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General Possessive
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Gkl  #301657  Thu, 07 Dec 06 08:36 PM

Hi,

I am a bit confused about general possesive. Why, for example, would we say the police car but we also say the building's entrance? Clearly, the car does not belong to the police less than the entrance belongs to the building.

Could you please shed some light on this?

Many Thanks,

George
  
Gkl
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Tidus  #301663  Thu, 07 Dec 06 09:15 PM
 'police car' is a noun.  So, you could say "The police car's door"
  
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CalifJim  #301782  Fri, 08 Dec 06 06:34 AM
It is often arbitrary which expressions of this type are formulated as compound nouns and which are formulated with a possessive structure.  In general, inanimates are much less likely to appear with 'apostrophe-s'.

CJ
  
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"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche
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