Can anyone help me with the order of this sentence please?

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FranciscoAr
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Can anyone help me with the order of this sentence please?

Post by FranciscoAr »

Hello everyone,

I am from Chile speaking medium level English and this is my first post.

In the TV series Outlander, there is an episode named "The Fox's Lair"

My question is: when do I use "The Fox's Lair" and when do I use "The Lair of the Fox"? Or the second option is incorrect?

This of course, applicable to countless similar situations with other words, e.g.

Peter's car or the car of Peter
James' job or the job of James,
etc, etc

Thanks in advance and best regards,
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Joe
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Re: Can anyone help me with the order of this sentence please?

Post by Joe »

The second option is not strictly "incorrect" but it is not normal or idiomatic. Native speakers mostly say "Peter's car".
Although we can use "of" to show possession, it is more usual to use possessive 's. The following phrases have the same meaning, but #2 is more usual and natural:
1. the boyfriend of my sister
2. my sister's boyfriend
https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/nou ... essive.htm
Usually with objects we use a different structure. So instead of "the door of the car" or "the car's door" we say "the car door" (where "car" is a noun acting as an adjective to modify the noun "door").
"We are not wholly bad or good, who live our lives under Milk Wood :-| " — Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood

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