In Genitives^x

OED says: Later usage transposes the syntactical relation in such constructions as "all kinds of trees" = "trees of all kinds", "this kind of thing" ="a thing of this kind". As the original genitive phrase was in attributive relation to the following noun, the natural tendency is still to treat...

Hi everybody! My question is: Which choice is correct in the following sentences? Should I use 's / ' or not? 1. I have three Friends' (the sitcom) DVDs. (DVDs or DVD's?) 2. I have three Friends DVDs. 3. I have just bought Radiohead's (tha band) latest CD. 4. I have just bought...

I suppose we can think of 1. Tom and Mary's car as 2. (Tom and Mary)'s car on the grounds that if we multiply both "Tom" and "Mary" by apostrophe-s, we find ourselves with one shared car and a couple of legitimate genitives: 3. Tom's + Mary's car But with 4....

As a native speaker, I would not be troubled by "the server's name" and similar phrases. In fact, I had never heard of the rule that the Saxon genitive (the 's form) was only to be used with animate subjects until I started reading this board; nor had I ever heard it called the "Saxon genitive."...

Hello everyone I know that in English, the genitive is used to indicate a possession (John's car) and is not supposed to be used for inanimate subjects. However, I wonder if this rule is to be applied strictly or if the use of genitive has become usual. For instance, is it really...

Hello Anon Your question is interesting. “Eat of” is an expression new to me. So I looked for the phrase in my dictionaries. OED says it is an archaic expression popular in Middle English (as Mr Micawber said). The ‘of’ is a relic of the Old English’s genitive case of nouns and gives a partitive...

Hello Yet another weird question. I have a disclaimer that looks as follows: "This document is the property of 's consent" I cannot explain it, it's just a gut feeling. Am I right? And if so, what would be the justification of this wording?

saxon must be with anglo-saxon... or smtg like that. genitive, because like latin, it means that smtg belongs to smtg else.

John and Mary’s marriage took place yesterday. John is now a slave to Mary. Mary’s and Betty’s marriages took place yesterday. Now each of them has their own slave. John and Mary’s rooms were 202 and 203. They both used 202 and 203 together. John’s and Mary’s rooms were 202 and 203. John...

How do I use it correctly when there are two subjects? Example: Joe and Mary's marriage. OR Joe's and Mary's marriage. (if they are married to each other) Joe and Mary's backpacks. OR Joe's and Mary's backpacks. (each has his/her own backpack). Thanks.