Today one of my adult students wrote the following sentence in a composition about their last holiday: "All my family went to Laredo īs beach that day." Laredo is the name of a Spanish city. I immediately told her that she should say "Laredo beach" instead. She answered that last year īs teacher told them it was ok to use possessive    īs when talking about places. I have come back home and checked Michael Swam īs "English Grammar Usage" reference book and the explanation is rather confusing or unclear about the contexts which we should use possessive  īs in. Was I right when correcting my student īs composition or wrong? I have always taught that possessive  īs is used with living beings and periods of time as well. All the same, I don īt have a clear idea about when to use noun + noun structure.

 

On the other hand, I would like to ask you whether there is any word to call, in an unrespectful way, to a maid or housekeeper. Besides, what īs the name given to the person who while doing a course / after having finished his studies works for a period of time for a company (most of the times without being paid any salary, or getting a low salary) to get work experience? I looked it up in the dictionary and it uses the word "scholar" or "scholarship holder". But I feel this words are used when a student gets a grant to pay his studies. Can we use the word "apprentice" in the described context?

 

Thanks in advance.

It is very unusual to use a a possessive īs � in this context and I agree with you that in general possessive īs � relates more to living things. I would have corrected the student the same way as you and have done.