Slip-ups: Possessive vs plural (2)

We continue with a recap of all the things we have discussed on the use of the apostrophe -s ('s) to indicate ownership or possession, association, relationship, etc.

Last week we said the possessive pronouns (his, hers, ours, yours, theirs) do not take the apostrophe (') at all.

The second thing we are recapping is that in English we reserve the use of the apostrophe - s ('s) to show possession, etc for humans and use the of[1]construction to indicate ownership or possession, etc for inanimate things.

So we write or say:

Kofi's father/school/book/bag The girl's parents/house/car

NOT

The father/school/book/bag of Kofi.

The parents/house/car of the girl.

In the same way, we write or say:

The roots/leaves/bark/branches of the tree.

The straps/colour/quality/design of the bag

 NOT

The tree's roots/leaves/bark/branches

The bag's straps/colour/quality/design

We have said that the expressions:

 A hair's breadth

A stone's throw

A day's journey/work/wages

etc

are correct because they are idiomatic in meaning. For instance, a hair's breadth does not mean the breadth that belongs to the hair, nor does a day's work means the work that belongs to the day.

(To be continued).