Showing Possession

There are several common ways of showing possession in English. The most common one is through use of the apostrophe ( ' ): 1. Make most singular nouns possessive by adding 's: John's car the boy's room my friend's father my neighbor's car 2. If a singular noun ends in s or ss, it's possible to add 's, but many people feel that adding only an apostrophe looks better and is clearer--especially if the noun ends in ss: Dennis's car / Dennis' car Charles's children / Charles' children Russ's room / Russ' room Bess's father / Bess' father 3. If a noun is plural and ends in s, make it possessive by adding only an apostrophe: the boys' room my parents' jobs the students' opinions his brothers' names 4. For common words with irregular plurals, add 's: the children's toys women's gymnastics men's clothing Special Notes: 1. Possessives for words ending with s are pronounced the same if they use 's or ': Dennis's / Dennis' = 'Dennisuz' Charles's / Charles' = 'Charlesuz' Russ's / Russ' = 'Russuz' 2. Bess's / Bess' = 'Bessuz.' Singular possessive nouns ending with 's and plural possessive nouns ending with s' also have the same pronunciation: your son's / your sons' = 1

When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we usually add 's to a singular noun and an apostrophe ' to a plural noun, for example:

the boy's ball (one boy) the boys' ball (two or more boys)

Notice that the number of balls does not matter. The structure is influenced by the possessor and not the possessed. one ball one boy more than one ball

the boy's ball the boy's balls

more than one boy

the boys' ball the boys' balls

The structure can be used for a whole phrase:

the man next door's mother (the mother of the man next door) the Queen of England's poodles (the poodles of the Queen of England)

Irregular Plurals Some nouns have irregular plural forms without s (man > men). To show possession, we usually add 's to the plural form of these nouns: singular noun my child's dog the man's work the mouse's cage plural noun my children's dog the men's work the mice's cage

a person's clothes people's clothes

EXERCISE - POSSESSIVE NOUNS Put in the apostrophe ( ) or ( s ) correctly.

1. The men cars are parked there.

2. The grocer shop is round the corner. 3. The boys bicycles are over there. 4. Ladies handbags are sold here. 5. The soldiers helmets are of the same colour. 6. The children playground is across the road. 7. This girl hair is the longest in class. 8. The carpenters tools are in the box. 9. We have two weeks holiday in September. 10. It is John last year as president of the club.

( 10.2) EXERCISE - POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES Use each of the following ten possessive adjective words only once: her, his, its, my, my, our, our, their, their, your.

1. We borrowed some books for _____ homework 2. He has waited a long time for _____ turn. 3. I have _____ reason for not going. 4. _____ sister and mine are doing the same degree at the university. 5. The cat is licking _____ paw. 6. Don't they know they have to bring _____ calculators?
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7. She is eating _____ lunch. 8. It is important that we preserve _____ natural resources. 9. Everyone is entitled to _____ own opinion. 10. I am sure you don't want to listen to all _____ problems.