ENGLISH SKILL -20

                               

            Possessives and Apostrophe

                  

                                            

POSSESSION means ownership, Possessive apostrophe (‘)   indicates ownership

POSSESSIVE FORM OF NOUN  is formed by using possessive apostrophe (‘)

James’s car, cat’s tail, Jane’s office etc.

NOTE:  (‘s) is not used with life less things, instead we use ‘of’

We can say teacher’s keys but not cupboard’s keys, we should say keys of the cup board.

Similarly we can say name of the city, roof of the building etc.

POSSESSIVE FORM OF  PERSONAL  PRONOUN – It has two possessive forms

Personal pronoun	Possessive pronoun	Possessive determiners
I	Mine	my
We	Ours	our
You	yours	your
He	his	his
She	hers	her
it	its	its
they	theirs	their

NOTE  ‘you’ is used both as singular and plural pronoun. The old form of singular ‘you’ is 

‘thou’ it is out of use now. Some call possessive determiner as adjective, according 

to Michael Swan It’s not correct.

Changing determiner to possessive pronoun

Possessive pronoun	Possessive determiner
This is my shirt	This shirt is mine
This is my pen and That is your pen	This pen is mine and that is yours (your's is incorrect)
That is your cabin	That is  yours (Your's is incorrect)

Changing possessive form of noun to possessive form of pronoun or simply 

changing noun to pronoun

 Jim’s car is white (Noun form)

His car is white (pronoun form)

NOTE: Don’t be scared of so many grammatical terms you don’t need to 

remember neither the names nor their definitions, It’s more than enough if 

you are just aware of  their practical usage.While speaking English don’t be 

afraid of minor grammatical slips, these slips are common, because speech is 

spontaneous and  the neuro-muscular (thought-speech) coordination may not 

be in pace . Some people pace their speech in such a way that their slips 

are hardly noticed by the listener. Usage of appropriate  words and  correct 

pronunciation is indispensable. Incorrect pronunciation and improper word 

order might change the whole context, look at following sentence

Mispronounced/Misspelt

Julia said that she received an important massage from her boss the day before. (She 

mispronounced/misspelt message), Imagine the damage the misspelt word would  cause 

to her career.

Improper word order

Joe thought of marrying Julia several times. (Without any sense)

Joe thought several times of marrying Julia. (Correct)

  

RULES TO ADD POSSESSIVE APOSTROPHE (‘)

1  If it is a noun add  (‘s) at the end of the noun

e.g. his sister’s car, My father’s friend etc.

2. If it is a plural noun add just (‘) at the end of the noun

e.g.  Students’ hostel (Many students), Doctors’ car (many doctors) etc.

3. If it is a irregular noun (not ending with ‘s’) add (‘) before ‘s’

e.g. children’s park, men’s club etc.

4. Two or more related nouns indicating separate possession

e.g. Cathy’s and Pope’s Novels.

5.  Two closely related nouns

e.g. Putin and Medvedive’s rule.

6 When noun has more connected words add apostrophe to the last word.

e.g. Harry potter the  acclaimed actor’s home. The woman next door’s husband. etc.

7  when nouns are in apposition.

That is Rowling the novelist’s house.

8 When two nouns are closely related.

  Laurel and Hardy’s plays.

USAGE OF APOSTROPHE IN DIFFERET CONTEXTS

 With personified things (Fortune’s call, nature’s way duty’s call etc.)

Time, space and quantity noun.( A foot’s length, a pound’s weight, a week’s holiday etc.)

For God’s sake, at her fingers’ tips. He ate to his heart’s content, The ship’s crew etc.

Note: The word fingers always used as plural.

How many 2’s are there in ten?

He was born in ’61 (’61 = 1961)

In early 1950’s or 1050s

The Boss’s wife.

She was educated at St. Anne’s (St. Anne’s = School/college)

Where is St. Paul’s (St. Paul’s = Church/School/College)

There is a party at my nephew’s to night.( nephew’s house)

Homers’ ideas, Oedipus’ Plight. (With the names of legends s’ is used)

Charles’s terrible wife. (In general). Mr. Ross’s  car. Dickens’s novel.

He’s  a cousin of Joseph’s (He’s = his , Joseph’s = of Joseph)

I saw a boy friend of Jane’s last week.

‘Whose is this?’ ‘John’s’

Janet is at hairdressers (‘s is dropped )

William is at butchers. (for buying meat)

Jim is at gold smith’s (gold smith = Profession/business)

They bought it at Jims ( Jim = Jim cookware)  – apostrophe is avoided from the names of 

shops , business houses etc.

Whose is that car? (Who’s is that car)

Maria’s house is bigger than Jane’s.

It’s = it is, Its = of it.

She spells b’s instead of p’s.

9 O’ clock = 9 of the clock.

It is a nice  proposal, but there are lot of if’s and but’s (doubts/clarifications)

The President met some MPs. (Apostrophe is optional)

How’s that brother of yours/hers/his.

I met an old boyfriend of Cathay’s last night.

Affairs  of others seem more interesting than one’s own.

Apostrophe in contractions

Contraction	meaning
I’m	I am
I’ve	I have
I’d	I  would/had
I’ll	I will
You’re	You are
You’ll	You will
You’ve	You have
You’d	You would/had
he’s	He is/had
he’d	He would/had
he’ll	He will
She’s	She is/has
She’d	She would/had
She’ll	She will
We’re	We are
We’ll	We will
We’ve	We have
We’d	We had/would
they’re	They are
they’ll	They will
they’ve	They have
they’d	They had/would
there’s	There is/has
there’ll	There will
there’d	There would/had
It’s	It is

 
Contractions– Negatives

Contraction	Meaning
aren’t	Are not
can’t	cannot
couldn’t	Could not
daren’t	Dare not
don’t	Did not
doesn’t	Does not
didn’t	Did not
haven’t	Have not
hasn’t	Has not
hadn’t	Had not
isn’t	Is not
mustn’t	Must not
mightn’t	Might not
needn’t	Need not
oughtn’t	Ought not
shouldn’t	Should not
shan’t	Shall not
usedn’t	Used not
wasn’t	Was not
weren’t	Were not
wouldn’t	Would not
won’t	Will not

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