Possessive Nouns for beginners

apostrophe possessive nouns possessives

Possessive structures have many functions like showing ownership or belonging. With the help of apostrophe 's', we can make a possessive noun. Let's start!

intermediate advanced

What Are Possessive Nouns?

When we want to talk about something that belongs to somebody, we use possessive nouns.
We use apostrophe s (’s) to show that something belongs to someone or something.

Mike has a car.	The car belongs to Mike.	This is Mike's car.
Kara has a doll.	The doll belongs to Kara.	This is Kara's doll.

First we say the owner's name, then we add the 's and lastly we add the name of the thing.

Sam's car is fancy.

Here, it means that Sam has a car.

Hanna's cat is cute.

Here, it shows that Hannah has a pet cat.

Forming Possessive Nouns

'Possessive nouns' are formed by adding an 's to the noun which is the owner of something. Remember there is always a noun after 's. For example:

Peter's sister is tall.

My father's car is black.

using 's to show possession

Warning

'S can be added to both proper and common nouns. Here are some examples:

Kylie's friend is a singer.

His friend's hand is hurt.

Talking about Family Relationships

'S' does not only show possession, it can also be used to show relationships. Look at the examples below:

Nina's grandmother is too kind.

Peter's father is a dentist.

Possession with Singular and Plural Nouns

We use (’s) after a singular noun and ’ after a plural noun.

Singular Nouns	Plural Nouns
The boy's car	The boys' car
My dad's house	My parents' house

Comments

What Are Possessive Nouns?
Forming Possessive Nouns
Talking about Family Relationships
Possession with Singular and Plural Nouns

Singular and Plural Nouns

Anything that is just one in quantity is singular. But what if there is more than one? Nouns that are two or more are called plurals! Simple, yes? Let's see!

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

It's important to know if a noun is countable or uncountable. This is going to help us to use the correct article. Let's learn more.

Collective Nouns

If we want to represent certain individual nouns as one entity we can make use of collective nouns. In this lesson, you'll learn about their structure and uses.

Abstract and Concrete Nouns

Based on what we can or cannot perceive with our five senses, we can categorize nouns into two groups: abstract and common nouns. Start learning!

Noun Modifiers

As you might guess, noun modifiers can modify nouns. What if there is a noun phrase after noun modifiers? If these questions are stuck in your mind, read more!

Verbal Nouns

Sometimes we can change a verb and make it into a noun. One of the most common ways of doing this is adding the suffix -ing. Let's see what verbal nouns are!

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