About the possessive case ('s)

Good evening, I have a doubt about the possessive case in English.

I did an exercise of Portuguese - English translation into the possessive case:

"Um primo do meu pai trabalha na Macy, em Nova Iorque" .

"A cousin of my father's works at the Macy, in New York", but I saw other translation "My father's cousin works at Macy's in New York".

Which of these sentences is correct ?

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6 49 1.3k
I would choose the second as the correct one.
"My father's cousin works at Macy's in New York".


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Since in:
"A cousin of my father's works at the Macy, in New York"

A cousin of --- it´s already a possessive, there´s no use a double possessive in English. [In cases like the current one.]



When you say "my father´s" somebody expects that you state what is "of your father".
The second apostrophe makes the sentence confusing, you could say (in another situation) my father´s work (the work of my father). as in:'Did you not know that I must be about my Father`s work? (Biblical passage of the finding of Jesus in the temple.) or in "“I can remember the stories of my father's work as the Vice President of Development at Covenant College."


But not here, since you have spend your "possessive quota" with "A cousin of my father..."
It makes better sense if you say "A cousin of my father works..." (that is, a cousin works - and - a this cousin is a cousin of my father. Not mine or of everybody else.)

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Back to the initial sentence I have chosen.

"My father's cousin works at Macy's in New York". is equivalent to

1) A cousin of my father works at Macy´s in New York. (Macy´s a commercial [brand] name, so having nothing to do apostrophe indicating possessive or anything) but...


2) Why they, have chosen Macy´s, in the first place?
Chances are that they meant Macy´s (Macy´s store), since apostrophes can be used to mean that (one´s office/house etc, implicit). That lead us to the notice #3.
http://www1.macys.com/shop/store?cm_sp= ... stores-_-n



I going to dentist´s (dentist´s office)
I will go to friend´s for dinner. (friend´s house)


3) A cousin of my father works at Macy´s in New York.
A cousin of my father works at Macy store in New York.



#3 being the corollary of #2.


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Just for information´s sake.
http://linguapress.com/grammar/possessives.htm
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16 60 498
Hello Andre!

Although the first sentence has a message one can understand, it's not the common way of expressing the idea of possessive (genitive) case. Sometimes, it is not worth questioning why, that's the way English is. ;)
The second sentence is correct, see:
My father's cousin. O primo (a prima) do meu pai.
My father's friend's cousin. O primo (a prima) do amigo do meu pai.

English is a language in which if it is possible to shorten the message, you do that. To sum up, you use less words if it is possible, when saying and even writing something.
Just a tip, you had a question to post, not a dout, common mistake we do. I was reminded of that here at English Experts when I became a member.
:roll:

Cheers!

:geek:
6 49 1.3k
Yeah, Andre. Your thread could be initiated by:
Good evening, I have a question about the possessive case in English. ;)