Brighter Grammar 1 - Margaret Macaulay 1987

Lesson Five. Nouns: possessive

It is possible to say, ’This is the book of the boy’, or ’The dog of Mrs Smith was called Micky’, or ’John is wearing the shirt of a man’. But English people don’t usually say that. They say:

This is the boy’s book.

Mrs Smith’s dog was called Micky.

John is wearing a man's shirt.

This form is called the possessive, because it is used to show possession. It shows that something belongs to the person who is named by the noun - that the boy possesses the book, that Mrs Smith possesses the dog, that John’s shirt is usually worn by a man.

The possessive form of singular nouns is made by putting an apostrophe s (’s) after the noun that stands for the possessor.

To make the possessive form of plural nouns there are two easy rules to remember:

1 If the plural ends in s we just add an apostrophe.

2 If the plural does not end in s we add ’s. There are only a few nouns whose plurals don’t end in s. For example:

Examples: Their children's school is in the next village.

This store sells both men’s and women’s clothes.

We use the possessive (’s or s') form of nouns that name people and most animals. It is not generally used for nouns that name things.

Exercises

A Write down the possessive form of the following. Then use it in a sentence.

Example: the teeth of the dog

Answer: the dog’s teeth. He looked at the dog’s teeth.

1 the hat of the man     7 the face of the baby

2 the leg of the boy     8 the laughter of the man

3 the home of the girl     9 the shop of the chemist

4 the stick of John      10 the friend of my brother

5 the wing of the bird     11 the coat of Mr Huang

6 the voice of the child     12 the tail of the cat

В Write down the possessive form of the following. Then use it in a sentence.

Example: the teeth of the dogs

Answer: the dogs’ teeth. The dogs’ teeth were sharp.

1 the homes of the boys     7 the cries of the children

2 the legs of the horses     8 the shouts of the boys

3 the laughter of the girls    9 the songs of the women

4 the wings of the birds     10 the friends of the ladies

5 the voices of the pupils    11 the barks of the dogs

6 the shouts of the men    12 the friend of my brothers

C Make the following plural.

Example: the cat’s eye

Answer: the cats’ eyes

1 the boy’s house      6 the woman’s song

2 the girl’s friend      7 the child’s game

3 the dog’s bark       8 the baby’s smile

4 the man’s shout      9 the bird’s wing

5 the lady’s song      10 the donkey’s tail

D Make the following singular.

Example: the kings’ palaces

Answer: the king’s palace

1 the birds’ wings      6 the dogs’ barks

2 the children’s games     7 the girls’ friend

3 the babies’ smiles      8 the ladies’ songs

4 the men’s shouts      9 the donkeys’ tails

5 the boys’ house      10 the women’s songs

E Write out these sentences. Use the possessive form of the noun in brackets.

Example: My (brother) cat is in the garden.

Answer: My brother’s cat is in the garden.

1 The man went to the (chemist) shop.

2 The name of Mrs (Smith) dog was Micky.

3 Have you seen (Wayne) new bicycle.

4 We heard the (men) shouts in the distance.

5 My (sister) friend is coming to tea.

6 Let us join in the (children) games.

7 That is a (woman) bicycle.

8 That building is the (Women) Institute.

9 Ellen is carrying a (lady) handbag.

10 Mary sings in the (ladies) choir.

F Write down the possessive form of all the words in the table on page 29 (lion, babies, men, etc.). Put each word in a sentence.

Example: birds

Answer: birds’. Look at all those birds’ nests.