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I am always confused where to use a "possessive apostrophe".

From what I found on the internet it seems to me that children's literature is correct. What about garden chair? In my eyes it's the same. Garden is describing what kind of chair it is. Children is also describing what kind of literature I have in my mind.

Could someone please explain?

Radek
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  • Inanimate things don't possess other things, they can only modify them. – Ricky Mar 30 '17 at 12:40
  • @Ricky I don't understand. So what about garden chair? – Radek Mar 30 '17 at 12:46
  • Does garden chair, in your example, mean "a chair made of garden" or "a chair in the garden" or "a chair for use with a garden" or "a chair for use by a garden" or something else? Normally, it would mean "a chair used in the garden", so "garden" is an adjective, not a possessive. – Davo Mar 30 '17 at 13:27
  • @Davo so children literature means literature for children. And children's literature means literature owned by children? – Radek Mar 30 '17 at 13:38
  • @Radek: Saying children literature primarily means you're not a native speaker. Please consider using English Language Learners. – FumbleFingers Mar 30 '17 at 14:05
  • @FumbleFingers: well, I'm not. So do you want me to create new question over there? PS. I read your comment saying "General Reference - children is never used adjectivally, as could be established by consulting any dictionary." – Radek Mar 30 '17 at 14:08
  • The particular example children's books / childrens books (and the debate over whether the latter should nowadays be considered correct) has been covered on ELU before 'Working mens club' must be considered idiomatic. // The general 'when to use a possessive construction, when to use an attributive noun' debate has also been covered. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 30 '17 at 14:25
  • @Radek: I don't think ELL even existed when I posted that comment over 4 years ago when I closevoted citing "General Reference". In actual fact, your specific question here was asked (and well-received) on ELL some years ago. Imho it was also well-answered there, but it's worth noting there's a prominent comment on the ELL question linking back to the closed one here. – FumbleFingers Mar 30 '17 at 14:25
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    You are asking why, if chicken soup is made of chicken, cat food is not made of cats. – Yosef Baskin Mar 30 '17 at 16:40
  • @Radek: Garden chairs don't have souls. Children have souls. Did I use the word "inanimate"? I believe I did! Think about it. Seriously. – Ricky Mar 30 '17 at 20:51
  • It might be wholly true that the chair which belongs in the garden can’t be ‘the garden’s chair’ but Davo, are you really insisting the edges of the property can’t be ‘the garden’s boundary’ or that ‘this garden’s colours’ can’t be compared to ‘that garden’s (whatever else)’? – Robbie Goodwin Apr 09 '17 at 18:17

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