XV - GRAMMAR Possessive nouns

POSSESSIVE 'S

Explanation: 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	more than one ball
one boy	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)

Although we can use of to show possession, it is more usual to use possessive 's. The following phrases have the same meaning, but #2 is more usual and natural:

1. the boyfriend of my sister
2. my sister's boyfriend

Proper Nouns (Names)

We very often use possessive 's with names:

• This is Mary's car.
• Where is Ann's telephone?
• Who took Anthony's pen?
• I like Tara's hair.

-          When a name ends in s, we usually treat it like any other singular noun, and add 's:

·         This is Charles's chair.

-          But it is possible (especially with older, classical names) to just add the apostrophe ':

·         Who was Jesus' father?

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	plural noun
my child's dog	my children's dog
the man's work	the men's work
the mouse's cage	the mice's cage
a person's clothes	people's clothes

More examples:

The car of John = John's car.
The room of the girls = The girls' room.
Clothes for men = Men's jobs.
The sister of Charles = Charles' sister.
The boat of the sailors = The sailors' boat.

There are also some fixed expressions where the possessive form is used :

Time expressions	Other expressions
a day's work	For God's sake!
a fortnight's holiday	a pound's worth of apples.
a month's pay	the water's edge
today's newspaper	a stone'sthrow away (= very near)
in a year'stime	at death's door (= very ill)
	in my mind's eye (= in my imagination)

The possessive is also used to refer to shops, restaurants, churches and colleges, using the name or job title of the owner. Examples:

the grocer's,	the doctor's,	the vet's,
the newsagent's,	the chemist's,	Smith's,
the dentist's,	Tommy Tucker's,	Luigi's,
Saint Mary's,	Saint James's.

a. Shall we go to Luigi's for lunch?
b. I've got an appointment at the dentist's at eleven o'clock.
c. Is Saint Mary's an all-girls school?