Guidelines for Translation from French into English
|Part 6 Other Problems
Possessive nouns and ‘the’: a special case
Texte intégral
The name of a person or a place can show possession if you add apostrophe s. For example: Mary’s husband, Italy’s coastline
When you attach apostrophe s (’s) to the real name of a person or a place, you do NOT use ‘the’.
Example | Explanation |
Death comes to us all in the end. | ‘death’ is a general concept here |
The death of President Kennedy was a shock to the nation. | one single precise death, followed by a title and a name (no apostrophe s) |
The President’s death was a shock to the nation. | one single precise death, with the title but not the name |
President Kennedy’s death was a shock to the nation. | the person’s name, with apostrophe s, so without ‘the’ |
The population of London reached one million by the eighteenth century. | a precise population |
London’s population reached one million by the eighteenth century. | the name of a place, in the possessive, so without ‘the’ |
NEVER the President Kennedy’s death/the London’s population
IMPORTANT: THIS STRUCTURE ONLY WORKS WITH THE NAME OF A PERSON OR A PLACE.
When you have an acronym for the name of an organisation, you need the word ‘the’ with the possessive: The FBI’s investigations revealed nothing about the terrorists. An acronym is not the name of a person or a place.
Examples:
Une conférence se tenait pour examiner les moyens de renverser le régime de Bachar el-Assad. |
A conference was held to explore ways to overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s regime. (NOT the Bashar al-Assad’s regime) |
Une conférence se tenait pour examiner les moyens de renverser le régime du président. | A conference was held to explore ways to overthrow the president’s regime. (There is no name, so you use ‘the’.) |
La nouvelle génération des talibans serait encore plus proche d’Al-Qaida. | The new generation of the Taliban is even closer to al-Qa’ida. (NOT the new Taliban’s generation) |
David Axelrod, le stratège de campagne de Barack Obama, a minimisé le bilan économique de M. Perry. | David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s campaign strategist, played down Mr Perry’s economic record. (NOT the Barack Obama’s campaign strategist and NOT the Mr Perry’s economic record) |
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