Possessive case

Possessive case

The possessive case of a language is a grammatical case used to indicate a relationship of possession. It is not the same as the genitive case, which can express a wider range of relationships, though the two have similar meanings in many languages.Fact|date=November 2007

See Possession (linguistics) for a survey of the different categories of possession distinguished in languages.

The English possessive

The term "possessive case" is often used to refer to the "'s" morpheme, which is suffixed onto many nouns in English to denote possession. This categorization is arguably not strictly correctndash some grammarians contend that this affix is actually a clitic. By descent, however, the English usage does stem from a case ending, Old English "-es". "See genitive case for details." For information on how to properly construct the possessive form, see apostrophe.

English Examples

Here are some examples of the Possessive case being applied in the English language.

ee also

*Possessive apostrophe
*Saxon genitive
*Genitive case


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  • Possessive case — Possessive Pos*sess ive, a. [L. possessivus: cf. F. possessif.] Of or pertaining to possession; having or indicating possession. [1913 Webster] {Possessive case} (Eng. Gram.), the genitive case; the case of nouns and pronouns which expresses… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • possessive case — noun the case expressing ownership • Syn: ↑genitive, ↑genitive case, ↑possessive • Hypernyms: ↑oblique, ↑oblique case • Hyponyms: ↑attributive genitive, ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • possessive case — noun case used to express direct possession, ownership, origin, etc. Though similar in many ways to the genitive case, it is not the same. Languages that have the possessive case include English and Quenya …   Wiktionary

  • possessive case — case that shows ownership or relationship to (Grammar) …   English contemporary dictionary

  • possessive case —    Auikōha i, auipili. See genitive case.    ♦ O form possessive, auipili laulā.    ♦ A form possessive, auipili pa a.    ♦ Possessive markers: o, a, ō, ā …   English-Hawaiian dictionary

  • possessive — [pə zes′iv] adj. [L possessivus] 1. of possession, or ownership 2. a) showing, or characterized by a desire for, possession [a possessive child] b) having or showing a desire to dominate, control, influence, etc. [a possessive mother] 3 …   English World dictionary

  • Possessive — Pos*sess ive, a. [L. possessivus: cf. F. possessif.] Of or pertaining to possession; having or indicating possession. [1913 Webster] {Possessive case} (Eng. Gram.), the genitive case; the case of nouns and pronouns which expresses ownership,… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Possessive pronoun — Possessive Pos*sess ive, a. [L. possessivus: cf. F. possessif.] Of or pertaining to possession; having or indicating possession. [1913 Webster] {Possessive case} (Eng. Gram.), the genitive case; the case of nouns and pronouns which expresses… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Possessive — Pos*sess ive, n. 1. (Gram.) The possessive case. [1913 Webster] 2. (Gram.) A possessive pronoun, or a word in the possessive case. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Possessive — may be:* Possessive case * Possessive adjective * Possessive pronoun * Possessive suffix * Possessive construction, pattern among words indicating possession (linguistics) See also * Possession (disambiguation) * Possessed (disambiguation) * The… …   Wikipedia

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