My major responsibility is tuning search results
onfor several of Google's products.
Is the above sentence correct or should I use Google instead of Google's?
-
Possible duplicate of Genitive Case, when use apostrophe and why not allways– FumbleFingersCommented Sep 21, 2018 at 14:29
-
1@FumbleFingers What about this one as a possible duplicate? “the police conspiracy” vs. “the police's conspiracy” We get similar questions often but it's hard to track down related questions with just search terms :/– ColleenVCommented Sep 21, 2018 at 14:34
-
@ColleenV What OP was asking in their original question was the same as that question, but I think it requires a two-part response - both what you linked there, as well as something like about when to use "many somethings" vs "many of x's something s" - maybe like ell.stackexchange.com/questions/18878/…– HammerN'SongsCommented Sep 21, 2018 at 15:35
-
@ColleenV: Couldn't agree more! Unless I'm going senile faster than I thought, you've deleted a comment I made earlier, before my dup VTC. At which time I'd already spent a couple of minutes trying to find a more "accurate" duplicate, since I wasn't entirely satisfied with the "best of a bad bunch" that I eventually ended up citing. But I think the one you've found is definitely better. Whatever - I'm not gonna complain about my contribution being "tidied away", so long as you're not gonna start laying in to me with your mod powers for having posted the comment in the first place! :)– FumbleFingersCommented Sep 21, 2018 at 16:13
-
1@ColleenV: I'm actually starting to regret both my edit (it was me who added the missing word of) and my VTC. I was only thinking about the Saxon genitive / noun adjunct issue (Google's / Google products) earlier, but now I suspect that might be an almost irrelevant side-issue, and that the real usage aspect being queried is in fact the matter of whether / when to include of.– FumbleFingersCommented Sep 21, 2018 at 18:18
|
Show 2 more comments
1 Answer
Just to respond to the question and address the edits made to it: the people who commented are correct, that you can use either way. See the links they gave for an answer to the question you directly asked.
What also needs to be addressed is the use of the word "several" - it requires the sentence to change slightly from the potential duplicates mentioned in comments. I couldn't find a question addressing this particular issue, so here's a thorough response. Both of the following are valid:
My major responsibility is tuning search results for several Google products.
.
My major responsibility is tuning search results for several of Google's products.
The second way of writing it lets us add more descriptors to the thing we're talking about - we can say
I work with many of Google's robotics projects
or
I am familiar with a number of Google's experimental products
Words like several/all/any/a few/etc. all need to be followed either by a plural noun (possibly with adjectives), or a prepositional phrase (usually with a plural object of the proposition). For a non-exhaustive list, the following examples are all valid:
- I ate several sandwiches.
- I ate several of the sandwiches in the kitchen.
- I ate many. (must be said in reference to a previous subject)
- I drank a few sodas.
While these are not:
- I ate several of the sandwich
- I ate a few sandwich
- I ate a few sandwich
Note that these words, while they seem similar, are different:
None/tens/dozens/hundreds/thousands/etc.
These sentences work:
- I ate none of the sandwiches
- I ate dozens of the sandwiches
- I ate dozens of sandwiches
While these do not:
- I ate none sandwiches
- I ate none of sandwiches
- I ate dozens sandwiches
These similar words are also different:
handfuls/bags/bundles/truck-loads/etc.
These sentences work:
- He sold bags of coins
- He sold truck-loads of the shovels
These do not:
- He sold bags coins (unless he sold coins to a person named "bags")
- He left bundles of shovel
- He left bundles of the shovel
