(This is correct for those who say Chris Welliz attitude.)īe aware that some style guides state you shouldn't use the 's version for religious characters. (This is correct for those who say Chris Wells' attitude.) With singular nouns ending "s" (e.g., Wales, Moses, Chris Wells), the possessive form is written either by adding ' (just an apostrophe) or 's depending on how you (yes, you personally) say the possessive form. (Exception 2) Singular words that end "s": When the plural of a word doesn't end "s" (e.g., children, women, people, men), the possessive apostrophe is placed before the "s." For example: (Exception 1) Plural words that don't end "s": There are two exceptions to the basic rule: Look at these examples:īe careful though. It has no effect whatsoever on the apostrophe. The position of the apostrophe has nothing to do with "kennel." The thing being possessed can be singular or plural. The apostrophe goes before the "s" for a singular possessor (e.g., one dog's kennel) and after the "s" when it's more than one possessor (e.g., two dogs' kennel).īe aware that "dog" and "dogs" are the possessors. So, does a possessive apostrophe go before or after the "s"? Here's the basic rule: They are different sides of the "s," but they are both correct. Look at the apostrophes in the examples below. (Reason 1) When using an apostrophe for possession, put it in the right place. Here are five more good reasons to get better at the possessive case. If you're learning a foreign language, it will be worth becoming familiar with the possessive case in English because that is a great starting point for understanding how possession is handled in the foreign language. Why Should I Care about the Possessive Case? Read more about creating possessive nouns with apostrophes. Here are the basic rules for creating a possessive noun with an apostrophe: Using Apostrophes to Form Possessive Nouns Read more about classifying possessive pronouns. To avoid this confusion, some grammarians call "mine," "yours," etc. Here at Grammar Monster, we follow the convention which categorizes them all as "possessives" and further categorizes them into two sub-groups: possessive determiners ("my," "your," etc.) and possessive pronouns ("mine," "yours," etc.). This can cause confusion because, traditionally, the possessive pronouns are "mine," "yours," "his," "hers," "its," "ours," and "theirs." Therefore, they are also classified as possessive pronouns. The possessive determiners ("my," "your," "his," "her," "its," "our," and "their") have a pronominal function (i.e., they act like pronouns as they replace nouns). Q: Are possessive determiners a type of pronoun? A: Yes Some grammarians would call this the genitive case as opposed to the possessive case. It does not indicate that Monet owned them. The second example, however, tells us the paintings were by Monet. There are two examples of the possessive case in the sentence above.
Q: Is the possessive case the same as the genitive case? A: Yes The possessive case often creates debate among grammarians. This happens in terms such "children's stories," which are stories for children (not owned by them), and "Picasso's paintings," which are paintings by Picasso (not owned by him).) (This is another example of abstract possession. Wagner's music is better than it sounds.How can a time own something? This is common in temporal expressions such as "a day's pay" and "two weeks' holiday.") (Here are two more examples of abstract possession. Hope is tomorrow's veneer over today's disappointment.In this example, the possessor is "evolution," which "owns" "my theory." You can see that the idea of possession (i.e., ownership) can be quite abstract.) (Remember that a noun can be made possessive by preceding it with "of." This is common when the possessor is not a person. My theory of evolution is that Darwin was adopted.Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by confessing our parents' shortcomings.They mean: "character of a fellow " and "way of him.") You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans.
They mean: "the mother of me" and "the maiden name of my mother.") I don't have a bank account, because I don't know my mother's maiden name.Look at these examples (possessive case shaded): The possessive case is predominantly used for showing possession but not always.