ESL Lesson: Possessive Nouns

Hello! This blog post is about helping ESL learners better understand possessive nouns. What are possessive nouns? Remember that nouns are any people, places, things, animals, ideas or events. When any noun has or is related to something else, then the possessive is used. Possessive nouns require a punctuation mark called the apostrophe. The apostrophe looks like this
'
Now, here are ways the apostrophe is used to make a noun into a possessive noun.

We use the possessive 's with a person to talk about relatives and possessions.

Examples:
She is Omar's sister.
I am Jane's oldest uncle.
Bobby's pet dog is named Rover.
Fritz's car broke down on the highway.

We also use the possessive 's with irregular plural nouns: men, women, children, people, etc.
Examples:

Here are my children's rooms.
Those women's jewelry look really shiny and pretty.
The people's attitude on the issue changed over time.


We use the possessive s' with regular plural nouns.

Examples:
Dr. Janet Smith is my parents' colleague at the university.

The dogs' excitement increased once they reached the park.
The cats' collars are too tight around their necks.

When a noun ends with the letter s, we simply add an apostrophe ' to the end of the noun.

Examples:

James' car is a red convertible. 

This book is Russ'.

Francois' hat is brown, wool and very sharp-looking. 

Do you understand possessive nouns better? Share your questions, comments or suggestions in the comment section. Stay tuned for more ESL advice including possessive pronouns on this blog. If you are interested in personal, one-on-one tutoring in ESL or other subjects, contact Kingston University USA. Find out how you can live locally and learn globally!

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