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which one of three styles is the most correct ?

first example:
1- The algorithm's running time.
2- The algorithm running time.
3- The running time of the algorithm.

second example:
1- The Transmitter's energy consumption.
2- The Transmitter energy consumption.
3- The energy consumption of the transmitter.

Honestly, I am confused about them :), I am not sure what the difference is. Is there any grammar for such situation? Thank you in advance.

Edwin Ashworth
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M. Al
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  • The most common use of the -'s possessive is for people: Bill's brother, his job, my sister's dog. The of possessive is more common with non-human noun phrases and especially with complex noun phrases: the energy consumption of the transmitter, the running time of the algorithm, etc. – John Lawler Aug 06 '16 at 13:24

1 Answers1

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It's difficult to judge context properly with sentence fragments, but in both of your examples, 1 and 3 are ok while 2 is less grammatically correct (since running time and energy consumption belong to the algorithm and transmitter respectively).

Also there's no need to capitalize the T in transmitter unless it's the proper name for the object.

KillingTime
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    No; there's nothing 'less grammatical' per se about using an attributive noun rather than a possessive construction. As you say, here '[i]t's difficult to judge context properly with sentence fragments'; (1) almost always and (3) almost as commonly would be used (only) when referring to a specific algorithm / transmitter, whereas (2) would be the more usual choice for more general statements. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 06 '16 at 12:10