This is where things have the potential to become complicated. The noun can’t be possessive if a verb or an adverb follows it.īecause of their similarity to contractions, the use of possessive nouns in writing should be approached with caution. Typically, the first noun possesses the thing that is denoted by the second word. In this circumstance, you need to determine if a second noun follows the noun. For instance, “The girl’s” might be a possessive word, or it can indicate “The girl is.” Both interpretations are possible. On the other hand, the combination of an apostrophe and the letter s on some nouns can also signify a contraction, which is when two words are combined into a single word. Keep an eye out for the apostrophe and the letter ‘s’ in order to determine whether or not the word in question refers to a common noun or a possessive noun. A possessive noun can also be capitalized. The letter ‘s’, the apostrophe, or both can be used to show that a noun is possessive.

My cousin’s house.Possessive noun chart How can you determine whether or not a noun is possessive?.

Plural (Possessive Pronoun) Chart of Possessive Nouns Possessive Noun Examples Singular (Possessive Pronoun) Theirs The house is theirs.

Words Possessive Noun Singular/Plural Horse Horse’s Singular (not ending in ‘s’) Horses Horses’ Plural (ending in ‘s’) Smiths Smiths’ Singular (ending in ‘s’) People People’s Plural (not ending in ‘s’) My My bike is old. If I say, “The girl’s toy,” then the toy belongs to the girl. You use the apostrophe (‘) to show possession.įor example, if I say, “The cat’s ball,” then the ball belongs to the cat. For example, think about how you would say “the boy’s pencil snapped” which can also be rephrased as “a pencil belonging to that particular boy”. In most cases, an apostrophe + ‘-s’ is used on either singular or plural possessives with some exceptions where only an apostrophe needs to be added if it already ends in ‘s’. We’ll go over some common ones below so you can avoid any confusion in your next sentence! Rules of Possessive Noun Possessive nouns can be tricky because it’s not always obvious when they should be used.

For example, “John’s car” tells us who owns the car – John does! These are formed by adding an apostrophe plus ‘-s’ to the end of a word. Possessive nouns are a common way to show ownership or belonging in the English language.

What is a possessive noun