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I wondered about this grammar point, i.e. the possessive and the objective functionalities of 's.

For example, you have "JFK's murder" to mean "the murder of JFK" (which is objective).

On the other hand, Mary's book is possessive.

So, does this mean 's has both functionalities?

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    It does indeed have both functionalities, and it can also be subjective: "Robert's gift of $1000". You can only know which is in play by context.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Dec 27, 2013 at 12:45
  • In this case it means Robert gave someone a gift of that amount right?
    – user2492
    Commented Dec 27, 2013 at 13:33
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    Think of possessive pronouns/determiners, it will help. Your shoe is something you own; your friend isn't. (Not just in English, I might add, in pretty much all languages.) Likewise, 's is not really about possession at all.
    – ЯegDwight
    Commented Dec 27, 2013 at 17:03

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Don't read too much into the designation possessive apostrophe. It might make it easier if you think of the usage as...

X's Y = the Y associated with X, rather than the Y belonging to X.

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