Learn the difference between *“’s”* and *“of”* in English! In this lesson, you’ll learn when to use *“’s”* (like “John’s car” or “the teacher’s book”) and when to use *“of”* (like “the name of the city” or “the end of the movie”). We’ll look at clear examples and common patterns so you can improve your grammar and sound more natural in English. Test yourself with the quiz afterwards: https://www.engvid.com/s-or-of-the-easy-way-to-know/

More of my beginner grammar videos:
https://youtu.be/-yRK5x5Ea7Q
https://youtu.be/gix9O_sjEzo

In this lesson:
0:00 "of" or "s"?
1:13 Use s for people & animals
4:15 Can we use "of" for people?
6:30 Use s for time expressions
7:49 Use of for describing things, concepts, phrases
9:36 PRACTICE: s or of?

TRANSCRIPT:
And today we are going to learn an important grammar concept.
What we will learn today is about when to use the word "of", which is a very, very common
word in English.
Its actually one of the most common words in English.
So how do we use it?
And were also going to learn how to use an apostrophe and "s".
So what do I mean by this?
Well, I have four examples here, so these are all different things you might hear in
English.
"Sarahs book", so you have the name of somebody, an apostrophe "s" in the word "book", "the
colour of the car", "the dogs bone", "the name of the movie".
So in this lesson, were going to look at why would you use "of" here, and why do you
use apostrophe "s".
So apostrophe "s" and "of" are used in a similar way.
We use them both to show things like something belongs to someone, to show an association,
or to show a connection between two things.
So lets look at this in a little bit more detail so you better understand when to use
apostrophe "s" and when to use "of".
So lets start with apostrophe "s".
So we often use apostrophe "s" when were answering the question "Whose is this?"
or "Who does this belong to?" or "Who has a relationship with this?"
So lets look at some examples.
So I just found this.
I dont know if youve ever seen something like this before.
I think you go, like, okay, well, anyways, as you can tell, this is not mine.
I dont know how to play with this.
So whose is this?
Well, this, its my nephews toy.
So notice were answering "Who does this belong to?"
Well, in this case, my nephew, thats my sisters son.
This is his toy.
So because I have here the word "toy" and I want to show who it belongs to, Im going
to use this apostrophe "s" on the person.
So its my nephews toy.
Alright, lets look at another example.
So again, were answering the question "Whose is this?"
I have here a book.
Whose book is this?
Well, I dont know if you can see the name down here, its written small, but this is
our fellow teacher Adams book.
So my colleague Adam wrote a book on the IELTS.
Whose book is this?
Its Adams book.
So notice were again answering the question of "Who does this belong to?"
It belongs to Adam.
So when we say this, we add an apostrophe and an "s".
Its Adams book.
Alright, lets do one more example of "Whose is this?"
Well, the other day I was walking down the street and I found something really weird
on the ground.
Tell me if you think this is weird also.
Okay, I dont know what this is.
I think its a bird.
Somebody made it out of clay.
Its a strange looking bird.
So "Whose bird is this?"
Im going to make a guess that its a students bird.
Its not my bird, I did not make this.
I think a student made this.
So, I can say its the students bird.
And again, youll notice the word "student" has apostrophe "s" and this, I think its
a bird.
Okay, so the key rule here is in general we use apostrophe "s" for when were talking
about people or animals and their belongings.
So the dogs bone, the cats tail, the students backpack, all of the words I just said had
apostrophe "s".
Ive spoken about apostrophe "s", what about if you want to use "of"?
Can you use "of" in the same examples?
So for example, instead of saying "my nephews toy", could you say "the toy of my nephew"?
So can you use "of" here?
Or instead of saying "Adams book", can you say "the book of Adam"?
So using "of" instead of apostrophe "s".
Or again, I showed you that really weird bird, and I said it was the students bird.
Instead of that, can you use "the bird of the student"?
So thats a great question.
So the truth is its possible.
You can use these. […]