I find that a lot of people understand that you use apostrophe-s to make something possessive, but there’s still a lot of confusion over how to use this combination correctly–especially with plural nouns. This post should help clear this problem up for you, and it will make me feel a little less guilty for being a horrible blogger as of late. I have a term paper due in a few days, so obviously something has to give! Read on, make me feel less guilty and learn a little something in the process!
is wrong! “Booths” is a plural noun! It’s becoming a common occurrence that people use an apostrophe while making a word plural. That’s wrong! You only need the apostrophe when you are making a possessive noun (or a contraction, which is another post for another day).
What is a “possessive noun” exactly?
Basically “possessive” means ownership. In English, when we discuss possession we generally mean adding an apostophe-s (‘s) to a noun. That noun will then OWN whatever the following noun is. For example, if I say, “Kelly’s coat,” it is essentially the same as saying, “The coat belongs to Kelly.”
With singular nouns, you add ‘s. Always. Even if you’re referring to a name that ends in -s. This also works if you’re using a hyphenated phrase for your noun. Let’s look at some examples:
My mother-in-law’s car
The cat’s fur
Remember how I said always? Well, I lied. Just a little! I promise! But the reason I lied is because it is a small exception: the word it. When you want to show possession with “it” you use “its.” NO APOSTROPHE! Why? Because “it’s” means “it is.” Other than that, everything is fair game! 😀
Since there are a couple of different types of plural nouns, there isn’t one definitive “always do this” thing. It depends on the type of plural noun you are working with.
- Plural nouns ending in an “s”
- If a plural noun ends in an “s,” then you only add an apostrophe (after the “s”). For example, “The cats’ paws.”
- Plural nouns not ending in an “s”
- Unfortunately, English is a crazy language. Because of this, not all plural nouns end in an “s.” Those that do not, you add an apostrophe-s to. For example, the plural form of “child” is “children.” As such, you would say “The children’s coats.”
Just a brief thing. You probably don’t know what a “gerund” is, so I’m just going to give you a brief idea of what it is before proceeding. A gerund is a verb that you add -ing to and it functions as a noun. For example, “Reading is an important skill to know.” The subject of the sentence is “Reading,” which is a noun in this case. That being said, you can use possessives with gerunds too: “Kelly’s dancing was superb in today’s performance.” Since “dancing” is a noun in this case, Kelly can “own” it.
Possessives can be tricky. I know a few people think if the thing you own is plural, you use s-apostrophe, like “Kellys’ coats.” This isn’t the case. When you’re thinking about possessives, look at the noun that has ownership. Determine if it’s singular or plural, and you should be well on your way to using possessives correctly! Good luck!