Wednesday, September 23, 2015

possessives - Can I say "house's roof", or only "roof of the house"?


For example:

1) House's roof collapsed yesterday.
or
2) The roof of the house collapsed yesterday.


Which of these two is better and why?



Answer



Both are understandable, but you have to be careful how you construct your sentence.



House's roof collapsed yesterday.



Doesn't work, because I don't know what house you're talking about. There are millions of houses. You need to say




My house's roof collapsed yesterday.



Which is a perfectly acceptable setntence.



The roof of the house collapsed yesterday



Is perfectly clear, but a little more formal. I would still say



The roof of my house collapsed yesterday




Unless you were in a conversation where the phrase "the house" is unambiguous, such as if you were discussing it with the contractor who built your house in the first place.


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