Topic 16

Topic 16 – The expression of possession - Oposinet
11-14 minutos
Possession is expressed in English through several different forms.

In this topic, I am going to deal with these different ways of
expressing possession and so I will divide my presentation into three
different sections. The first one will deal with the way of expressing
possession through ‘possessive’ words; the second one will be
about the way of expressing possession through the genitive case;
and finally, the third part will be about the problems that Spanish
learners encounter when learning how to express possession in
English, and about the problems the usage of the apostrophe S
construction has in present day English even for native speakers.
Let’s start with my first section, dealing with the possessive words.
In this section I will have a look at different aspects. I will speak
about verbs used to express possession such as own; possessive
adjectives such as my or yours; and possessive pronouns such as
mine or whose.
Possession, on the one hand, can be expressed through possessive

verbs such as have (got), own, possess or belong to, as can be
seen in the following examples:
David Beckham has (got) a big house in Madrid
David Beckham owns a mansion in Madrid
David Beckham possesses a wonderful mansion in Madrid
This terrifically wondrous mansion belongs to David Beckham
On the other hand, possession can also be expressed through

possessive adjectives such as MY, YOURS, HIS, HER, ITS…
I’d like this to be my wondrous mansion but it is not, it is his

wonderfully semi-detached house
According to Michael Swan, the main feature of the possessive

adjectives is that they cannot be used together with other
determiners (like articles or demonstrative words). For instance, you
cannot say *this is a his wondrous mansion or *the my uncle.
Thirdly, possession can also be expressed through possessive
pronouns such as MINE, YOURS, HIS, HERS, OURS…
This enormously big mansion isn’t ours. It is his. Unfortunately,

mine is this small.
Just the same as with possessive adjectives, possessive pronouns

cannot be used with articles. You cannot say *that wonderfully
enormous house is the mine
Fourthly, although I have previously said that articles cannot be

used with possessive adjectives or pronouns, I should say that the
can be used as a possessive with the names of parts of the body,
instead of a possessive word, but only after prepositions, and only in
certain expressions (mostly when talking about blows, pains, and
similar things). For instance, let’s compare:
She had a bird on her shoulder // She had a pain in the shoulder
Finally, I also have to speak about whose, which has a double

grammatical function, both as a determiner and as a pronoun as in
the examples of interrogative sentences. It is also a relative
pronoun:
Whose is this enormously huge mansion? // Whose mansion is that?
Beckham is the man whose wife hates Ana Obregón
Once I have spoken about the ways of expressing possession

through possessive words (let’s remember: possessive verbs,
possessive adjectives, possessive pronouns, the in determined
constructions and the relative pronoun whose), I am going to move
to following section of my topic, dealing with the ways of expressing
possession through the genitive case.
In many cases, such as in Latin, for instance, nouns have endings

which show how the noun phrase is being used within the clause,
that is to say, whether it is acting as a subject or object, for example.
The set of endings is known as the CASE SYSTEM. English does
not have a complex case system, like the one which was used in
Latin. There are only two cases: a common case, where the noun
has no ending at all, and the genitive.
Thus, I will divide this second section of my presentation into two
different parts: the first one dealing with the form of the genitive, and
the second with its usage.
As for form, the genitive is made in English by adding an S to the

singular form of the noun. In writing, this appears with a preceding
apostrophe.
This is Beckham’s wonderful mansion
With most plural nouns, an S ending is already present, so the

written form adds a following apostrophe.
The Beckhams’ wondrous mansion
However, there are some exceptions to the aforementioned rule.

The apostrophe S is used in some irregular cases such as the
men’s mansion. Greek names of more than one syllable ending in -
s do not add an apostrophe and s, only an apostrophe like in
Socrates’ work. The same happens with some fixed expressions
such as for goodness’ sake. Besides, names ending in the voiced
sound s /z/ vary in usage; we find both Dickens’s novels and
Dickens’ novels.
Before moving on, I would like to mention that not all the forms of
the saxon genitive express possession. Take for instance Today’s
lunch. Is that possession? Does the lunch belong to today? No, it
doesn’t. It is a time expression. Some may express description
(women’s college= a college for women), origin (France’s wines),
and so on. In this topic I am going to deal only with those cases in
which the genitive expresses possession, as the title of the topic
reads.
There is also another form of genitive which is called the of-genitive.

Let’s compare: The mansion’s name is Beckhamlandia to The name
of the mansion is Beckhamlandia.
The choice between the apostrophe S genitive and the of-genitive is

largely based on factors of gender and style. Personal nouns and
the higher animals tend to take the genitive ending; inanimate nouns
take the of-genitive such as:
Beckham’s dog’s house is much better than the houses of dolls they
sell in Harrods.
The ‘s genitive is also used with geographical names (Spain’s
future will be decided by Catalonian Politicians), and with many
nouns of special relevance to human activity (Her life’s aim is to
buy the most expensive clothes in el Corte Inglés; the body’s
needs).
As for usage, I can say that the genitive is used mainly to express
possession, though there are other uses such as expressing origin,
describing something, etc. I will be looking just at the expression of
possession. There are four special uses of the genitive case: On the
one hand, the group genitive occurs when the genitive ending is
attached to a noun which follows the head noun of the phrase. Let’s
compare: This is Beckham’s big mansion with The actor of the
Days of our Lives’ big mansion. In the second case, the
possessor is the actor, not “our lives”; but the ending nonetheless is
added to “lives”. Another type of group genitive is that is which we
have two possessors and just one possessed thing, in which case
the ‘s is added to the last element.
Victoria and David’s children had their own car when they were born
On the other hand, the independent genitive occurs when the noun
following the genitive is omitted, because the context makes it
obvious:
Beckham’s mansion is bigger than Ana Obregon’s.
A similar use is found when the genitive refers to premises or

