Apostrophe S | 's or s' | Possessive Nouns in English | How to Form Plural and Singular Possessives
Apostrophe S | 's or s' | Possessive Nouns in English | How to Form Plural and Singular Possessives
Learn how to use apostrophe s with possessive nouns in English. In this lesson, I’ll teach you when to use an apostrophe with singular and plural possessive nouns to show ownership. You’ll also learn when the apostrophe comes before the ‘s’ and when it goes after the ‘s’.
We’ll review the following rules:
• Singular nouns: add ’s
• Singular nouns or names ending in s: adding ’s is optional
• Plural nouns ending in s: add ’
• Plural nouns that don’t end in s (irregular plural nouns): add ’s
• Shared possession: add ’s to the last noun
• Separate possession: add ’s to each noun.
• With hyphenated or compound nouns: usually add ’s
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:25 - What are possessive nouns?
01:07 - Singular nouns
01:50 - Singular nouns/names ending in s
03:19 - Plural nouns ending in s
04:22 - Irregular plural nouns
05:22 - Shared/separate possession
07:00 - Hyphenated/compound nouns
07:41 - QUIZ/PRACTICE
09:06 - QUIZ ANSWERS
#punctuation #apostrophes #sparkleenglish
Content
3.68 -> Hello, everyone, and welcome back to my
channel Sparkle English where I teach you
8.16 -> how to improve your level of English. Today is a
new video in my English writing essential series.
14.88 -> I am going to teach you about possessive
nouns and how to make possessive nouns
19.84 -> using apostrophe s, or just s with an apostrophe
after. So what are possessive nouns? A possessive
28.56 -> noun is a noun that possesses has or owns
something. So let's say this is a car,
36.16 -> and Jane owns this car. It is her car. In
English, we would not say it is the car of Jane.
46.64 -> We use an apostrophe s after Jane to
create a possessive noun. It is Jane's
54.16 -> car. That would be correct. Possessive nouns are
usually formed by adding an apostrophe plus s
62.24 -> to the noun. So Jane's is the possessive
noun. So how do we make possessive nouns?
70.56 -> The first rule is that with singular nouns, we add
apostrophe s. For example: that is Tom's house.
80.08 -> The house belongs to Tom. The boy's bike is green.
This is the boy, and this is his bike. So we say
90.96 -> the boy's bike. My friend's pool is amazing.
So all of these are singular nouns: tom, boy,
100.08 -> and friend. And so we add apostrophe s after
the singular noun to make the possessive noun.
107.92 -> Now, the second rule is that with singular nouns
or names ending in s, adding the apostrophe s
116.08 -> to make it possessive is optional. So for example,
you could say that is Chris's house, and you see
125.2 -> that Chris is a singular noun, a proper noun that
ends with S. So you could add the apostrophe s.
133.28 -> Or you could leave it out. That is Chris' house.
Another example. James's girlfriend is beautiful,
142.24 -> or James' girlfriend is beautiful. Also, I want
you to listen to how we pronounce the apostrophe
151.6 -> s, we would say, Chris, but when we add the
apostrophe s after a name that ends with S,
160.32 -> we say Chris's with a Zed sound: Chris's. James's
not James's. Okay, so I want to note that style
172.48 -> guides differ in their recommendations of
whether or not you should add an apostrophe
178.24 -> or an apostrophe s to names ending in S. So if you
are writing an essay, or doing a school project,
186.72 -> make sure you follow the correct guide. But
in general, adding an apostrophe s or just an
193.28 -> apostrophe is correct. Just be consistent in your
writing. So the third rule is with plural nouns
202.32 -> ending in s, we just add an apostrophe.
So for example, the girls' bedroom is big.
211.28 -> This would mean there are two or more girls and
they share a bedroom. If we had this apostrophe
219.44 -> before the s, this would mean one girl. She has
a big bedroom. But because we have the apostrophe
228.56 -> after the s, this would mean two girls, two
sisters, for example, share a big bedroom.
237.04 -> My parents' farmhouse is lovely. Again, we have a
plural noun parents, my mother and father, and we
246 -> use the apostrophe after the s because this plural
noun ends in S. The dogs' tails were wagging.
255.28 -> Again, this would mean there are two or
more dogs and their tails were wagging.
262.08 -> Okay, so the fourth rule is that with plural nouns
that don't end in s, so irregular plural nouns,
270.56 -> we add apostrophe S. For example,
in English, we say one child,
278.32 -> but we say two children. Children is the plural
of child. So we would say: the children's
286.72 -> toys were all over the floor. Because this is
the plural noun and it does not end in s, we
294.32 -> use apostrophe s afterwards. Another example, the
men's beards are very long. Men is the plural form
304.4 -> of man. The women's dresses were very elegant.
Again, women is the plural of woman. So we add
314.48 -> apostrophe s, for all of these examples,
because none of these plural nouns end in s.
322.56 -> What about shared possession? Let's look at this
sentence. Mom and Dad's car is new. We only add
332 -> an apostrophe s to the last noun, Dad, because we
are trying to say that mom and dad share this car.
341.92 -> This car belongs to both mom and dad. So mom and
dad's car is new. Another example, Peter and Ian's
352.08 -> friend is coming to the party. This would mean
that both Peter and Ian have the same friend
359.04 -> and he is coming to the party. But what happens
if you're talking about separate possession:
365.2 -> one car for Dad, one car for mom, or one friend,
that is Peter's and one friend that is Ian's. In
374.4 -> this case, we would add apostrophe s to each noun.
