When should apostrophe-s be used?

Question

(Sorry for the lack of proper terms in this question)

I noticed that in this example:

This page's content [...]

The word "page" is used with an apostrophe-s. I thought 's should only be used when the literal translation is "[this] page is [...]"

Can someone please clarify this use?

See this blog post for an explanation. – Matt E. Эллен Apr 29 '13 at 08:04 — Matt E. Эллен, Apr 29 '13 at 08:04
I came across an answer here which may be useful. – Andrew Leach Apr 29 '13 at 09:31 — Andrew Leach, Apr 29 '13 at 09:31
Start by looking up 's in a dictionary of your choice. – RegDwigнt Apr 29 '13 at 14:40 — RegDwigнt, Apr 29 '13 at 14:40

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 29 '13 at 08:14

This is the possessive form which is used with 's. Here both “page” and “content” are nouns. It means:

Content of this page...

This form can also be used with plural nouns as in:

The cars' trunks...

which menas:

Trunks of the cars...

but it should not be mixed with usage of “content” as an adjective:

The boy's content.

in which “content” means “happy” or “pleased”:

The boy is content.

1 Answers1