10 Possessive case of Nouns

10 Possessive case of Nouns

There are rules for forming the possessive case of nouns. Many non-native speakers of English encounter certain difficulties when they use nouns in the possessive case. The rules are discussed below:

1. Rule one:
To form a possessive case of a noun, you simply add apostrophe and 's' e.g. I saw the girl's uncle.

2. Rule two:
When the noun is an inanimate noun, avoid the use of apostrophe and 's' e.g. The table's leg is broken (informal). Instead you say: The leg of the table is broken.

3. Rule three:
If the noun is a plural ending with an 's', do not add 's' with the apostrophe sign, just put only the sign e.g. I saw the girls' father yesterday.

4. Rule four:
If the noun comes at the end of the sentence, still add the apostrophe and 's' e.g. That man is a friend of John's. (not that man is a friend of John).

5. Rule five:
In abstract nouns ending with 'ss' or 'ce', add only the apostrophe sign e.g. We should be happy to suffer for righteousness' sake. For silence' sake, the  boy walked away.

6. Rule six:
For names ending with 's' e.g. James, Jones, etc, the apostrophe sign and 's' should be put. For example: James's father, Jones's aunty, etc.

7. Rule seven:
If the word is a compound word, add apostrophe and 's' to the last word in the compound e.g., He sat on his class teacher's table. Note, if in a compound where we have two nouns whereby the first noun is qualifying the second, add the apostrophe and 's' to the first noun e.g. Grace Lawson collected the subject's prize.

8. Rule eight:
NOTE THESE!– women's liberation not 'women libration', women's studies not 'women studies', womenswear not 'women's wear', menswear not 'men's wear', women folk not women's folk'.

9. Rule nine:
Note these phrases: A week's time as in: I will see you in a week's time; a year's time, etc. Also note the use of else in a possessive form as in: Somebody else's book.

10. Rule ten:
Another expression that many speakers misuse is Students' Union. It's NOT *Student's Union* as often mistakenly used. It can also be used as Student Union. Finally, note the use of Parent-Teachers' Association (NOT Parents' Teachers' Association nor Parent Teachers' Association). A hyphen is put between Parent and Teacher and no apostrophe is used.

In the next article we are going to write about Collocations in English.