Hello,
One of the questions from a test asks students to make a three-word combination using the possessive form and/or the preposition 'of'; students are also supposed to use articles. I found the following word string a bit strange; it reads
friends, cars, nephew
Is the most natural combination
the nephew's friends' cars (the artcile here refers to 'nephew', doesn't it?)
or
(the) cars of the nephew's friends (again, the article refers to 'nephew')
?
I'd definitely use the pronoun before 'nephew', but I have to stick to the task.
Thank you!
The friend's nephew's cars is ugly, but possible, if the nephew has more than one car.
The cars of his friend's nephew is better.
You can change 'friend' and 'nephew' round.
I'm afraid I can't, as there's more than one friend.
It would be strange if 'friends' had one nephew (unless they are brothers)
Last edited by 5jj; 02-Aug-2011 at 08:29.