14.    The form of the possessive/genitive case

A.     's is used with singular nouns and plural nouns not ending in s:

a man's job                    the people's choice

men's work                     the crew's quarters

a woman's intuition         the horse's mouth

the butcher's (shop)          the bull's horns

a child's voice                 women's clothes

the children's room          Russia's exports

B.     A simple apostrophe (') is used with plural nouns ending in s: a girls' school             the students' hostel

the eagles' nest           the Smiths' car

C.     Classical names ending in s usually add only the apostrophe:

Pythagoras'Theorem      Archimedes'Law      Sophocles'plays

D.     Other names ending in s can take 's or the apostrophe alone:

Mr Jones's (or Mr Jones' house)       Yeats's (or Yeats') poems

E.     With compounds, the last word takes the 's:

my brother-in-law's guitar Names consisting of several words are treated similarly.

Henry the Eighth's wives      the Prince of Wales's helicopter 's can also be used after initials:

the PM's secretary      the MP's briefcase      the VIP's escort Note that when the possessive case is used, the article before the person or thing 'possessed' disappears:

the daughter of the politician = the politician's daughter

the intervention of America = America's intervention

the plays of Shakespeare = Shakespeare's plays