Possessive case [pə'zesɪv keɪs] is a case used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense.

In English, the possessive form can be taken by nouns, personal pronouns, some indefinite pronouns, as well as the interrogative pronoun "whose" (see Possessive pronouns).

A noun in the possessive case / a possessive noun is a determiner to another noun and answers the question "whose?", denoting the relation of belonging of one object to another. Nouns form the possessive case by attaching the ending s preceded by an apostrophe (-'s):

• the girl's voice
• the airplane's crew

The ending 's is a clitic, since it does not belong to the attached word, but to the entire noun phrase:

• It's not mine, it's somebody else's stuff.
• The man opposite me's appearance was very strange.

The possessive clitic 's is read as [s] after voiceless consonant sounds, as [z] after voiced consonants and vowels, and as [iz] after sounds [s] (letters: s, ss); [ʃ] (sh); [tʃ] (ch, tch); [ks] (x):

• cat's [kæts]
• dog's [dɔ:gz]
• Mary's ['merɪz]
• actress's ['æktrɪsɪz]

Due to inconvenience in pronunciation, historically, in set expressions with a limited number of nouns that in the singular end in a pronounced [s], the possessive case is usually marked only with an apostrophe, without the subsequent pronounced s:

• for godness' sake
• for righteousness' sake

In some cases, two uses are common:

• for conscience's sake = for conscience' sake

The situation is similar with proper names ending in the pronounced [s], their possessive form is often determined by euphony and established tradition, often allowing for double pronunciation - both with “'s” and marked only by an apostrophe:

1. In classical and biblical names, the possessive case can only be marked with an apostrophe:
   • Isis' temple ['ʌɪsɪs]
   • Jesus' teachings
   • Augustus' guards
2. Proper names ending in letters s, x, z, in the possessive case can only be indicated by an apostrophe, but are often pronounced with [ɪz]:
   • Charles' ['ʧʌrlzɪz] ↔ Charles's ['ʧʌrlzɪz]
   • James' [ʤeɪmzɪz] ↔ James's [ʤeɪmzɪz]
3. Proper names ending in unpronounceable letters: s, x, z (usually of French origin), in the possessive case are commonly indicated only by an apostrophe:
   • Delacroix [dəlʌ'krwʌ] → Delacroix' [dəlʌ'krwʌz]
   • Dubois [dju:'bwʌ] → Dubois' [dju:'bwʌz]

. For nouns that form the plural with the ending s, the possessive case is indicated only by an apostrophe. At the same time, the sound of the general and possessive cases is the same:

• the Andersons' house ['ændərs(ə)nz].

Those nouns that do not have the ending s in the plural form the possessive case using the clitic 's:

• women's beauty secrets

In phrases that represent one semantic whole, the possessive case takes the last word of the phrase:

• The King of birds' eyesight is unbelievably acute.

When mentioning a group of two or more nouns connected by the conjunction "and" and being a common determiner, 's is placed after the last word:

• We have bought Sue and Tom's car.

When mentioning nouns connected by the conjunction and, and not being a general determiner, 's is placed after a specific defining word:

• I like Shelly's and Byron's poems.

The adjective is placed before the noun it refers to:

• the beautiful girl's voice (the voice of this beautiful girl)
• the girl's beautiful voice (beautiful voice of this girl)

A noun in the possessive case excludes the use of another determiner before the noun it defines:

• She is a daughter of Henry. → She is Henry's daughter.
• But not: She is Henry's a daughter.

If the noun being defined, in addition to the possessive noun, requires an additional determiner or an attributive clause, then the construction with the preposition "of" is used (see The Post-possessive case):

• No daughter of Henry's stirs out-of-doors after sundown.
• Here is the house of the fellow's that was built of glass bottles.

The possessive case can be used to express possession of something, usually used with animate nouns (see the reason below):

• the fox's tail
• Nelly's shyness

In some cases, using the possessive case, not only the relation of belonging, but also involvement can be expressed:

• the man's story
  1. expressing possession: «the story told by the man»
  2. expressing involvement: «the story that happened to the man»

The possessive case is used to express belonging with collective nouns that name a certain group, team, community:

• the company's success
• the family's traditions
• the herd's leader
• the government's decision
• our nation's wealth
• the ship's crew
• the society's members

The possessive case is also used to express family, friendship and other interpersonal relationships:

• my brother's girlfriend
• Nelly's mummy
• My elder brother's son is very timid.

If nouns express interpersonal connections, then it is possible to use the plural attachment of the possessive case:

• Roman is my cousin — my father's sister's son.
• He is a friend of Kim's girl-friend's sister.

In some cases, the possessive case can express an ambiguous meaning of the relation, for example:

• This is Nelly's picture. (This is a picture that belongs to Nelly. / This is a picture that shows Nellie.)

