The category of case the editor-in-chief’s office,

my mother-in-law’s garden,
Case is a grammatical category which shows relation of the noun with other words a passer-by’s comment.
in a sentence. It is expressed by the form of the noun.
English nouns have two cases: the common case and the genitive case. However, A specific feature of the English genitive case is the so-called group genitive
not all English nouns possess the category of case; there are certain nouns, mainly when ‘s can be joined:
nouns denoting inanimate objects, which cannot be used in the genitive case.
The common case is unmarked, it has no inflexion (zero inflexion) and its meaning 1) to a group of two coordinated nouns if such a group refers to a single idea
is very general. (when two persons possess or
The genitive case is marked by the apostrophe s (‘s). are related to something they have in common):
In writing there are two forms of the genitive: for most nouns it is ‘s (mother’s) Mum and Dad’s room.
and for nouns ending in -s and regular plural nouns only the apostrophe (mothers’). John and Mary’s car.
In speech there are four ways of pronunciation of the genitive case.
2) to a more extensive phrase which may even contain a clause:
1. [z] after vowels and voiced consonants: Negro’s, dog’s;
2. [s] after voiceless consonants: student’s; the Duke of Norfolk’s sister,
3. [Iz] after sibilants: prince’s, judge’s; the secretary of state’s private room,
4. zero endings: girls’, boys’. the man I saw yesterday’s son.
The zero form is used: 3) to a noun (pronoun) + a pronoun group:
a) with regular plural nouns – students’, drivers’, doctors’; someone else’s benefit.
b) with Greek nouns in -s of more than one syllable: 4) to a group ending in a numeral:
Socrates’ ['sokrati:z] wife,
Xerxes’ ['zǝ ksi: z] army, in an hour or two’s time.
Euripides’ |juǝ'rɪpɪdi:z] plays.
The main meaning of the genitive case is that of possession, hence the traditional
In many other names ending in the voiced sibilant [z] the normal spelling of the term ‘the possessive case’. This general sense undergoes a number of modifications
genitive case is with the apostrophe only (though sometimes 's occurs too): Burns’ under the influence of the lexical meaning of both the noun in the genitive case and
(Burns’s) poems, Dickens’ (Dickens’s) novels. the noun it modifies.
Names ending in sibilants other than [z] have the regular [ɪz] in the genitive: The main modifications of this meaning are:
Marx’s [sɪz] ideas, 1. The idea of belonging: John’s coat, Mary’s car.
Tess’s [sɪz] misfortunes.
2. Different kinds of relations, such as:
Irregular plural nouns forming their plural by vowel change also have the regular
[z] in the genitive: a) relation of the whole to its parts: John’s leg, the cat’s tail;
Children’s games,
women’s faces. b) personal or social relations: John’s wife, John’s friend.
Compound nouns have ’s joined to the final component: Besides the genitive case retains some of its old meanings:
 today’s papers - сегодняшние газеты
subjective relations: the papers of today - газеты сегодняшнего дня
Chekhov’s observation = Chekhov observed;
the doctor’s arrival =- the doctor arrived; 3. With the names of countries and towns.

authorship: Britain’s national museums

measure: The Guardian’s analysis, the Tribune’s role, the company’s plans, the firm’s
an hour’s trip, a mile’s distance. endeavours, the Coal Board’s Offer, the government’s policy, the organisation’s
executive board, the Geographical Society’s gold medal.
In some cases the form ’s completely loses the meaning of possession and comes
to denote a quality, as in man’s blood, woman’s work (serving in works canteen or a 5. Often with the nouns world, nation, country, city, town:
transport cafe, is generally regarded as woman’s work), his sly idiot’s smile - the world’s top guitarists, the nation’s wealth.
идиотская улыбка, you’ve got angel’s eyes -ангельские глазки, this is a women’s
college - женский колледж.
6. With the nouns ship, boat, car:
The use of the genitive case and its equivalent of-phrase the ship’s crew, the car’s wheel.

The genitive case is used: 7. With nouns denoting planets: sun, moon, earth:
the sun’s rays, this earth’s life.
1. With nouns denoting persons and animals.
8. With some inanimate nouns in the following set expressions:
John’s idea, the swallow’s nest, the mare’s back. to one’s heart’s content (desire), at death’s door, at arm’s length, out of
harm’s way, a hair’s breadth, a
With other nouns (denoting inanimate objects or abstract notions) the of + noun needle’s eye, at a stone’s throw, to move at a snail’s pace, at the water’s edge.
phrase is used: the back of a train, the legs of a table.
The syntactical function of the genitive case is that of an attribute. It is always
2. With nouns denoting time and distance, such as minute, moment, hour, day, used as a premodifier of a noun and is sometimes called the dependent genitive.
week, month, year, inch, foot, mile and substantivized adverbs: today, yesterday, However there are some cases when the noun in the genitive case is not followed
tomorrow, etc. by the headword and then it stands for the whole noun phrase. This is the so-called
absolute genitive. It is used:
a moment’s delay a month’s absence
an hour’s drive a mile’s distance 1. To avoid repetition:
today’s a few minutes’ silence Our house is better than Mary’s (than Mary’s house).
newspaper yesterday’s telephone
a week’s time conversation 2. After the preposition of:
a night’s rest an old friend of my mother’s, that cousin of my husband’s.
With these nouns the of-phrase is either impossible, as in the first three examples,
or if it is possible the two variants are not interchangeable. 3. To denote shops such as the butcher’s, the baker’s, the grocer’s, the chemist’s,
or institutions, where the genitive is usually a saint's name:
 St Paul’s (Cathedral), St James’s (Palace),

or places of residence:
at Timothy’s, at Old Jolyon’s, at my uncle’s.

There are also cases (though rare) when a noun is modified by two successive
nouns in the genitive case. It is the so called double genitive, as in My mother’s
father’s people. The first in such structures has as a rule the meaning of possession
(the father of my mother), while the second may either have the same meaning (the
people of my father) or other meanings as in: the boy's half-hour’s run.