We use -
's (
apostrophe +
s) mostly for people or animals:
- Tom's computer isn't working. (not the computer of Tom)
- How old are Chris's children? (not the children of Chris)
- What's (= What is) your sister's name?
- What's Tom's sister's name?
- Be careful. Don't step on the cat's tail.
You can use -
's without a noun after it:
- This isn't my book. It's my sister's. (= my sister's book)
We use -
's with a noun (
Tom/
friend/
teacher etc.). We do not use -
's with a long group of words.
So we say:
your friend's name
but the name
of the woman sitting by the doorNote that we say a woman's hat (= a hat for a woman), a boy's name (= a name for a boy), a bird's egg (= an egg laid by a bird) etc.
With a
singular noun we use -
's:
my sister's room (= her room - one sister)
Mr Carter's house (= his house)
With a
plural noun (sister
s, friend
s etc.) we put an apostrophe (') at the end of the word:
my sisters' room (= their room - two or more sisters)
the Carters' house(= their house - Mr and Mrs Carter)
If a plural noun does not end in
-s (for example
men/
women/
children/
people) we use -
's:
the men's changing room
a children's book(= a book for children)
You can use -
's after more than one noun:
Jack and Karen's wedding
Mr and Mrs Carter's house
For things, ideas etc., we normally use
of ( ...
of the water / ...
of the book etc.):
the temperature of the water (not the water's temperature)
the name of the book
the owner of the restaurant
Sometimes the structure
noun +
noun is possible (see Unit 80):
the water temperature
the restaurant owner
We say
the beginning/
end/
middle of ... /
the top/
bottom of ... /
the front/
back/
side of ... :
the beginning of the month (not the month's beginning)
the top of the hill
the back of the car
You can usually use -
's or
of ... for an organisation (= a group of people). So you can say:
the government's decision or the decision of the government
the company's success or the success of the company
It is also possible to use -
's for places. So you can say:
the city's streets
the world's population
Italy's prime minister
You can also use -
's with time words (
yesterday /
next week etc.):
- Do you still have yesterday's newspaper?
- Next week's meeting has been cancelled.
In the same way, you can say today's / tomorrow's / this evening's / Monday's etc.
We also use -
's (or -
s' with plural words) with periods of time:
- I've got a week's holiday starting on Monday.
- Julia has got three weeks' holiday.
- I live near the station - it's only about ten minutes' walk.
