definite article and possessive 's

[Carlhya]

Hi! I'm teaching the topic 'possessive 's and yesterday something caught my attention. I wrote some examples and a student asked why we write 'the' in some cases. I answered it was because of the use of itself....but I thought about it and I think it is due to the names we can't use 'the'....

I really got confused with it and I want to correct my mistake with my students....

Examples:The teacher's car.
The Susana's pencil.
It's Marion's book.
She's my sister's baby.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi! I'm teaching the topic 'possessive 's and yesterday something caught my attention. I wrote some examples and a student asked why we write 'the' in some cases. I answered it was because of the use of itself....but I thought about it and I think it is due to the names we can't use 'the'....

I really got confused with it and I want to correct my mistake with my students....

Examples:The teacher's car.
The Susana's pencil. Incorrect. It's just "Susana's pencil" although of course that's not a whole sentence.
It's Marion's book.
She's my sister's baby.

Well, using the possessive doesn't make any difference. We don't use the definite article before someone's name. Before a common noun, if no other word is necessary (my/your/this/that etc), then an article is required, either definite or indefinite depending on context.