Jose
Question about possessive. What is the correct for this sentence "The battery of Paul's laptop doesn't work well" or "The Paul's laptop's battery doesn't work well"?
26 aug. 2014 07:04
Antwoorden · 5
2
The most natural phrase would be "Paul's laptop battery doesn't work well." Explanation: The battery belongs to Paul. (So does the laptop, but that's linguistically irrelevant here) The noun "laptop" is used here as if it were an adjective. to qualify / modify the noun battery -- you could also say "the battery of the laptop," but it would sound overly formal. We don't usually say "the laptop's battery" because the laptop is inanimate, and isn't generally considered to have possessions -- both the laptop and the battery belong to Paul.
26 augustus 2014
2
"The battery of Paul's laptop doesn't work well" is correct. But "Paul's laptop's battery doesn't work well" is also correct - you just don't need 'the' (definite article) when you have a possessive.
26 augustus 2014
1
I agree with @topo morto and Phil. 1. "The Paul's laptop's battery" is wrong for several reasons. You can't put a 'The' before a person's name, and you wouldn't use the " 's" form with an inanimate object such as a laptop. 2. "The battery of Paul's laptop" is fine. 3. "Paul's laptop battery" is the best phrasing because it's the neatest. The object is a 'battery'. 'Laptop battery' tells you what kind of battery it is. 'Paul's laptop battery' tells you what kind of battery it is and who it belongs to.
26 augustus 2014
1
the first (also: personal proper names {Paul} do not take an article)
26 augustus 2014
They are all right.
26 augustus 2014
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