Are there any rules for genitive case not indicating possesion?

Asked Jul 28 '14 at 05:41

Active Jul 28 '14 at 06:00

Viewed 43 times

My teacher, a native English speaker, was quite puzzled when I asked this and could not answer this question.

Why there is:

child seat but children's love //why these are different

developer's conference //why not developers conference, they do not own it

rooms' furnishings

The question is, how to tell when to use the genitive and when simple noun?

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Community

asked Jul 28 '14 at 05:41

SilkyS

1

Why would you think “ownership” has anything to do with this matter? – tchrist Jul 28 '14 at 05:59
Related: http://english.stackexchange.com/q/50740 – tchrist Jul 28 '14 at 06:03
tchrist: because it looks like that because of the 's'. The thing is when to use 's' and when just a noun... – SilkyS Jul 28 '14 at 06:06
tchrist: The question you referred to is about a different topic. I do not discuss the order of words or usage of nouns but the genitive case only. – SilkyS Jul 28 '14 at 06:09
1

"Child seat" does not belong to a child. "Child" is used as a descriptor for the seat. I would say "developer conference" is also appropriate, if not more, where "developer" is the type of conference. Same for "room furnishings." Using the possessive is possible too in some cases; in "children's love" it's straightforward because the love belongs to the children. – Jul 28 '14 at 06:38
2

A "learner question"' -- please ask on [ell.se] – Kris Jul 28 '14 at 09:45
This reminds me of users’s guide vs user’s guide vs user guide vs users guide. It also seems to be asking when it is ok to use an apostrophe-s for an inanimate agent, like this question touches upon. – tchrist Jul 28 '14 at 13:55

Are there any rules for genitive case not indicating possesion?

0 Answers0