“What did you buy at the market?”
"A quart of milk, two pounds of steak, and four ____.
A. corn's ears B. ears of corn C. corn ears D. ears of corns (TOEFL)
答案为 B(ears of corn—玉米穗)。但是,我怎么也弄不明白为什么不能选 A(corn's ears)。我们不是可以说 cow's milk 吗?
不可否认，'s 结构 与 of 结构 常常表达相同的意思。例如：
some people's opinions = opinions of some people
the city's population = the population of the city
但是切不要认为凡是可用's结构的地方就可以换用of结构，或者凡可以用of结构的地方就可以换用's结构。实际上，它们两者的使用范围都是有限制的。其中一个很重要的限制就是属格名词 's本身的词汇因素。这就是说，有些名词可以采用属格形式，而有些名词则不能采用属格形式，而必须采用of短语形式（ ）。究竟哪些名词可采用属格形式呢？初学者可记住这样一个最简单的说法：动物名词和集合名词可采用属格形式，无生命名词则应采用of结构或名词 名词结构，但是，地理名词、地点名词、时间名词和运输工具例外。下面是关于这一说法的例证：
-
the boy's age(这个男孩的年龄)
-
the horse's tail(马尾)
-
the committee's decision(委员会的决定)
-
four ears of corn(4 个玉米穗)
-
the roof of the house(房顶)
-
the United States' attitude(美国的态度)
-
the city's atmosphere(城市的气氛)
-
today's paper(今天的报纸)
-
the plane's engines(飞机发动机)
请做下面的英语试题
-
“I’ve invited Bill over tonight.” “Then you’d better turn on ____.” A. the porch’s light B. the light porch C. the light’s porch D. the porch light (TOEFL)
-
“What does Roger Brown do for a living?” “He’s one of the most successful ____ in the city.” A. newspaper reporter B. newspaper’s reporters C. newspaper’s reporter D. newspaper reporters (TOEFL)
-
“He said that he forgot both of the _.” A. rooms number B. room number C. room's number D. room numbers(TOEFL)
-
What do you call juice that comes from tomatoes? You call it _. A. tomatoes juice B. juice of tomato C. tomato juice D. tomato's juice (TOEFL)
-
It took ____ before the boat began to float better. A. an hour work B. an hour's work C. the work an hour D. a work hour(Nelson, 450D)