mother’s–in–law picture/mother–in–law’s picture
問：Since I love her very much when she was alive, I prize my mother’s-in-law picture and I wouldn’t sell it for all the money in the world.
這道題簡直把我弄糊塗了。請分析。
答：複合名詞如mother-in-law(岳母、外母、奶奶)的第一個成分為中心詞時, 構成複數形式的方法, 是把第一個成分變為複數(見plural), 例如:
mother-in-law → mothers-in-law
stander-by → standers-by
passer-by → passers-by
但是, 它們構成所有格的方法, 卻不是在第一個中心詞上加’s, 而是在合成詞的末尾加’s。例如:
stander-by → stander-by’s
passer-by → passer-by’s
mother-in-law → mother-in-law’s
somebody else→ somebody else’s (book)
grown–ups/mothers–in–law
問： Until __________ come to fetch us we’ll have fun.
A. the grown-up
B. the growns-up
C. the grown-ups
D. grown-ups
不知growns-up 和grown-ups 哪個是正確的?
答：複合名詞構成複數的最常見的方法, 是將複合名詞看作簡單名詞, 而將最後一個成分變成複數:
breakdown → breakdowns
close-up → close-ups
grown-up → grown-ups
但是, 當複合詞的第一個成分為明顯的中心詞, 而後面的成分為其修飾語時, 一般是用第一個成分表示複數:
mother-in-law → mothers-in-law
commander-in-chief → commanders-in-chief
prisoner-of-war → prisoners-of-war