establishments: the local genitive:
Famous people eat at Lucio’s
Beckham goes everyday to the hairdresser’s
It is sometimes possible to have both the genitive ending and the of-
construction simultaneously; it is what is called the post-genitive as
in:
Beckham is a friend of my uncle’s
His enormous big mansion is a construction of Boffil’s
This post-genitive usage expresses a less definite meaning than the

alternative: my uncle’s friend or Boffil’s construction.
Thus, once I have dealt with the two first sections of my
presentation, dealing with the expression of possession through
possessive words (such as possessive verbs, possessive adjectives
and pronouns, the article the in several occasions and the relative
pronoun whose), and with the expression of possession through the
genitive case, I will now focus on the third section of my
presentation, dealing with the problems that Spanish speakers may
encounter when learning how to express possession in English, as
well as the problems that even native speakers find with the usage
of the apostrophe S construction.
To begin with, the apostrophe was introduced into English in the 16 th

c., and became widespread during the 17th. However, there was
much uncertainty about its use, especially in the plural, even until
the middle of the 19th c. Then grammarians laid down rules saying
how it should be used. However, during the 20 th c., uncertainty re-
emerged. In fact, there is now a strong tendency to omit the
apostrophe. This is not entirely due to a lack of education; many
moderns sign writers and typological designers, for example, think
that the apostrophe is fussy and old-fashioned.
Around the turn of the 20th c., the apostrophe came to be dropped
from the name of many banks and many businesses (for instance,
the well-known Harrods or Lloyds). Today it is almost always
omitted in shop signs, placards, and other notices. In fact, on the
London Underground, the signs say St. Pauls and Earls Court, with
no apostrophe. In Oxford Street shops we find Ladies wear and
Mans Shop. A further reason for the omission of the apostrophe is
the use of new technologies. For instance, when writing text
messages sometimes we find that it is difficult to find the
apostrophe, so we omit it. When writing formal letters, punctuations
signs are often dropped, as that means saving time, and time is
money.
Thus, as a result of these changing attitudes, many people

nowadays feel unsure about the correct use of the apostrophe, and
add it before plural endings and verb endings, such as We sell
fresh pie’s or Everyone like’s our chips. However, this usage is
universally condemned by educated writers.
If even native speakers have problems when trying to decipher

where to put the apostrophe in a group or phrase, it is not surprising,
thus, that our Spanish students of English have problems too.
The main problem can be deduced from the fact that the
apostrophe, unlike other forms of punctuation, is completely
inaudible. Most elements of punctuation derive from actual speech.
In spoken English, commas, colons and question marks will be
represented by a change in intonation -not so the apostrophe. The
other punctuation marks stand for something in addition to the
written words: the apostrophe represents elements which have
disappeared in the spoken form. In fact, the very word apostrophe is
Greek and means “to turn away”. That is to say, it marks the place
where a letter or letters have been ejected.
So, adapting this theory of “turning away letters”, I can say that the
apostrophe in the possessive case in “Beckham’s big manor”
originally stood for “Beckham his big manor”. Thus, it is not
surprising that our students have problems when trying to decipher
where to put the apostrophe, as it usually happens, demonstrated by
the fact that they usually prefer a wrong construction of the of-
genitive such as in “the friend of my brother” instead of the correct
apostrophe s construction as in “my brother’s friend”. These
mistakes do not only happen due to their insecurity when trying to
put the apostrophe, but also due to the fact that this is the typical
interference translation from the Spanish structure, something they
should avoid doing from the very beginning. But, as we know, it is a
hard task. But not impossible!
In conclusion this topic has dealt with the expression of possession

in English, which can be expressed through possessive words such
as possessive verbs, possessive adjectives and pronouns, the
article the in several occasions, as well as the relative pronoun
whose; and through the genitive case which can cause problems in
terms of usage, not only for Spanish learners of English, but also for
native speakers as well.

Topic 16

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Topic 16

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Topic 16

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Topic 16 – The expression of possession - Oposinet

Possession is expressed in English through several different forms.

Possession, on the one hand, can be expressed through possessive

David Beckham has (got) a big house in Madrid

David Beckham owns a mansion in Madrid

David Beckham possesses a wonderful mansion in Madrid

This terrifically wondrous mansion belongs to David Beckham

On the other hand, possession can also be expressed through

I’d like this to be my wondrous mansion but it is not, it is his

According to Michael Swan, the main feature of the possessive

This enormously big mansion isn’t ours. It is his. Unfortunately,

Just the same as with possessive adjectives, possessive pronouns

Fourthly, although I have previously said that articles cannot be

Finally, I also have to speak about whose, which has a double

Whose is this enormously huge mansion? // Whose mansion is that?

Beckham is the man whose wife hates Ana Obregón

Once I have spoken about the ways of expressing possession

In many cases, such as in Latin, for instance, nouns have endings

As for form, the genitive is made in English by adding an S to the

This is Beckham’s wonderful mansion

With most plural nouns, an S ending is already present, so the

The Beckhams’ wondrous mansion

However, there are some exceptions to the aforementioned rule.

There is also another form of genitive which is called the of-genitive.

The choice between the apostrophe S genitive and the of-genitive is

Beckham’s mansion is bigger than Ana Obregon’s.

A similar use is found when the genitive refers to premises or

Famous people eat at Lucio’s

Beckham goes everyday to the hairdresser’s

Beckham is a friend of my uncle’s

His enormous big mansion is a construction of Boffil’s

This post-genitive usage expresses a less definite meaning than the

To begin with, the apostrophe was introduced into English in the 16 th

Thus, as a result of these changing attitudes, many people

If even native speakers have problems when trying to decipher

In conclusion this topic has dealt with the expression of possession

You might also like