Possessive nouns in English can feel tricky at first, but they’re easy once you learn the rules. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to form possessive nouns with apostrophes, see clear examples, and practice using them correctly in everyday sentences.
We use possessive 's to say that something or someone belongs to a person, is connected to a place, or to show the relationship between people. The possessive 's always comes after a noun.
In English, possessive words or phrases exist for nouns and most pronouns, as well as some noun phrases. These can play the roles of determiners (also called possessive adjectives when corresponding to a pronoun) or of nouns. For nouns, noun phrases, and some pronouns, the possessive is generally formed with the suffix -'s, but in some cases just with the addition of an apostrophe to an ...
Learn about possessive nouns and how to use them with rules and examples. Explore singular, plural, and irregular possessive nouns and possessive pronouns.
Master English possessives with our clear guide on apostrophe rules, possessive pronouns, and tricky cases like names ending in S and joint ownership.
The possessive case is used for showing possession (i.e., ownership). The possessive case applies to nouns, pronouns, and determiners. With nouns, it is shown by using 'of' or an apostrophe. The possessive pronouns are 'mine,' 'yours,' etc. The possessive determiners are 'my,' 'your,' etc.
The possessive case shows the relationship of a noun to other words in a sentence. The relationship can be possession, ownership, or another form of association.
Learn English > Grammar > Nouns > Possessive Possessive When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we usually add an apostrophe + s ('s) to a singular noun and an apostrophe (') to a plural noun, for example: the boy's ball (one boy) the boys' ball (two or more boys) Notice that the number of balls does not matter. The structure is influenced by the possessor and not ...