Compound nouns and possessive forms

Exercises: 1 2 3

Exercise 2

Choose the correct option for the sentences below.

1 This is ______.

A.the brother of the student I told you about.

B.the student I told you about's brother.

C.the brother of the student's I told you about.

2 It's ______ to the top of the mountain. Are you sure you want to go?

A.a walk of 5 hours

B.5 hours' walk

C.5 hour's walk

3 Some experts say that ______ isn't healthy for babies and toddlers.

A.cow milk

B.milk of cow

C.cow's milk

4 Write your name on ______.

A.the top's page

B.the top of the page

C.the page's top

5 There are two new ______ in our street.

A.shoe's shops

B.shoes shops

C.shoe shops

6 The number of ______ has increased.

A.road accidents

B.accidents of the road

C.road's accidents

7 A: Is that a ______? I need one to light the incense. B: No, that's just the ______ where I keep my old coins.

A.matchbox / matchbox

B.matchbox / box of matches

C.box of matches / matchbox

D.box of matches / box of matches

8 ______ was a total success.

A.The party of yesterday

B.Yesterday's party

C.Yesterday party

9 One of the flashback sequences towards the ______ is absolutely brilliant.

A.end of the film

B.film end

C.film's end

10 The ______ is disappointing. Choose TWO correct options

A.team's lack of ambition

B.lack of ambition of the team

C.team lack of ambition

Exercises: 1 2 3

Possessive ‘s

We normally use ‘s with people or animals. However, we can also use it with time expressions, shops, places (cities, countries, etc.) and organisations.

Grammar chart - Possessive 's

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🔍 Note that we can use both the possessive ‘s or of when talking about places or organisations,

The decision of the country/The country’s decision to raise taxes is very controversial.
The prediction of the bank/The bank’s prediction is very optimistic.

Look at the table below to see how to use the possessive case.

Grammar chart showing rules and examples for using possessive ’s forms in English grammar.

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🔍 Note that we use of + possessive case or possessive pronoun if there is a determiner (a, some, this, etc.) before the nouns.

Some friends of Anna’s came to the party. (=some of Anna’s friends.)
Some friends of hers came to the party.
Isn’t that a friend of your sister’s? (=one of your sister’s friends.)

Using possessive of

Inanimate things and abstract nouns

We normally use of instead of ‘s when talking about inanimate things, parts of things, or abstract nouns.

We enjoyed the beauty of the park.
The head of the shower is broken.
Go to the end of the street.
Love is the secret of life.

Long noun phrases

We also use of instead of ‘s with long noun phrases.

This is the child the neighbours who live next door’s child.
This is the child of the neighbours who live next door.
That’s the wife of one of my friends from Liverpool.

Compound nouns

In many cases, we use noun + noun, instead of possessive ‘s or of. When we use noun + noun, the first noun is acting as a modifier of the second noun, like an adjective, and is normally singular (tourist destination, stomach bug, school bus, etc.). Sometimes more than one form is possible:

The head of the shower/shower head is broken.
What’s the school policy/school’s policy on bullying?

However, we often prefer one form over the other because it’s more common: bus stop, car key, toothpaste, car park, ice cream, haircut, etc.

One word, two separate words or two words linked with a hyphen?

Compound nouns are often two separate words, e.g. school bus, car park, etc., but very common compound nouns are sometimes used as one word, e.g. bathroom, haircut, etc., and sometimes linked with a hyphen, e.g. letter-box. But on many occasions, you can see the same compound noun written in different ways.

Containers

We can use a compound noun to refer to a container, which is usually empty: a tea cup, a wine glass, a beer glass, a matchbox, etc.

Can you pass me those tea cups? I’m going to wash them. (=they are empty)
She keeps the insects that she catches in that matchbox.

❗ But we use noun + of + noun to refer to a container together with its contents: a cup of tea, a glass of wine, a glass of beer, a box of matches, etc.