„The book Biden allies fear the most.“

[Dominik92]

• „The book Biden allies fear the most.“ — Politico

Here, I was wondering why they didn't use Biden's. I was told the reason why there doesn't have to be 's (yet, it's possible to use here too) is that with icons/huge persons, that's just the way you use it. Is it really so simple here? I asked this question as I couldn't imagine saying "Your teacher's explanation....", "Peter's idea...."

EDIT: Taylor Swift('s) fans are....here, I can imagine both too.

Somehow, both "versions" don't work for me in examples below:

- Wimbledon('s) fans....
- Lego('s) fans....

What makes the difference?

Thank you.

 

[Annabel Lee]

That's a really interesting question. In the constructions "Biden allies" and "Taylor Swift fans," the names are being used as attributive noun modifiers rather than as possessives. My sense is that the attributive-noun version is about types:

What type of allies? --Biden allies ​

What type of fans? --Taylor Swift fans / fans of Taylor Swift​

What type of fans? --Toyota fans​

The possessive construction, in contrast, answers the question "Whose?" This would account for why we don't use the possessive with team names or with company names -- nouns with respect to which we don't normally ask "Whose?"

Whose allies? --Biden's allies / allies of Biden's​

Whose fans? --Taylor Swift's fans / fans of Taylor Swift's​

Whose fans? --Toyota's fans / fans of Toyota's​

Likewise, it doesn't really make sense to speak of someone's explanation for something as a type of explanation, or of someone's idea as a type of idea; and, in the rare cases where it comes close to making sense, there is typically an adjectival form of the name that we use instead:

a Platonic theory (not a Plato theory)​

a Chomskyan explanation (not a Chomsky explanation)​

"a Wordsworthian sense of humor" (source) (not a Wordsworth sense of humor)​

 

[jutfrank]

My sense is that the attributive-noun version is about types:

What type of allies? --Biden allies​

Yes, mine too.

I wonder if there's some sense of contrast here too—Biden allies, like Trump supporters, are opposite kinds of people.

 

[Rover_KE]

Also answered here.