Richard-Business Eng
專業教師
Why do many English learners choose to write possessive phrases the long way?
Many English learners use long expressions plus the preposition of to show possession, belonging or ownership, e.g., The principal of my school.

The shorter possessive form is used with nouns referring to people, groups of people, countries, and animals. 
Possessive forms show a relationship of belonging between one thing and another.
To form the possessive, add apostrophe + s to the noun.
If the noun is plural, or already ends in s, just add an apostrophe after the s.

Challenge:  think of the shorter possessive form to replace the longer expressions.
For example,  "The house that belongs to my neighbour = my neighbour’s house"

You can see the answers by selecting the hidden text after the equals (=) sign, double clicking anywhere in the sentence, or by pressing Control A.

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The smartphone that belongs to my brother = my brother’s smartphone
The book that belongs to your sister = your sister’s book
The purse that belongs to Angie = Angie’s purse
The purse that belongs to Doris = Doris’s purse or Doris’ purse [Doris’ and Doris’s are both correct and both pronounced as Dor ri sez]
Mark owns that car = That’s Mark’s car
Mark owns the blue Mercedes = The blue Mercedes is Mark’s car  


The east side of the city = the city’s east side
The causes of the accident = the accident’s causes
The flag of my country = my country’s flag
The government of my province = my province’s government
The car that is John’s = John’s car
The centre (BrE)/center (AmE) of the city = the city’s centre/center
The purpose of the seminar… = the seminar’s purpose
The population of the city = the city’s population
He’s a friend of my father = He’s my father’s friend

John goes to this school. = This is John's school.
John sleeps in this room. = This is John's room.

I worked for one month and received payment for a month = I received a month's pay
The newspaper that was printed and distributed today = today's newspaper

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So, how did you do?
Can you think of some more examples?
2018年9月13日 16:22
留言 · 13
6
Richard, to answer your question, it's probably due to the influence of the native language. In French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, for example, you cannot use a short form as we do in English. You have to say "La voiture de mon père" (the car of my father) in French. You can't say "Mon père's voiture" which is something I've heard and read far too often from native English speakers. 
2018年9月13日
2
What Guyomar said is very true.

The way of expression in wording is often affected by speakers' native languages which overwhelmingly dominate how a sentence is made in English especially their English has not been mature enough to make an English sentence with no influence from their native languages.
2018年10月5日
2
Good point Guyomar... We native English speakers really have a very limited understanding of how daunting our complex language is from, especially from the perspective of a learner (especially from the learner's perspective). Thank you for your informative comments.
2018年9月13日
2
Terecia...

1) A friend of mine = my friend (do they both emphasize the same meaning?)

YES, THEY HAVE THE SAME MEANING AND USAGE ALTHOUGH MY FRIEND IS MORE SPECIFIC THAN "A FRIEND OF MINE"

2) My friend who is an American = My American friend.   PERFECT


3) I have a friend who is close to me = my dearest friend / my close friend.  PERFECT


4) Sorry, my English is bad = pardon my English (can it be used for spoken?) PERFECT - YES, USED MORE IN SPEECH THAN IN WRITING


5) My father's older brother has two sons = My uncle has two sons / I have two cousins.  PERFECT


Very good examples Terecia ... Thank you

2018年9月13日
2

Terecia...

Your examples and mine use possessive pronouns.

Possessive pronouns include my, mine, our, ours, its, his, her, hers, their, theirs, your and yours - all words that demonstrate ownership.

Here are some examples of possessive pronouns used in sentences:

-  It was my money.

-  The money was mine.
-  It was our money.
-  The money was ours.
-  It is the business' money. It's its money.
-  The money was his.
-  It was her money.
- The money was hers
-  It was their money.
-  The money was theirs.
-  It was your money.
-  The money was yours.

***************************************

to be continued...


2018年9月13日
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Richard-Business Eng
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中文, 英語, 法語
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中文
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