若指无生命东西，通常都可省掉：
a country dance the space ship our village church the morning hours the bed-foot（or-head） the pin-point a newspaper office the kitchen door the finger-end the boat-head 137 类别的名词所有格，如名词为复数，其“'”有时可以省略： the ladies'waiting room=the ladies waiting room the savings'bank=the savings bank the servants'hall=the servants hall
138 特指的名词所有格和普通格名词间意义上的差别不难看出： this idiot's wife this idiot wife his girl's friend his girl friend her mother's tongue her mother tongue
139 在表示地方的专有名词词组中，用法不很统一。在以人名开头的这类地名中，有些用名词所有格，有些用普通格名词：
St．Paul's Cathedral Buckingham Palace Lincoln's inn Magdalen College Pompey's Theatre Carneigie Hall Mary's Beauty Shop Bering Strait Gray's Harbour Victoria Station Drake's Island Hyde Park Pike's Peak Lincoln Library
但若人名前有冠词the，就只能用普通格名词： the Hudson River the Huntington Library the Washington Monument the Johnson House the Higgins Company the Garric Theatre the Albert Hall
如地名不是用人名开始，都用普通格： Pearl Harbor Petticoat Lane Waterloo Bridge Nanking Road
如名词所有格中名词为复数形式，“'s”通常都不加： All Souls College the United States Navy
140 如果前面名词表示一段时间，而且是特指性的，可以用所有格形式，但这多见于书面语：
autumn's sunshine December's snow Friday's party the morning's meeting 如果名词是表类别的，用普通格时更多些：
an autumn holiday my morning lesson every January night her night attire
如果名词表示一段时间，两种形式都可以用：
a seven months'child a seven months child the five years'struggle the five years struggle 如果名词表示一个时间单位，则只能用所有格形式：
an hour's notice a moment's hesitation 下面三种形式意思差不多：
a trade union=a trade's union=a trades union woman suffrage=woman's suffrage=women's suffrage
G．用of短语还是用名词所有格？
141 应当说 John's pictures 还是 pictures of John？说 the fly's wings 还是 the wings of the fly？对这个问题下面将详细讨论。为了方便，我们把 John's，of John，fly's，of fly 通通称作修饰语（Modifiers），把 pictures 和 wings 称作主体词。
142 如修饰语有下面情况，用介词短语比用名词所有格好：
a．表示无生命东西：the window of the house（不能说 the house's window），the colour of the car，the leaves of the tree，the price of glory b．表示较低级动物：the head of the ant（不是 th6 ant's head），the wings of the fly，the habit of the snail
c．在科学论著或客观叙述中，表示家畜或家养的动物：The ears of the dog can hear what we can't hear．
d．表示时间：the sunshine of autumn，the debate of Sunday，the breakfast of that morning．（Autumn's sunshine，Sunday's debate（在书面语中用得多些）
e．集体名词：the capital of the firm（比 the firm's capital好），a member of this society，some students of this class
f．“the+形容词”：the misfortune of the blind（不能说 the blind's misfortune），the future of the young，the mystery of the unknown，the uprising of the oppressed
g．复数名词：the car of my brothers，the books of his teachers（my brothers'car和 his teachers'books比较文气，但表类别的名词所有格却很常见，如：a women's magazine，men's dress，a thieves'don。）
h．一系列名字：a friend of John，Richard and William，the policy of England or the U．S．
i．指示代词：the inside of this（or that），the opinion of all（or some，both），the house of each，the good of all，the tragedy of both（但可说 somebody's task，anyone's duty，nobody's business，another's view，one's habit）
j．代词并表示鄙视：the air of him，the gait of her，the faces of them，the pride of you（His air，her gait等不表示鄙视）
k．带冠词 a的名词：the eyes of a child（比 a child's eyes好），the love of a girl，children of a poor mother（可参阅112，124节） l．有名词所有格修饰的名词：a friend of Mary's uncle（不要说 a Mary's uncle's friend），the picture of John's dog
m．跟有定语的名词：the daughter of a millionaire coming from Paris，the situation of the youngest member of the Kim family，the death of John who has been a banker for twenty years，the son of Mr．Johnson，manager of America Company
n．受到强调的名词：the works of Dickens（更强调于Dickens's works中之 Dickens），the rise and fall of the Roman Empire
o．为主体词（表示动作的名词）意义上的宾语：
I don't like the sight of（=to see）John（作意义上的宾语）．（John's sight=John的视力）
I don't like the look of（=to look at）him．
The thought of（=To consider）this matter makes me shudder． She will be the death of（=kill）William． 如主体词有下面情况，用介词短语比用名词所有格好： p．表示画像之类东西：
the portrait（or that effigy，any likeness，no image，every bust）of（=representing）Hitler（Hitler's portrait=the portrait belonging to or drawn by Hitler）
q．表示承受对象的动作：John's denial of his crime（John denies his crime）；Mary's love of dogs；William's murder of a rich man（William murders a rich man）；a rich man's murder of William（a rich man murders William）． r．用来表示×××一部分：a son（可能不止一个儿子）of Dr．Whitestone's；followers（可能指追随者中的一部分）of Mr．Kim's．（Dr．Whitestone's son=his only son or the particular son you know；Mr．Kim's followers=all his followers）
s．前面有一限定词：
a（good）friend of John，some（interesting）books of Mary，any（great）play of Shakespeare，ten（exciting）stories of Maupassant（比 a John's（good）friend，Mary's some interesting books，etc．要好一些）
143 如果主体词有以下情况，用名词所有格比用of短语好：
a．跟有一个同位语：the boy's teacher，Miss Shaw（the teacher of the boy，Miss Shaw）；my teacher's book，Romeo and Juliet
b．跟有自己的修饰语：Johnson's statement about his firm，Tolstoy's novels that are still read today
c．为一系列名词：John's wife and children，Mary's praise or rebuke d．受到强调：that gentleman's manners，his son's great success，（I request）John's pardon（or excuse）．（在 the manners of that gentleman中，manners不受强调。）
如果修饰语有下述情况，用名词所有格也比用of短语好： e．为一表动作名词之意义上主语，该名词后又跟有of短语：
John's（意义上的主语）treatment（表动作名词）of the servant（意义上的宾语）（John treats the servant），the city's opinion of the mayor，Mary's praise of John，the student's summary of the story，John's opening of his new store
f．为一表动作名词之意义上主语或宾语，而该名词后又不跟of短语：John's treatment（John treats others or others treat John）；Mary's praise；David's support（or murder，promotion，judgment，condemnation）