100 ways to improve your writing - Gary Provost 2019
Know how to use the possessive case
Ten ways to avoid grammatical errors
Most nouns are made possessive by adding ’s: The dog’s paws, a child’s toy, the ocean’s beauty. However, if a noun ends in s already and is plural, simply add an apostrophe: The dogs’ paws. A singular noun ending in s may be made possessive either way: The actress’s role/The actress’ role.
Wrong |
Right |
My families dogs don’t eat table scraps. |
My family’s dogs don’t eat table scraps. |
The actresses’s clothes are over in the corner. |
The actresses’ clothes are over in the corner. (More than one actress.) |
All of the girl’s hats are on their heads. |
All of the girls’ hats are on their heads. |
Deloreses needs are obvious. |
Delores’ needs are obvious. |
Or: |
|
Delores’s needs are obvious. |
When joint possession is being shown, the ’s usually is added only to the last member of the series: June and Jane’s mother is coming to lunch. However, if what is possessed is not identical, each noun in the series should have ’s: June’s and Jane’s teachers are coming to lunch.
With compound nouns, the ’s is added to the final word:
My mother-in-law’s house is spotless.
The Queen of England’s dogs kept barking.
The personal pronoun it does not use an apostrophe in its possessive form:
Wrong |
Right |
The dog scratched it’s collar. |
The dog scratched its collar. |
The perfume lost it’s scent. |
The perfume lost its scent. |