FAMILY TREE

FAMILY HISTORY WRITING

What is a family history?
A family history is a record of a family containing information about the family members, such as descriptions of the character and physical appearance of the members, interesting stories about them, family traditions, pictures, etc. A family history helps family members and future generations know information and stories about their relatives.

How to write a family history
Take a look at the family tree that you have already created and decide which family members you want to include in your family history. This will depend on how large your family is, and how much information and time you have.
You can start by adding bullet-pointed information next to each family member. You can turn some or all of your bullet points into stories.

EXAMPLE OF A FAMILY HISTORY

Bullet-pointed format

Marjeta Lapuh (grandmother)
- born May 21st, 1946 in Dolenja vas near Brežice
- tall, dark hair, brown eyes
- talkative, hardworking, good organiser
- loves dancing and baking
- ...

Janez Novak (grandfather)
- born in 1945 in Dolenja vas near Brežice
- tall, blond hair, blue eyes
- generous, responsible, optimistic
- loves dancing and fishing
- ...

Story format

My grandmother Marjeta Lapuh was born on May 21st in 1946 in Dolenja vas near Brežice. My grandfather Janez Novak was born a year earlier in the same village. They met for the first time in 1963 at a village dance festival. Marjeta didn't like boys with blue eyes, but the blue-eyed Janez won her heart because he was an exceptional dancer and a real gentleman. He wrote her romantic poems which - as she found out later - were adapted Prešeren sonnets. She found him very charming. They started dating and got married in 1966. Their first daughter Mojca, my mother, was born in 1968 ... 

CAPITALISING FAMILY WORDS

Capital letters are used with family words when they are used as proper names.
Examples:

 Please, call Mother and tell her that we are ready.
What are you doing, Dad?

Has Aunt Greti arrived yet?
The man in the photo is Uncle John.

ACTIVITY IDEA

Work in pairs. Ask and answer questions about Ježek's or your own family members.

Task 1
Ask questions to check how a person is related to other family members. For example:

Who is Fran? He is Ježek‘s father.

 
Task 2
Chose a person and say what relationship he/she is with other family members.
For example:

Fran: He is Juš's great-grandfather, Jana's father-in-law, Marija's husband ...

Task 3
Ask yes/no questions about family members. For example:

Who is Matevž's grandma? Marija is.

      
But when family words follow a possessive, we don't use capital letters.
Examples:

Have you met my father?
The man in the photo is your uncle John.

GRAMMAR LOG

The Saxon genitive

The Saxon genitive (’s) is mostly used with people and animals.

Singular nouns
The apostrophe and S (’s) is added to nouns in singular.
Examples:

my uncle’s house = the house of my uncle
her dog’s name = the name of her dog  

Plural nouns
We only add the apostrophe (‘) to an existing S when the noun is in plural.
Example:

my parents’ house = the house of my parents

Plural nouns with irregular plural
Irregular plural nouns take the apostrophe and S (’s).
Example:

her children’s books = the books of her children 

Noun phrases
In noun phrases, ’s is added to the last element.
Example:

someone else’s problem = the problem of someone else

More than one owner
If there are two or more owners of the same thing, ’s is added to the final owner.
Example:

Janez and Marjeta’s children = the children of Janez and Marjeta

Double genitive
We can have more than one Saxon genitive in a phrase.
Example:

My husband’s sister’s name is Gemma. 

Names of shop types
The Saxon genitive is used with the names of the types of shops.
Example:

the baker’s (shop)

House where someone lives
It is also used to talk about the house where someone lives.
Example:

a great party at Bill’s = a great party at Bill’s house 

Non-living things
It can be used with nouns referring to non-living things such as ideas, places, organisations and time expressions.
Examples:

your plan’s importance
Slovenia’s mountains
the company’s success
today’s newspaper