Why do we say the following?
- I'll have an hour's wait at the airport
- Today's lesson
- Yesterday's programme
- Two weeks' worth of groceries.
They are not possessive, or are they? Why is the possessive apostrophe used with time expressions and adverbs?
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3Yes, they are genitive constructions -- more specifically "attributive genitives" where, unlike in most genitives, the genitive noun is an attributive modifier within a nominal. – BillJ Nov 9 '17 at 9:00
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In Bob's example, the construction is a true possessive: Bill has a degree of ownership (whether he quoted or invented the example). But the same construction is also used to show associative rather than possessive relations: the car's front offside wheel (still arguably showing a measure of 'possession', though the car doesn't have ownership rights); Bishop's Stortford; King's Cross/Kings Cross; Lloyd's vs Lloyds; an hour's wait; tomorrow's programme. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 9 '17 at 10:05
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Related: possession and personification. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 9 '17 at 10:09
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Many people here will tell you today's lesson is merely associative and if that were true, what difference would it make? – Robbie Goodwin Nov 19 '17 at 19:56
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As many have said in comments, it is a genitive construction, but not strictly possessive. Compare by rewording, replacing the 's with for/of:
- I'll have to wait for an hour at the airport (or a wait of an hour)
- The lesson for today
- The programme of yesterday
- Groceries for two weeks.
