2012 – ENGLISH LAB Milano - Università Bicocca - English Lab - G Canepa1

TODAY’S MENU POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES / PRONOUNS POSSESSIVES PAST SIMPLE USAGE (see book) PRESENT TENSES FORMS (see book) Milano - Università Bicocca - English Lab - G Canepa2

POSSESSIVES 3 English can demonstrate the link between two nouns by using possessive forms expressed by (i) the so-called Saxon Genitive or ‘s form (ii) the preposition of (iii) compound nouns Sometimes all the three forms are possible. Sometimes one form is more likely than another.

‘s Form vs of Form Milano - Università Bicocca - English Lab - G Canepa 4 ‘s form is normally used referring to ownership and possession, people and animals, personal and professional relationships, or the origin of something in a country or organisation Pig’s liver is full of iron and vitamins Stan’s secretary is not even computer literate Wales’ natural beauty is on a par with Cornwall’s My professor’s wife is my neighbour’s sister

‘s Form vs of Form In examples relating to country and organisations, i.e. things which are inanimate, both ‘s form and of form are often possible The policy of the company / The company’s policy is to recruit staff from all EU countries Italy’s history / The history of Italy illustrates the importance of Art in the cultural development of a country Milano - Università Bicocca - English Lab - G Canepa5

‘s Form vs Compound Nouns 1 Milano - Università Bicocca - English Lab - G Canepa 6 Certain ideas relating to time require the ‘s form but compound nouns are sometimes also possible New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday in 2006 There was twenty minutes’ delay before the lesson could start / A ten-minute delay was acceptable Our university is half an hour‘s drive from where we live / It took them a seven-hour drive to reach their holiday seaside resort

‘s Form vs Compound Nouns 2 Nouns concerning special days other than December 31st are formed with compound nouns Christmas Day Boxing Day Good Friday Easter Day Bank Holiday Monday Milano - Università Bicocca - English Lab - G Canepa7

‘s Form vs Compound Nouns 3 When referring to a specific date the of structure is used The news was reported in Education Today of 16 September 2005 Several students suffered from severe diseases after the earthquake of 1989 Milano - Università Bicocca - English Lab - G Canepa8

Compound Nouns Milano - Università Bicocca - English Lab - G Canepa 9 Compound nouns are useful in newspaper headlines, in reports, and in the scientific language for the reason of conciseness Food production World Health Organization Disease control Research team In this noun + noun structure the first noun functions as an adjective and is almost always given in the singular form

Noun + Noun structure Milano - Università Bicocca - English Lab - G Canepa 10 The noun + noun structure is commonly used for expressions which specify certain kind of things Return ticket / season ticket geography / history / maths book science fiction gold / silver / bronze medal theatre ticket milk chocolate

Adjective + Noun structure Milano - Università Bicocca - English Lab - G Canepa 11 However there are a number of exceptions where adjective + noun rather than noun + noun is used to describe well-known classifications Monthly / Weekly ticket or paper Musical instrument Personal computer General knowledge Natural history museum Higher education