Question

I don't understand why there is an 's' after some words and not others as indicated above. I understand that this is so in the case of the genitive e.g Der Engel des Nordens, but 'Im fruehling' not 'Im fruehlings' and, as in the case above, 'Im Norden Englands' and not 'Im Norden England'.

Answer 1

Im Norden Englands = in the north of England; Im Norden England = in the north England (wrong); Im Jahre 1954 = in the year 1954; Im Jahres 1954 = in the of year 1954 (wrong); Im Frühling = in spring; Im Frühlings = in the of spring (wrong); But you say "Im Frühling des Jahres 1954" = in the spring of the year 1954

Answer 2

Engel DES NORDENS (Genitiv)
Im Norden ENGLANDS (Genitiv - In wessen Norden? Im Norden "des englischen Landes")
England's southern part - southern part of England - südlicher Teil Englands (wessen südlicher Teil?)
And so on...
While "Im Jahre xx" is just answering the question "when?" going with the Dativ for where and when this yields "In dem Jahre -> Im Jahre"
you see
"Im Norden (Dativ - wo?) Englands (Genitiv - wessen?)"
In England ("hidden" Dativ) - Im (in dem)Haus - Im Zimmer - auf dem Spielplatz...

Answer 3

Thank you everyone for answering my question - it is something I have not been able to find in my text books.