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My major responsibility is tuning search results on for several of Google's products.

Is the above sentence correct or should I use Google instead of Google's?

ColleenV
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Vibhav Jalota
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  • Possible duplicate of Genitive Case, when use apostrophe and why not allways – FumbleFingers Sep 21 '18 at 14:29
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    @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 :/ – ColleenV Sep 21 '18 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 https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/18878/several-thousand-vs-several-thousands-of – HammerN'Songs Sep 21 '18 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! :) – FumbleFingers Sep 21 '18 at 16:13
  • @FumbleFingers Helpful comments almost never instigate a laying into :). They just get tidied to encourage folks to put effort into answers. Even if this does get closed as a duplicate, it’s useful for it to have an answer that addresses the example in this question. I have been trying to group questions about this topic by using [tag:posessives] and [tag:attributive-nouns] so if you come across any others kindly do the needful. – ColleenV Sep 21 '18 at 16:25
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    @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*. – FumbleFingers Sep 21 '18 at 18:18
  • @FumbleFingers This is why we ask for context. It's hard to read minds through the Internet... We have to assume that when they asked "should I use Google instead of Google's" that is what they were interested in and to "of" or not to "of", while it may be interesting, wasn't the question. – ColleenV Sep 21 '18 at 18:22

1 Answers1

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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
HammerN'Songs
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