Susan‘s car are at the garage. (Both cars – the car of Mike and the car of Susan – are in the garage.)

Phrasal genitive

If you have a double genitive “the body guard of the President of France” or an idiomatic genitive (a set expression) “two weeks’ notice” the same rules apply:

He was given one week‘s notice. (a notice of one week)
He was given two weeks’ notice. ( a notice of tow weeks)
We will see you in two / three days’ time. (in two days (the day after tomorrow) / in three days) If it is just one day, do not say: In one day’s time. (idiomatically wrong!) Better: We will see you tomorrow.)
The Chancellor of Germany‘s speech was reall boring. (Chancellor of Germany considered as one fixed lexical group)
The emperor of Rome‘s influence grew with every conquest.
The Irish folktale “Guleesh and the King of France‘s daughter” is written by Neil Philip and illustrated by Henry Underhill.

Compound words

Fixed noun groups do not take a genitive S:

class action (a group of complainants bringing jointly a case before the court / tribunal) , class war (war between social classes), Christmas Eve, chorus girl, cold process (process used in soap making), combat dress, …