{"id":6121,"date":"2017-03-07T15:30:42","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T13:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/?p=6121"},"modified":"2021-10-11T09:28:05","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T07:28:05","slug":"possessives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/possessives\/","title":{"rendered":"Possessives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Possessive &#8211;<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong><em>\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We use apostrophe<em>s<\/em>\u00a0(<em>\u2019s<\/em>), also called possessive &#8211;\u00a0<em>\u2019s<\/em>, as a determiner to show that something belongs to someone or something:\n<ul>\n<li><em>Is this Maria<strong>\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><em>bag?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Dubai&#8217;<strong>s<\/strong> buildings and structures<\/em><em>\u00a0are absolutely amazing.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>We can also use it in complex noun phrases (underlined):\n<ul>\n<li><em>Ben is\u00a0<\/em><em>her youngest daughter<strong>\u2019s<\/strong><\/em><em>\u00a0husband.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>We can use two possessive &#8211;<em>\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0constructions in the same noun phrase:\n<ul>\n<li><em>We went to\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>Peter\u2019s father\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0farmhouse.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>We also use possessive<em>\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0to talk about time and duration:\n<ul>\n<li><em>Is that\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>yesterday\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>paper?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>My family and I had two\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>week\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0vacation<\/em><em>\u00a0in Europe.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Rules for using possessive &#8211;\u00a0<em>\u2019s\/s\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We use<em>\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0after a singular noun and\u00a0 <em>\u2019<\/em>\u00a0after a plural noun.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Compare<\/strong><\/p>\n<table width=\"440\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<td>singular noun +\u00a0<em>\u2019s<\/em><\/td>\n<td>plural noun + \u2019<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><em>The<\/em>\u00a0<em>girl\u2019s playroom.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>(The playroom belongs to one girl.)<\/td>\n<td>\n<p><em>The<\/em>\u00a0<em>girls\u2019 bedroom<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>(The playroom belongs to more than one girl.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>We use\u00a0<em>\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0with irregular plural nouns (e.g.\u00a0<em>children, men, people, women<\/em>):\n<ul>\n<li><em>The\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>children\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>parents support them well.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>The government \u00a0protects women<\/em><strong><em>\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0rights.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The rules for the pronunciation of a noun with<em>\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0are the same as the rules for pronunciation of plural forms of nouns.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Compare<\/strong><\/p>\n<table width=\"440\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<td>noun +\u00a0<em>\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0<em>\u2019<\/em><\/td>\n<td>plural noun<\/td>\n<td>Pronunciation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><em>The dog<strong>\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0leash is new.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>The <b>dogs<\/b>\u00a0were barking.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>\/s\/<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>The\u00a0<strong>kids\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0uncle took them to the park.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>The\u00a0<strong>kids<\/strong>\u00a0are very excited.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>\/z\/<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong><em>George\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0brother was here.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>There are three\u00a0<strong>Georges<\/strong>\u00a0in my family.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>\/\u026az\/<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>When a first or second name ends in\u00a0<em>-s<\/em>, we can either add\u00a0<em>\u2019<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0<em>\u2019s<\/em>. It is more common to use\u00a0<em>\u2019<\/em>\u00a0than\u00a0<em>\u2019s<\/em>. When we speak, we usually pronounce the final part of the word as\u00a0<em>\/z\u026az\/<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0<em>\/s\u026az\/<\/em>:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>ex. Is that James<strong>\u2019<\/strong><\/em><em>car?<\/em>\u00a0(or\u00a0<em>Is that James<strong>\u2019s<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<em>car?<\/em>) (both usually pronounced\u00a0<em>\/\u02c8d\u0292e\u026amz\u026az\/<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 I love Keats\u2019 poetry.<\/em>(or\u00a0<em>I love Keats\u2019s poetry<\/em>.) (both usually pronounced\u00a0<em>\/\u02c8ki:ts\u026az\/<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>With compound nouns, we add<em>\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0to the final noun:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>\u00a0ex. My brother<\/em><strong><em>-in-law\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>friend was introduced to us.