NOTE 2: POSSESIVE NOUNS

Possessive nouns is when we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we usually add 's to a singular noun and an apostrophe ' to a plural noun. Possessive forms are frequently modifiers for verb forms used as nouns, or gerunds. Using the possessive will affect how we read the sentence. Possessive nouns typically include an apostrophe. For example:

• ·         Jennifer’s imagination ran wild as she pictured the accident.
• ·         The kitten’s toy is a stuffed catnip mouse.

Think of the apostrophe mark as a hook or hand reaching out to take ownership of the object. Without the little hook or hand grabbing onto the ‘s’ or the next word, the noun is simply plural.

Some possessive nouns are actually personal pronouns. A pronoun is a word that can stand in for the noun in a sentence. Pronouns are often used to keep sentences from sounding rambling or redundant. Personal pronouns reflect ownership when used appropriately in a sentence, and do not get the apostrophe + s added to them.

Personal pronouns as possessives look like this:

• ·         We decorated our house for the holidays with colorful lights.
• ·         My car is red.

Forming the possessives of nouns already ending in 's' can be tricky. The words class and grass are examples.

To form the singular possessive, simply add the apostrophe following the final 's' - for example, class' and grass'. Some teachers have their students add the apostrophe plus an additional 's' to help students see the possessive form. So, class's and grass's are, in fact, acceptable spellings of the words.

To form the plural possessives of these same nouns, explain that first the nouns must be made plural – classes, grasses.

Once the nouns have been made plural, simply add an apostrophe to the end of the word. The plural possessive forms of class and grass are classes' and grasses'.