Possessive case
Encyclopedia
The possessive case of a language is a grammatical case
used to indicate a relationship of possession
. It is not the same as the genitive case
, which can express a wider range of relationships, though the two have similar meanings in many languages.
See Possession (linguistics)
for a survey of the different categories of possession distinguished in languages.
" morpheme
. Calling it a case is arguably not strictly correct – some grammarians contend that this affix
is actually a clitic
.Consider the phrase: The King of England's horse. If the 's morpheme were not a clitic and actually a proper case
, we would expect to see *The King's of England horse, since the King and not England possesses the horse in question. German
, which has an inflected case system, phrases it Das Pferd des Königs von England, where König (king) takes the genitive case
. In English, by contrast, the possessive 's morpheme is affixed to the whole noun phrase King of England. However, the English usage does stem from a case ending, Old English -es. See genitive case for details. For information on how to properly construct the possessive form, see Possessive apostrophe.
In English the possessive can also be expressed periphrastically
, by preceding the noun or noun phrase with the preposition of.
.
However, the s morpheme is not used for English personal pronoun
s. Instead, special forms exist for them, and those forms do not use an apostrophe even when they end in an s: the possessive form of I is my when used as an adjective (It is my car) and mine when used as a noun (It is mine). For the other personal pronouns the possessives are: we → our, ours; you → your, yours; he → his, his; she → her, hers; they → their, theirs.
The possessive of it is a special case, having been formed in the 1600s in the same way as impersonal pronouns like one's, the apostrophe was dropped in the early 1800s, presumably to make it more similar to the personal pronouns. The standard form is now it → its, its.
Likewise, the s morpheme is not used for relative pronouns. The possessive form of both who/whom and which is whose.
The demonstrative pronouns this, that, these, and those do not have possessive forms.
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
used to indicate a relationship of possession
Possession (linguistics)
Possession, in the context of linguistics, is an asymmetric relationship between two constituents, the referent of one of which possesses the referent of the other ....
. It is not the same as the genitive case
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
, which can express a wider range of relationships, though the two have similar meanings in many languages.
See Possession (linguistics)
Possession (linguistics)
Possession, in the context of linguistics, is an asymmetric relationship between two constituents, the referent of one of which possesses the referent of the other ....
for a survey of the different categories of possession distinguished in languages.
Nouns
The term "possessive case" is often used to refer to the form of a noun suffixed with the "'sSaxon genitive
In English language teaching, the term "Saxon genitive" is used to associate the possessive use of the apostrophe with the historical origin in Anglo Saxon of the morpheme that it represents...
" morpheme
Morpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
. Calling it a case is arguably not strictly correct – some grammarians contend that this affix
Affix
An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes...
is actually a clitic
Clitic
In morphology and syntax, a clitic is a morpheme that is grammatically independent, but phonologically dependent on another word or phrase. It is pronounced like an affix, but works at the phrase level...
.Consider the phrase: The King of England's horse. If the 's morpheme were not a clitic and actually a proper case
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
, we would expect to see *The King's of England horse, since the King and not England possesses the horse in question. German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, which has an inflected case system, phrases it Das Pferd des Königs von England, where König (king) takes the genitive case
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
. In English, by contrast, the possessive 's morpheme is affixed to the whole noun phrase King of England. However, the English usage does stem from a case ending, Old English -es. See genitive case for details. For information on how to properly construct the possessive form, see Possessive apostrophe.
In English the possessive can also be expressed periphrastically
Periphrasis
In linguistics, periphrasis is a device by which a grammatical category or grammatical relationship is expressed by a free morpheme , instead of being shown by inflection or derivation...
, by preceding the noun or noun phrase with the preposition of.
Examples
Here are some examples of the possessive case being applied to nouns in the English languageEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
| Nominative case | Possessive case | Example |
|---|---|---|
| child | child's, of the child | I have the child's bag |
| woman | woman's, of the woman | This is the woman's husband |
| car | car's, of the car | The car's wheels are off |
Pronouns
The s morpheme is also used for English impersonal pronouns. For example, the possessive form of one is one's, and the possessive form of somebody is somebody's.However, the s morpheme is not used for English personal pronoun
Personal pronoun
Personal pronouns are pronouns used as substitutes for proper or common nouns. All known languages contain personal pronouns.- English personal pronouns :English in common use today has seven personal pronouns:*first-person singular...
s. Instead, special forms exist for them, and those forms do not use an apostrophe even when they end in an s: the possessive form of I is my when used as an adjective (It is my car) and mine when used as a noun (It is mine). For the other personal pronouns the possessives are: we → our, ours; you → your, yours; he → his, his; she → her, hers; they → their, theirs.
The possessive of it is a special case, having been formed in the 1600s in the same way as impersonal pronouns like one's, the apostrophe was dropped in the early 1800s, presumably to make it more similar to the personal pronouns. The standard form is now it → its, its.
Likewise, the s morpheme is not used for relative pronouns. The possessive form of both who/whom and which is whose.
The demonstrative pronouns this, that, these, and those do not have possessive forms.