Darwin’s theory of evolution
In this case we have two nouns, Darwin and theory . The second noun is an object and the first is a person.
The first noun has apostrophe (') + s attached, and this denotes that the second object belongs to the person.
The above sentence could be written:
The theory of evolution created by Darwin.
But it is more natural to use the possessive and write:
Darwin’s theory of evolution
We can also use (’s ) with times, companies and organizations although it is perfectly acceptable join the nouns with ‘of’, or sometimes you can form a compound noun.
Microsoft’s latest program
or
the latest program of Microsoft
or
the latest Microsoft program
The World Wild Life Fund’s policy on endangered species
or
policy on endangered species of The World Wild Life Fund
or
The World Wild Life Fund policy on endangered species
The government’s program
or
The policy of the government
or
The government program on…
Exercises
Which of the following sentences and phrases can be rewritten as compound nouns, with a possessive (’s ) or should be left as they are?
- The policy of the United Nations
- The news of today
- A belt of trees designed to provide shelter
- The voice of Anna Netrebko
- Snowy is the dog of Tintin
- A pool made of stone
- The decision of France
- The bottom of the Queen Mary
- The theory of evolution
- The theory of evolution developed by Darwin
- The dam in Mazingira
- The jump of a frog
- The products of Hewlett-Packard
- A dream on a mid-summer night The painting by Monet
For more on possessives and compound nouns etc go to
Charles Darling's Guide to Grammar and Writing
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