Possessives

Possessives take many forms in English.

Pronouns in the possessive case can be used as adjectives to modify nouns or stand alone as subjects, objects or complements. For example,


See the table below.


The possessive is formed by adding “‟s” to singular nouns and plural nouns not ending in s. Such possessives can be used as modifiers, or they can stand alone.

• It is John‟s bicycle.
• Those are the children‟s toys.
• Jack‟s is the white one.
• I‟m going to Joe‟s.

With plural nouns ending in –s, only an apostrophe („) is used to form the possessive. The girls‟ bicycles are in the repair shop.