Possessives are one of the three cases in the English language (the other two are nominative and objective, but let’s not worry about those!). Latin has five cases and some languages have seven or eight, so we are doing well here. In any case (pardon the pun), possessives imply ownership.
We all learned in grade school that to make a noun possessive, we add an apostrophe and an s. Not wrong, but not the whole story.
The only words that can be made possessive are nouns and pronouns. People have difficulty with both. Just remember that no possessive pronouns have an apostrophe! Here are the possessive pronouns:
First person singular: my, mine
Second person singular and plural: your, yours
Third person singular: his, her, hers, its (without the apostrophe)
First person plural: our, ours
Third person plural: their, theirs
Okay. Now on to the nouns.
Generally, for singular nouns you add an apostrophe and an s to make them possessive:
This is Mary’s book.
My dog’s bowl is empty.
Your essay’s introduction is very good. (Doesn’t need to be a person to be a possessive.)
Plural nouns that don’t end in an s are also made possessive by adding an apostrophe and an s.
The children’s playground is across the street.
The mice’s home is in that hole in the wall.
Plural nouns that end in s (which is most of them) are made possessive with the addition of only an apostrophe.
Her two sisters’ bikes are in the driveway. (One sister’s bike; two sisters’ bikes)
The parties’ themes were both tropical. (One party’s theme; two parties’ themes)
Most singular nouns that end in s or ss are made possessive by adding an apostrophe and an s (yes, really!)
The bus’s tire is flat. (Think of how you would pronounce it. It is spelled exactly as you would say it.)
My boss’s desk is really messy. (Once again, that is how you would say it.)
Thomas’s new car is over there. (You wouldn’t pronounce it Thomas new car, would you??)
I had to memorize Frederick Douglass’s speech. (Yup!)
The princess’s slipper fit perfectly.
Now, lets talk about a few of those words made plural.
What if you had two bosses, and they both had messy desks? My bosses’ desks are really messy. (You have used the plural of boss, which is bosses, and you have added just an apostrophe, like in other plurals that end in s. Once again, that is how you pronounce it. You don’t add another syllable. You don’t say bosses’s, so you don’t spell it that way either. My boss’s desk and my bosses’ desks are pronounced exactly the same way, even though they are spelled differently–because one is singular and one is plural.)
What if there were three princesses whose slippers all fit perfectly? Same as bosses. The three princesses’ slippers all fit perfectly. (You make princess plural by adding -es, and you add an apostrophe like in plurals that end in s. Once again, princess’s and princesses’ are pronounced the same way, although they are spelled differently because one is a singular possessive and the other is a plural possessive.)
All right. Let’s do the other three examples:
All the buses’ tires are flat. (Bus’s is singular possessive; buses’ is plural possessive)
The two Thomases’ last names both begin with L.(Correct, but you might just want to rewrite it!)
Well, there is only one Frederick Douglass, so I guess we can’t do that one!
Exceptions? Well, of course!
If a word ends in -es that sounds like -ez, you just add an apostrophe to make it possessive — no s.
Examples: Socrates’ (possessive), Hippocrates’ (possessive)
Also, the possessive of Jesus is Jesus’, and I would suppose Moses is treated the same way.
I hear that today is International Apostrophe Day. How appropriate!
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why do spell checkers flag my use of August’s, such as August’s unemployment rate?
My guess would be that spell checkers flag possessives of anything but people.
Thanks, Arlene. please remind me how to use a possessive family’s name that does not end in s.
The Smith’s dog or the Smiths’ dog
As a family, they are the Smiths. So, the possessive would be the Smiths’ dog….exactly as you would pronounce it too.
This removed an underlying sense of not being sure. Thank you!
Skye
You’re welcome,Skye!
I have found the last two blogs on apostrophe use particularly clear and helpful.
So glad! Thanks for letting me know!
I am sorry to have to point out that: first, my, your, her, our, and their are not pronouns but adjectives; second I do not accept bus’s or parties’ as being possessives. Possession is a quality of animate beings and not inanimate objects.
Thank you
They are possessive pronouns, and they are also possessive adjectives. Take your pick. I think inanimate objects can have things:My computer’s hard drive is full. Makes sense to me.
Arlene,
Wonderful that you’re addressing the subject of possessives.
There’s one group that always puzzles me, though — inclusive nouns such as: Writer’s Market, Bay Area Editors’ Forum, Veterans Hospital. When is it correct to use the apostrophe as if the noun is singular (Writer’s Market), plural (Bay Area Editors’ Forum) or to forget the apostrophe completely (Veterans Hospital)? LindaJay
Linda – Now there is an excellent question. I have read about this, and I don’t think there is any agreement. I really think they are all OK. They all make sense. The market book could mean it belongs to one writer (and another writer, and another, etc.) The editors’ forum could be for many editors. And the veterans hospital could be thought of as not possessive at all. Kind of like the Lions Club. I think you can really take your choice of any of the forms for anything. But then, you need to be sure it is consistently done for any one organization,etc. So is it lady’s room, ladies’ room or ladies room? Who knows? I would love to hear other opinions on this!
Arlene, As a writing teacher, I always breathe a sigh of relief when I students even BOTHER to use an apostrophe to form a possessive. Most of them seem to think that apostrophes are always used to form plural nouns. I agree with you that, in the possessive case, there is a lot of wiggle room for generally accepted deviations. In the case of proper nouns (such as your example of the Lions Club), it’s apparent that “Lions” refers to a bunch of guys who call themselves LIons, not a club that belongs to a bunch of lions! Then, there is the use of the possessive apostrophe when it actually IS used with a word-as-a-word. Example: ” The in’s and out’s of Chinese cooking were something that Paul learned early in life.”
So hard for non-native English speakers to grasp…so many exception
Thank you so much for your comments! It is so tough to write about English because of all the exception and the gray areas, as you point out….we must keep up the good fight. At least we can try to stop people from using apostrophes in plain old plurals!
Thanks, Arlene
I always enjoy and benefit from your entries.
Arletta
Thanks so much, Arletta….I appreciate your comments!