So for example, Mom's and Dad's cars are new.
384.32 -> Because we have apostrophe s after Mom and after
Dad, we are talking about separate possession. Dad
392.48 -> owns one car, and Mom owns another car. Another
example: Peter's and Ian's friends are coming to
400.64 -> the party. Again, this would mean that Peter is
inviting some friends that are his, and Ian is
407.28 -> inviting a friend or friends that are his friends.
They are different friends. So this is how we form
414.56 -> shared possession or separate possession. And
finally, with hyphenated or compound nouns,
423.12 -> we usually add apostrophe s. So for example, my
father-in-law's cottage is on the lake. This means
432.56 -> that the cottage belongs to the father-in-law.
We would not say my father's-in-law.
439.84 -> My father-in-law's cottage is on the lake. We only
add apostrophe s to the final noun. The maid of
448.56 -> honor's duty is to attend to the bride. Again,
we add apostrophe s to this final word here.
457.76 -> Okay, so now we are going to do a 10 question
quiz to practice what you have learned about
464 -> apostrophes and possessive nouns. So which of
the following sentences are incorrect? And if
471.28 -> they are incorrect, you have to correct them. I'm
going to read each sentence once and afterwards,
478.8 -> we will correct them together. Number one:
Tom's new haircut looks terrible. Number two,
487.12 -> have you been to Sara and Kyle's house yet? Number
three, the children's toys are in the attic.
496.16 -> Number four, my mother's-in-law car isn't working.
Number five, the men's changing room is around the
503.92 -> corner. Number six, my baby's blanket is in the
washing machine. Number seven, the girls book is
513.36 -> on the table. And a hint the book belongs to one
girl. Number eight. The boys video game is in the
522.32 -> basement. And a hint here: The game belongs
to two boys. Oscar and Raul's dogs are cute.
531.6 -> And each man owns a different dog. Finally,
number 10. My parents' home is near the mountains.
542.64 -> Okay, so now we are going to correct these
together. So number one is incorrect. We
549.04 -> have to add an apostrophe after the M. Tom's new
haircut looks terrible. Because Tom is a singular
559.04 -> noun and it doesn't end with S, we just add
apostrophe s. Tom's new haircut looks terrible.
566 -> Number two is also incorrect. We have to add an
apostrophe after Kyle: Sarah and Kyle's house.
574.4 -> We're talking about the house that belongs to
Sara and Kyle. So we add apostrophe s only after
581.84 -> Kyle. Number three is incorrect. The apostrophe
is wrong it should not be at the end or after
590.32 -> s. It should be after n. The children's toys
and that is because children is a plural noun
599.28 -> that does not end an S. Remember that after
irregular plural nouns, we just add apostrophe s
607.36 -> because it does not end in s. Number four is also
incorrect. We don't say mother's-in-law, we say
616.32 -> mother-in-law's. Apostrophe s after the
W with hyphenated and compound words.
624.4 -> Number five is correct, the men's changing room
is around the corner. Men is an irregular plural
631.44 -> noun, it ends with an N, so we just add apostrophe
s. Number six is also correct. My baby's blanket
639.76 -> is in the washing machine. Baby is a singular noun
that ends in a y. And so we just add apostrophe s,
648.4 -> the blanket that belongs to the baby. Number
seven, the girls book is on the table.
654.64 -> This is incorrect, we need to add an apostrophe
before the s, because it is a book that belongs
664.4 -> to one girl. The second one is also incorrect.
The boys video game is in the basement. Because
672.16 -> this game belongs to two boys, we put the
apostrophe after the s, the boys' video game,
680.96 -> because both boys own the same video game,
maybe they're brothers, so we put it after the s
688 -> because we have a plural noun that ends in
S. So we just add the apostrophe after the s.
695.2 -> Number nine, Oscar and Raul's dogs are cute. This
is incorrect. This sentence would be correct if
703.12 -> Oscar and Raul together owned multiple dogs. But
because each man owns a different dog, we have to
712.16 -> say Oscar's and Raul's dogs are cute, because one
dog belongs to Raul, and one dog belongs to Oscar.
722.4 -> And finally, number 10. My parents' home is near
the mountains. This is correct. Because parents is
730 -> two people, both of your parents, your mother and
your father, for example. And the apostrophe would
735.76 -> go after the s because this is a regular plural
noun that ends in S. Now could you say parent's,
744.96 -> my parent's home is near the mountains. If you
said my parent's home is near the mountains,
751.2 -> you're talking about one parent, your mother or
your father. And it is not very common to refer to
757.92 -> one parent as a parent. You usually say mother or
father. Okay? It's not common to say I'm going to
766.64 -> my parent's house if you were only talking about
your mother. Okay, so I want you to let me know
772.88 -> in the comments section how many you got correct
out of 10. I hope this video helped you understand
780 -> possessive nouns and apostrophe s. If you have
any questions, leave a comment in the comments
786 -> section below. Make sure to subscribe to
Sparkle English for more videos on how to
790.8 -> improve your English writing skills and your level
of English and I will see you in my next video.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gItYElYA_1s