\u00a0 <\/em>Not:\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">My brother\u2019s-in-law friend<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We don\u2019t usually use the possessive<em>\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0with things:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 ex. the door handle<\/em>\u00a0 Not:\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">the door\u2019s handle<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0the shop window<\/em>\u00a0 Not:\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">the shop\u2019s window<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 the kitchen table<\/em>\u00a0 Not:<span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">the kitchen\u2019s table<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Spoken English:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When we talk about places which are familiar to the speaker and the listener, we sometimes don\u2019t use the noun after possessive<em>\u2019s<\/em>:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0the hairdresser\u2019s salon \u2013 the\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>hairdresser\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 the dentist\u2019s clinic \u2013 the\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>dentist\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We had to take our dog to the\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>vet\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0for some vaccines<\/em><em>.<\/em>\u00a0 (the same as:\u00a0<em>We had to take our dog to the vet\u2019s clinic for some vaccines<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Do you go shopping in\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>Marks and Spencer\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><em>?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 We decided to go to <b>Eric&#8217;s<\/b><\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>after school.<\/em>\u00a0( the same as:\u00a0<em>We decided to go to Eric&#8217;s house after school<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In short answers, we can omit the noun if it is not necessary to repeat it:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0A: <\/strong><em>Is that your car?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0B: <\/strong><em>No, it\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0<strong><em>Sandra\u2019s<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We use possessive<em>\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0with words such as\u00a0<em>one, anyone, someone, anybody, somebody<\/em>:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s essential to be aware of \u00a0<\/em><strong><em>one\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>rights.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Is this \u00a0<\/em><strong><em>someone\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0umbrella<\/em><em>?<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When we use \u00a0<em>else<\/em>\u00a0with these words, the\u00a0<em>\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0is added to\u00a0<em>else<\/em>:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Why didn\u2019t you come? \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>Everyone else\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>husband was there<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Possessive &#8211;\u00a0\u2019s We use apostrophes\u00a0(\u2019s), also called possessive &#8211;\u00a0\u2019s, as a determiner to show that something belongs to someone or something: Is this Maria\u2019s\u00a0bag? Dubai&#8217;s buildings and structures\u00a0are absolutely amazing. We can also use it in complex noun phrases (underlined): Ben is\u00a0her youngest daughter\u2019s\u00a0husband. We can use two possessive &#8211;\u2019s\u00a0constructions in the same noun phrase: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[309],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v16.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Possessives | phone english blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/possessives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Possessives | phone english blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Possessive &#8211;\u00a0\u2019s We use apostrophes\u00a0(\u2019s), also called possessive &#8211;\u00a0\u2019s, as a determiner to show that something belongs to someone or something: Is this Maria\u2019s\u00a0bag? Dubai&#8217;s buildings and structures\u00a0are absolutely amazing. We can also use it in complex noun phrases (underlined): Ben is\u00a0her youngest daughter\u2019s\u00a0husband. We can use two possessive &#8211;\u2019s\u00a0constructions in the same noun phrase: [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/possessives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"phone english blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/phoneenglish.es\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-07T13:30:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-11T07:28:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@phoneenglishes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@phoneenglishes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"PHONE ENGLISH\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/phoneenglish.es\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/phoneenglish\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/phoneenglishes\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/phone-english1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/phone-english1.png\",\"width\":200,\"height\":124,\"caption\":\"PHONE ENGLISH\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"phone english blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/possessives\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/possessives\/\",\"name\":\"Possessives | phone english blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-07T13:30:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-11T07:28:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/possessives\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/possessives\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/possessives\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Blog\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"item\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/possessives\/#webpage\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/possessives\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/possessives\/#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f85fd0a7151793c7da178704f00bcd49\"},\"headline\":\"Possessives\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-07T13:30:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-11T07:28:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/possessives\/#webpage\"},\"commentCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Grammar\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/possessives\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f85fd0a7151793c7da178704f00bcd49\",\"name\":\"jen\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6121"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6192,"href":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6121\/revisions\/6192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}