You already know the basic rule: the cat's tail, my friend's car. At this level, three areas require extra attention: names ending in -s, hyphenated phrases, and shared vs. individual possession.
Use 's for people and animals; use of for objects, abstract ideas, and parts of things. Organisations and countries can use either.
| Use 's (people & animals) | Use "of" (objects & abstract) | Either possible (organisations/countries) |
|---|---|---|
| the cat's tail my boss's email the horse's saddle the teacher's desk |
the roof of the building the end of the street the result of the match the purpose of the meeting |
the company's success ✓ the success of the company ✓ Poland's capital ✓ the government's decision ✓ |
One noun can describe another. The first noun acts like an adjective, showing type or purpose — not ownership. The first noun is almost always singular, even when the meaning is plural.
In English, 's (or s') is used with time and distance expressions, just as with people. This is a typical B1+ pattern that frequently appears in Cambridge exams.
Rule: singular time word → 's — plural time word → s' (apostrophe after the s, no extra s).
| Singular → 's | Plural → s' | Fixed phrases |
|---|---|---|
| a week's holiday one hour's drive a month's salary today's news |
two weeks' notice three hours' walk six months' rent five years' experience |
a stone's throw away at arm's length for goodness' sake in today's world |
The double possessive combines "of" + possessive noun/'s or possessive pronoun. It is used when talking about one of several things belonging to someone, and creates an important distinction in meaning.
The structure you choose tells the listener whether you mean the container / object type itself, or the contents / quantity inside.
| Noun + Noun → the object/type itself | Noun + of + Noun → the contents/quantity |
|---|---|
| a wine glass = a glass designed for wine (чаша за вино) | a glass of wine = a glass filled with wine (чаша вино) |
| a matchbox = a box for matches (кибритена кутия) | a box of matches = a box containing matches (кутия с кибрит) |
| a milk bottle = a bottle designed for milk | a bottle of milk = a bottle filled with milk |
| a coffee cup = a cup designed for coffee | a cup of coffee = a cup containing coffee |
| a cardboard box = a box made of cardboard | a box of chocolates = a box with chocolates inside |
Last weekend I visited my sister's new flat for the first time. It's only a ten-minute walk from the station, so the location is perfect for her daily commute. The moment I walked in, I noticed how differently she had organised everything compared to her old place. In the kitchen, there was a wine glass drying next to the sink, and on the counter stood a bottle of water she'd clearly been drinking from all morning. Her coffee cup — a birthday present from our mother-in-law — was sitting by the window. My sister's car was parked outside, right next to her neighbour's car, and I could see her toothbrush holder through the bathroom window, which made me laugh. She's always been house-proud, even in her student days. She showed me a photo of our grandmother's garden, an old picture that had been in the family for years, and then a completely different photograph — one of her own, taken on a friend of hers' wedding day last spring. On the wall of the hallway hung a small shoe rack she'd built herself, with a single matchbox balanced on top for some reason nobody could explain. She mentioned that after just three months' rent, she already felt at home. Her landlord had given her only two weeks' notice before the tenancy began, but she managed to move everything in on time. I left that evening thinking that a five-minute walk to the nearest café was the one thing missing from my own street.
1. How far is the flat from the station?
2. Who gave the narrator's sister the coffee cup?
3. What was the photograph on the wedding day?
4. How long had the sister lived there before she "felt at home"?
On my first day at the company's headquarters, a colleague of mine gave me a short tour of the building. She pointed out the meeting rooms, the car park at the back, and finally the director general's office on the top floor. "That's the boss's office," she said, "and next to it is his mother-in-law's old office — she used to work here too, believe it or not." I laughed, thinking it was a joke, but apparently it was true. Inside the director general's office, everything had its own purpose. A glass cabinet held a box of chocolates that nobody was allowed to touch, and on the shelf beside it stood an empty coffee jar next to a full jar of coffee — the coffee jar was just for decoration, my colleague explained, while the jar of coffee was the one people actually used every morning. On the desk sat a photo of the company's founder, not a picture belonging to him personally, just an old photograph of him from the firm's earliest days. "You'll need a month's notice if you ever want to leave," she warned, half-joking, "and don't expect a week's holiday in your first six months." I asked about the strange metal sign above the door — a five-year anniversary gift, apparently, from a group of colleagues who had all worked there since the company's beginning. By the end of the tour I had learned more about the office's history than about my own job, but I didn't mind. Everyone's desk told its own story, from the family photos to the half-empty tins of biscuits nobody claimed as theirs.
1. Whose old office was next to the director general's?
2. Why was there an empty coffee jar next to a full jar of coffee?
3. How much notice would the narrator need to leave the job?
4. What was above the door of the director general's office?
| Tense | Typical context signals | Active | Passive equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | always, every day, generally, facts | They deliver it daily. | It is delivered daily. |
| Present Continuous | right now, at this moment, currently, look! | They are fixing it. | It is being fixed. |
| Past Simple | yesterday, last year, in 1990, specific finished time | They built it in 1990. | It was built in 1990. |
| Past Continuous | when (past), at that moment, while, all night | They were repairing it. | It was being repaired. |
| Present Perfect | just, already, yet, recently, ever/never, since, for (up to now) | They have fixed it. | It has been fixed. |
| Past Perfect | by the time, before (past ref.), already (in past narrative) | They had repaired it. | It had been repaired. |
| Future (will) | tomorrow, next week, soon, I think/believe/expect | They will announce it. | It will be announced. |
| Modals | must, can, should, may followed by base verb | They must complete it. | It must be completed. |
Check names ending in -s, hyphenated phrases, and joint vs. individual possession.
Check that 's is used for people/animals and "of" is used for objects, abstract ideas and parts of things.
Check that the first noun in a compound noun is singular, even when the meaning is plural.
Check the apostrophe position: singular time word → 's, plural time word → s'.
Check the double possessive ("of" + possessive) and the difference between the object/type itself and the contents.