untiensvautmieuxque

Hello,

I need a precision about the use of "of" and "xxx's" in English.
I know that you can say Jenny's dog for example or Jenny's concern

I think "International organizations' concerns" is not correct and I have to say
"the concerns of international organizations", for example.

Are they some simple rules that I could easily remember?

Thank you in advance!

The_FD

I am not very aware of rules, i just use to speak and write as my ears tell me what's right or wrong (which may not be the best way to talk ever but it works from time to time)

I guess I know 's can only be used with people. Institution, things and all that stuff shall not have possessive attributes although it is more and more used.
Though "International organization concerns" is perfectly right, no possessive but the way it goes is meaningful and lighter than "the concerns of..."

I don't see any other rule than making a sentence light and sound good to your ears

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MikeL

This is a tricky one. There is no simple rule. As FD says, it is often a feeling about how the sentence sounds. It is much more a matter of style than grammar. I don't think we can make generalisations about the use of the apostrophe with institutions, etc. I don't see anything wrong with "the organisation's concerns..." for example. About the only really obvious rule is that simple possessive phrases involving names of people almost always use the apostrophe s: John's sister, not the sister of John. But even here "of" might be used if the 's sounds awkward, e.g. the brother of Jesus. And even when the use of "of" is normal, such as "the Queen of England", it's not impossible to say "England's queen" - a subtle distinction that is easier to understand than to explain! Compare "the Bank of England" with "England's banks"...
Conclusion: there is no conclusion...

untiensvautmieuxque

Hmm thank you The_FD and MikeL for your lights...I guess I have to develop my ears then!

Johnny Hargreaves

According my little grammar book:

- 's is used for:
people or animals (the girl's name, the horse's mouth)
organizations (the government's decision)
time expressions (next week's exam, yesterday's milk)
after a singular noun (my sister's room)

- of" for:
things (the roof of the house, the title of the book)
long word constructions (What's the title of the awesome new movie?)

Hope that helps.

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untiensvautmieuxque

Thank you, it helps indeed!

MikeL

But these are guidelines more than fixed rules. I still maintain that it is more a stylistic than a grammatical question. Can anyone assert that the following are either ungrammatical or even awkward??
* A man and a girl were killed in the accident. The name of the girl has not been released because her parents have not yet been notified.
* The ship's bow was damaged in the collision.
* The awesome new movie's premiere will be held next Saturday.

Of the different sorts of phrase quoted above, the only one that does not allow both constructions is the type "yesterday's milk", where "of" is impossible.

Speaking of milk, it would be an interesting exercise to construct sentences using both "milk's" and "of milk" to see what the usage is. My gut-feeling is that in many cases both are possible:
the health benefits of milk / milk's health benefits
But what about the milk of human kindness??