Grammar : "of", " 's" or nothing ?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Yoann Le Bleis wondered: <<Does anyone have a good link to a page  
that exhaustively defines the use of *of*,  *'s* and *nothing* in a  
nominal group?>>

Best bet is to pick up a good, comprehensive style guide such as the  
Chicago Manual of Style; it contains a wealth of grammatical  
information. I relearned most of my English grammar from the 14th  
edition, which has been replaced and should thus be available  
inexpensively as a used copy. In addition, most good dictionaries  
have a section that discusses English grammar in varying degrees of  
detail, and the better ones also provide usage examples for most  
words in the dictionary.

<<Can I use the *'s* for an object possessing another object? eg  
"widget's event" What about concepts? How can I choose between  
"confidentiality rules" and "rules of confidentiality"?>>

Yes, you can use the possessive in the first case, but English  
accepts the use of unmodified nouns as adjectives (I believe they're  
called "attributive nouns"), as in your second example. Both are  
acceptable, but phrases that use "of" are wordier and thus less  
useful in most technical communication. Unfortunately, knowing when  
they're required depends on a strong knowledge of English idiom,  
which you'll only develop by reading a lot of good English writing;  
for example, you'd never say "the Wales Prince" ("Prince of Wales" is  
preferred). Some of these choices will be found in books on usage  
(Fowler's book is the best known, but Garner is more recent and is  
well respected).

And when in doubt, ask! We techwhirlers have endless patience for  
polite inquiries from people who have done a bit of research on their  
own to try to solve a problem before coming to us for help.

----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
----------------------------------------------------


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