In such cases, the use of the post-possessive case makes it possible to unambiguously interpret the relation:

• This is a picture of Nelly's. (This is a picture that belongs to Nelly.)
• This is a picture of Nelly. – (This is a picture that shows Nellie.)

To express the relationship of belonging, nouns denoting inanimate objects and concepts can take the form of the possessive case, although in some grammars one can find an inaccurate statement that the possessive case is not used with inanimate objects.

The possessive case is usually not used with generalizing nouns (to describe properties, qualities, attributes of an object), but only when a noun in the possessive case is considered as a separate subject unit. As a result, the field for using the possessive case with inanimate objects is not so large. For example:

• All of the cars' safety systems are powered by a separate small battery.

But:

• Modern cars' safety systems are very reliable. → Modern car safety systems are very reliable. (this sentence is a generalization and does not refer to the security systems of any specific cars)

More often, the possessive case is used with objects that are the only ones of its kind, objects of nature, also if the object is considered as living or personified:

• the moon's surface
• the sun's rays
• the Earth's rotation
• the wind's course
• the forest's spirit
• the mountain's secret
• the thunderstorm's energy

In technical manuals, the possessive form is often taken by nouns denoting the details of a particular product in question:

• the piston's motion (without generalization, i.e. specific piston movement)
• the plane's propellers (without generalization, i.e. propellers of the particular aircraft, not aircraft propellers in general) and so on.

The possessive case with inanimate objects is also commonly used:

• with geographic and territorial units:
  • London's theatres
  • Australia's science future

• with nouns that name a specific period of time:
  • yesterday's events
  • to-day's¹⁾ conversation
  • the last year's journey

• to indicate the value of the measure:
  • a year's absence
  • a day's journey
  • two weeks' holiday
  • a dollar's worth
  • ten miles' distance and so on:
  • She was within five minutes' walk of our home.

• in many fixed expressions:
  • to keep out of harm's way;
  • to be at one's wit's / wits' end;
  • to keep somebody at arm's length;
  • to enjoy oneself to one's heart's / hearts';
  • at death's door;
  • (within) a stone's throw / cast (of / from something);
  • at one's finger's end;
  • for something's sake, for example (see also "sake"):
    • for God's sake / for Heaven's sake / for goodness' sake
    • for my sister's sake
    • for order's sake
  • needle's eye, and others.

Some nouns in the possessive case are used for classification, they express not any relation to an object, but belonging to a certain class, group of objects, they name a certain quality, attribute. This use of the possessive case occurs only with a limited number of nouns and phrases:

• children's book (childish book);
• girls' school;
• cow's milk (cow milk);
• farmers' market;
• soldier's uniform (soldier uniform);
• January's frosts (January frosts);
• sheep's eyes.

An attribute before such a noun may refer not to the possessive noun itself, but to the noun being defined:

• It is hard to find fresh cow's milk in town. (fresh milk, but not a cow)
• I've got an interesting children's book. (interesting book, but not children)
• She made big sheep's eyes at me. – (big eyes, but not a sheep)

Those it can be said that in these cases the word only has the form of the possessive case, but in fact it is used as an adjective, and not a determiner.

Usually a possessive noun is a determiner to another word, but sometimes the possessive form can be used on its own, without the determined noun, forming the so-called absolute possessive.

The absolute possessive case can be used to avoid repeating the word being defined, or if it is clear from the context what they are talking about:

• My car has been stolen and I'm using my wife's.
• Having no tools, I used my brother's.
• No man has a heart as soft as a child's.

The same rule applies to possessive pronouns:

• If you touch my stuff I will use yours back.

A possessive noun can be used on its own to refer to an establishment, shop, or place of residence for someone:

• at my sister's;
• at the baker's;
• at the chemist's;
• at the florist's.

• You'd better go to the dentist's.

The same rule applies to possessive pronouns:

• I will see you off to yours.

Some nouns in absolute possessive form have become fixed expressions and serve as names for certain places and establishments:

• hairdresser's
• greengrocer's
• confectioner's

Some adverbs and prepositions of the English language were formed using the possessive case, they do not use an apostrophe, for example: "always" ("of all way"), "needs" ("of necessity"), nightlongs ("of a night long"), "besides" (besides).

• I cannot mend it, I must needs confess, Because my power is weak and all ill-left.^[1]

In modern English, the conversion of the possessive is dead and does not form new words.

The ending -s does not always imply that the word was formed using the possessive case, the word could be formed from -s indicating the plural, for example adverbs:

1. "betimes" formed with the possessive case "be"+"of time";
2. "sometimes" pluralized "some"+"times".

• Possessive pronouns.