Genitive Case

1. Complete the sentences with or s:

a. Billy

blue car is in the garage.

b. Mr. John

secretary is here.

c. They sell ladies

d. The doctor

clothes in this store.

kids are very nice.

e. The women

boyfriends are late.

f. My friends

cousins are beautiful.

g. We love Grandma
h. The engineer

cookies.
sunglasses are broken.

i. I dont like boys

j. Bring the baby

sneakers.
toys.

2. Rewrite the sentences using the Genitive Case:

a. The skirts of the women are white.
b. The tail of the horse is not short.
c. The offices of the doctors are beautiful.
d. The books of the students are new.
e. The toys of the babies are funny.
f. The hat of Mrs. Sally is red.
g. The dress of my sister is old.
h. The leg of the chair is broken.

3. Correct the sentences:

a. Julie closed the stores window.
b. The pupilss dog is sleeping right now.
c. The name's of the book is Twilight.
d. Jackets John is here.

e. The houses gate is closed.

Maria works at a ... in London.

? travel agent's
? travel agents
? travel's agent
She's a successful manager and her speciality is dealing with ...
? the problems of customers
? customers's problems
? customers' problems
Her parents are Mexican, and when she travels to Mexico she stays on her ...
? grandparents's farm
? grandparents' farm
? farm of her grandparents
... lives in Lima.
? The cousin of Maria
? Maria's cousin
? Cousin's Maria
When she goes to Peru, she stays at ...
? her cousin
? the house of her cousin
? her cousin's
Maria has two children, but she is divorced. ... lives in Madrid.
? Her children's father
? Her childrens' father
? The father of her children
Once a month the children spend a weekend at their ...
? fathers'
? father's
? house of their father
After her divorce, Maria has problems. She thinks that her ex-husband doesn't understand ...
? her situation's difficulties.
? her situations' difficulties.
? the difficulties of her situation.
Her children love the Rolling Stones. ... are covered in posters of Mick Jagger.
? Their bedroom's walls
? Their bedrooms's walls
? The walls of their bedroom
They have painted "We know it's only rock and roll, but we like it", on ...
? the garage's door
? the door of the garage
? the door's garage

THE GENITIVE(POSSESSIVE) CASE

The Genitive expresses both possession and origin,material,composition,measure.There are four Genitive forms in
English:
I. The Synthetical/Saxon/'s Genitive
II.The Analytical/Prepositional/ Periphrastic Genitive is made up with the help of the preposition of:
It is used when:
*the ''possessor'' is a thing: The roof of the house
*in some geographical names: The city of London
*we want to underline the importance of a proper name: We discussed about the wars of Napoleon.
III.The Double Possessive is consists of the combined Analytical and Synthetical Genitives,usually having a
partitive meaning :
A portrait of Turner(one portraying him)
A portrait of Turner's (one painted by him or belonging to him).
IV. The Implicite Genitive.
In this type of construction ,the genitive relation is indicated,only by word worder ,having no other genitive
markers:
Sun-rise(=the rise of the Sun)
Student Hostel(=the hostel of the students)
The Synthetical /Saxon/'s Genitive
This genitive is formed as follows:
a) singular noun+'s
My mother's blouse.
The teacher's desk.
b)plural noun+'
The boys' ball was new.
The parents' bedroom.
c) irregular plural noun + 's
The women's society.
The children's toys.
Proper names ending in 's usually get only the apostrophe, although 's may also be used:
Dickens' novels
Dickens's novels
The Synthetic Genitive is used with:
1) Proper names:
Abdul's native town
2) Name of persons:
My sister's car
When the'' possessor'' is represented by several words,the possessive ending is added after the last one only:
The boy and the girl's toys(they have the same toys)
If each'' possessor'' is followed by ''-s'',this means that the possessed objects differ:
The boy's and the girl's toys(the boy has some toys and the girl has others).
3) Names denoting other beings than persons:
A spider's web.
4) Collective nouns:
The government's decisions.
5) Personofications:
*name of celestial bodies: The Sun's rays
*names of countries,towns: Romanian's mountains

6) Idiomatic expressions:
*for God's sake

*for heaven's sake

*in my mind's eye

*the journey's end

diom

meaning

example sentence

all ears

fully listening

Give me a minute to finish my work

and then I'll be all ears to hear
about your project.

break a leg

good-luck

Today's the big game, eh? Break a

leg!

cold feet

nervous just before a big event

My sister didn't get cold feet until

she put her wedding gown on.

cost an arm and

a leg

be very expensive

These cakes are delicious, but

they cost an arm and a leg.

cry your heart

out

cry very hard

I cried my heart out when my best

friend moved away.

face the music

meet, stand up to unpleasant

conseqences, for example
criticism or punishment

I stayed out all night. When I

eventually got home I had to face
the music from my wife.

(my) flesh and

blood

relative

I have to hire Mia. She's my

own flesh and blood.

get something
off one's chest

tell someone your problems

Thanks for listening to me complain

about my boss. I just needed to get
this off my chest.

give a hand,
lend a hand

help (someone) do something

I can give you a hand when you

move if you like.

have one's head

be unaware or unrealistic about

Amy has her head in the clouds if

in the clouds

something

she thinks she's going to pass her

exams without studying.

head over heels

deeply in love

My brother is head over heels for

his new girlfriend.

head start

an earlier start

The kids gave Anthony a head

start in the bicycle race because he
was the youngest.

in over one's
head

taking on a task that you can't

handle

I was in over my head when I

agreed to babysit the triplets and the
dogs.

keep an eye on

take care of, watch in order to

protect

I'll keep an eye on the dinner while

you're on the phone.

keep one's chin

up

try to be cheerful

Keep your chin up. I'm sure you'll

make some friends soon.

learn by heart,
know by heart

memorize

I learned my multiplication tables by

heartin the fourth grade.

let one's hair

down

relax, have fun

Go to the cottage and let your hair

downthis weekend.

(my) lips are

sealed

promise to keep a secret

Don't worry, I won't tell your mother

how much you spent. My lips are
sealed.

makes my blood
boil

makes me very angry

It makes my blood boil when

people don't tie up their dogs.

neck of the
woods

nearby location or region

I heard that they might be opening a

post office in our neck of the
woods soon.

(an) old hand

an experienced person

My uncle's an old hand at car repair.

He'll know what the problem is.

over my dead
body

not unless I'm dead and can't

stop you

My daughter wants a tatoo. I told her

she'd get one over my dead body.

pat on the back

recognition or a thank-you

The party organizers deserve a pat

on the back for a job well done.

play something
by ear

do something without a plan

We don't know if the weather will be

good enough for camping. We'll have
to play it by ear.

pull one's leg

joke or tease someone

I was just pulling your leg. I'm not

really a police officer.

rule of thumb

basic rule (not always followed)

The rule of thumb is that the

students wear black pants and white
shirts.

see eye to eye

agree

The couple don't see eye to eye on

how to train their pets.

(by the) skin of

one's teeth

just barely

I passed my exam by the skin of

my teeth.

stick your neck

out

help someone a lot, with possible

bad consequences for oneself

I stuck my neck out for Bessie

when she was thrown out of her
house.

sweet tooth

a love of sugar or sweet things

I need three spoonfuls of sugar in my

tea. I have a sweet tooth.

thick in the
head

not very intelligent

I'm a bit thick in the head when it

comes to reading a map.

wash one's
hands of
something

stop dealing with an issue or

problem

I'm washing my hands of Mary's

addiction. She is going to have to get
some professional help.