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Plural vs. Possessive "S"

Most nouns form the plural by adding -s or -es. For example, boat becomes boats, or hat becomes hats.

A noun ending with a consonant and the letter y forms the plural by adding -ies. For instance, city becomes cities, and baby becomes babies.

This is not true for all nouns. There are many irregular plural nouns, such as woman (women), potato (potatoes), or tooth (teeth), and some nouns are the same in both the singular and plural forms (such as sheep and fish), but most nouns are made plural by adding -s, -es or -ies.

When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we usually add 's to a singular noun, and an apostrophe ' to a plural noun. For example, the boy's ball (one boy) or the boys' ball (two boys). The number of balls doesn't matter, only the number of possessors (in this case, boys).

We often use possessive 's with proper nouns (names): Mary's car, Sarah's son, or Robert's book. If the name ends in s, like Charles, we usually treat it like a singular noun and add 's: Charles's friend. However, it is also correct to just add the apostrophe: Charles' friend.

Plural vs. Possessive "S" Grammar Quiz

  1. truck broke down on the side of the road and he needs a lift.

  2. The is depressing lately.

  3. bakery that she just opened has the best bread I've ever tasted.

  4. Are you eating my gummy ?

  5. At the beginning of every school term, Professor Reeves explains all the .

Go Super to see the answers! Go Super!

Plural vs. Possessive "S" Lessons:

Flight of the Conchords

Apple Pie a la Mode

Terrible Twos

9

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Party Vocab with Municipal Waste

Siblings

Timbaland

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Comments

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manish001

manish001

India

it's quite fantestic and lot of thinks to learn.

11:56 AM Jun 18 2010 |

303Kevin

303Kevin

China

o learn a lot  thanks

 

01:42 PM Jan 11 2010 |

MMM2

MMM2

Indonesia

thanks for the lesson.

i didn't know that "athletics" and "billiards" are singular.

does this mean ther is no such thing as "athletic" or "billiard" word in english??

02:35 AM Dec 21 2009 |

xman#3

Jordan

it's really great

:D

10:51 AM Dec 14 2009 |

phelio

China

it's great. More detailed

05:28 AM Dec 11 2009 |

olenke

Ghana

hello

11:11 AM Oct 26 2009 |

303Kevin

303Kevin

China

very useful

11:43 AM Oct 12 2009 |

claudson

claudson

Brazil

Thanx !Cool

06:48 PM Apr 28 2009 |

olek64

Germany

Thank you for lessonCool

05:44 PM Feb 28 2009 |

*butterfly wings*

Saudi Arabia

 very useful Laughing 

Thanks ..

11:20 PM Feb 18 2009 |