Syntax

Syntactic actants

Actant 1: whose elbow it is
(a) Genitive
(b) Possessive
Острый локоть Пети упирался мне в живот. Petya's sharp elbow was pressed into my stomach.
Его локти были сильно ободраны. His elbows were badly scraped.
NB When the word локоть functions as a subject and does not have a descriptive modifier, the construction локоть у + Genitive is often preferred to (a) and (b), above:
Локти у него были сильно ободраны. His elbows were badly scraped.

Restrictive modifiers

(a) adjectival modifier
(b) noun phrase: Adj + Genitive of рука
(c) prepositional phrase: на + Adj + Prepositional of рука
левый/правый локоть the left/right elbow
Правый локоть у него был сильно ободран. His right elbow was badly scraped.
локоть левой/правой руки the elbow of the left/right arm
локоть на левой/правой руке the elbow of the left/right arm