grammaticality - Do things use apostrophe for indicating possessive?





Is using the possessive 's correct in “the car's antenna”?



If someone owns something I would say: Mom's car.


But if the owner is not a person, does it actually own it according to English rules or common usage? Which phrase is right?




  • The house windows.

  • The house's windows.

  • The windows of the house. (Or something like that.)



(Feel free to modify this question so it would be clear for other people.)



Answer



The second and third phrases are correct:



The house's windows
The windows of the house



There is no requirement in the English language that possessors be people, and it's extremely common for inanimate objects to be used with the possessive 's. There is very little difference between the version that uses 's and the version that uses of.


Related: Is using the possessive "'s" correct in "the car's antenna"?


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