Possessive Case

We usually use the possessive ’s structure when talking about something that belongs to people or other living things.

 e.g. Have your seen my brother’s new car?
       We’ll be at John’s soon. (John’s house)
       The dog’s hind leg is hurt.

 These are the key rules about what form of the possessive case to use:

• ’s is used with singular nouns and plural nouns not ending in s:

 e.g. a man’s job, men’s work

• a single apostrophe (’) is used with plural nouns ending in s:

 e.g. a girls’ school, the Smiths’ car

• classical names ending in susually add only the apostrophe (’):

 e.g. Pythagoras’ Theorem, Keats’ poems

• other proper names ending in scan take ’s or the apostrophe alone (’):

 e.g. Mr. Jones’s (Mr. Jones’) house

• with compounds, the last word takes ’s:

 e.g. my brother-in-law’s guitar

• if the possessive pattern consists of two or more nouns, ’s is added to the last word even if the word is not a noun:

 e.g. Henry the Eighth’s wives, somebody else’s house, in an hour or so’s time

• if the possessive pattern consists of two or more nouns which form a single team or group ’s is added to the last word only

 e.g. Mary and Tom’s wedding

• when the nouns do not form a single group ’s is used with both nouns

 e.g. Mary’s and Tom’s cars

• ’s can also be used after abbreviations:

 e.g. the MP’s briefcase

• ’scan be used with one, somebody, everybody, each other, etc

 e.g. one’s house, each other’s notes

• two possessive cases can be used together

 e.g. our neighbour’s children’s loud music