Possessive forms

English is the official universal language. It is, by far, the language of international trade, finance, diplomacy, etc. It is used not only in English spoken countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and The United Kingdom but worldwide. It has a rich vocabulary, with many words borrowed from other languages. It is also one of the easiest languages to learn because: (1) its widespread use in many countries; (2) its alphabet only consists of 26 letter; (3) its relatively simple grammar; (4) the vast selection of English resources to learn from, including TV shows, radio, movies, videogames, music, podcasts, books, apps, and websites.

Language is fluid and constantly evolves and, as such, it grows and changes over time. Grammar is the rationale of a language; usage is its etiquette, and master grammar is not easy. Grammar is the system of a language, the body of rules that describe the structure of sentences, phrases, clauses, and words in any given language.Showing possession in English is relatively easy. Let’s dive right into it.

• A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun or nouns. A possessive pronoun is a type of pronoun that is used to indicate possession or ownership. It tells you who or what owns or possesses something. The possessive pronouns are mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its, and theirs. For example, this car is mine; this is mine, yours is over there on the desk; what’s mine is mine, what’s yours is ours.

• An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or a pronoun. It describes or modifies a noun or pronoun and provides more information about it. A possessive adjetive is a type of adjetive that modifies a noun by identifying who or what has ownership or possession of it. They include words like my, your, his, her, its, our, and their. For example, this is my phone, her puppy is cute and adorable, their house is very near to motorway.

• We can manage to transform most singular nouns into their possessive form by adding an apostrophe ’ and an “s”, such as the dog’s kennel, Austin’s new album, it’s been a hard day’s night.

• To show possession of plural nouns ending in s, simply add an apostrophe (’) after the “s”, e.g., girls’ bedroom, cats’ eyes, the boys’ toys, ladies’ toilets, etc.

• To show possession of plural nouns not ending in s, add an apostrophe and an “s”, so the apostrophe is before the “s”, e.g., her teeth’s cavities began to cause him pain, the children’s hospital is staffed by physicians with special training and skills, the mice’s habitat is a burrow, men’s clothing, etc.

• The apostrophe is not used when the possessor is a lifeless thing, not a person, such as the legs of the table, the roof of the house, or the top of the list. Of course, this is English, there are always exceptions: a day’s work, for heaven’s sake, the sun’s rays.

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