Tom's and Jane's 与 Tom and Jane's 意义和用法是否相同？
Tom's and Jane's 与 Tom and Jane's 的意义和用法是不同的。Tom and Jane's father 意为汤姆和琼的父亲(两个人同一个父亲)，而 Tom's and Jane's fathers 意为汤姆的父亲和琼的父亲(两个人各有自己的父亲)。这就是说，当属格所修饰的名词所指的事物不为两人所共有时，应当采用 Tom's and Jane's 的形式。
名词的所有格作定语 时，它与中心词 的关系只是“所有”的关系吗？
定语与其中心词之间的关系往往是非常复杂的。例如，在 his car, his failure, his arrest, his goodness 这四个词组里，语法结构都是一样的；从句法上说，都是定语 + 中心词；从词法上说，都是物主代词 + 名词。但是，定语跟其中心词之间的语意关系却是各不相同的。his car 在语意上等于“他有车”（可概括为 A 占有 B）；his failure 在语意上等于“他失败了”（可概括为 A 做了 B）；his arrest 在语意上等于“他被捕了”（可概括为 A 是 B 的动作客体）；his goodness 在语意上等于“他是善良的”（可概括为 B 是 A 的特性）。① 当定语为名词所有格时，情况亦是如此。例如，my uncle's pictures 的意思可能是：叔叔绘制的图画、叔叔占有的图画、叔叔收集的图画、叔叔配架的图画，叔叔修补的图画，等等。
R. Quirk 等人在 A Grammar of Contemporary English(p.193) 中对名词所有格的意义所作的阐述, 对于我们理解和翻译这种结构是很有帮助的, 故援引如下:
名词所有格
类似结构
(b)主语性
the boy's application the boy applied
his parents' consent his parents consented
my departure I departed
比较 the dip of the compass needle the compass needle dipped (c)本源性
the girl's story the girl told a story
1268
the general's letter the general wrote a letter your telegram you sent a telegram
(d)宾语性 the family's support (…)supports the family the boy's release (…)released the boy her promotion (…)promoted her 比较 a statement of the facts (…)stated the facts
(e)描述性 a women's college a college for women a summer's day a summer day/a day in the summer a doctor's degree a doctoral degree/a doctorate cow's milk milk from cows 比较 an absence of ten days the absence lasted ten days
It's 5: 30 a. m. but he's already worked. 我们的英语老师将上面的句子改为... but he's already at work. 因为在这里 is worked 是错误的。是这样吗？
首先应当搞清，'s 既可能是 is 的缩略形式，也可能是 has 的缩略形式。在上句里，he's = he has，因此，上面的句子是正确的，不必修改。例如：
She's gone to Scotland. (ALD) 她到苏格兰去了。
Two days ago, I went to my uncle; my aunt told me that he had left for Australia on business. (上海会考,95-25)
我看不出上面的辨错题有什么错误。
本题的选项A有错误。因为在表示某人家、某家店铺、诊所等处所时应当使用名词的所有格形式。故上题中的my uncle应改为my uncle's。再如：
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Sharon is a gymnast. She is at the doctor's. (SEFC, 3A, p. 49) 莎伦是一位体操运动员，她现在在医务室里。
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Every Sunday I go to my aunt's. 每个星期天我都去我姑姑家。请做下面的英语试题：
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——I had a really good weekend at my uncle's. ———. A. Oh, that's very nice of you B. Congratulations C. It's a pleasure D. Oh, I'm glad to hear that(全国高考,99-6)
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He's going to ____, ____, to take his own measure. A. tailor's, not Smith's B. the tailor's, not the Smiths' C. the tailors', not the Smiths' D. tailors', not Smiths'