Possessives
To show that something belongs to someone, we can use the possessive in the form of 's (apostrophe s) or the of structure.
Singular nouns
With singular nouns, we usually add 's.
- Jane → Jane's bike
- the lady → the lady's dog
- the teacher → the teacher's camera
Names ending in -s
Names that already end in -s normally still take 's.
- Chris → Chris's dress
- Mitch → Mitch's glass
Regular plural nouns ending in -s
If the plural already ends in -s, we add only an apostrophe after it.
- my parents → my parents' house
- our friends → our friends' garden
- his brothers → his brothers' boat
- the teachers → the teachers' computer
Irregular plurals
Nouns with an irregular plural form that does not end in -s take 's, just like singular nouns.
- children → my children's kitten
- men → the men's cottage
- women → those women's van
The "of" structure
For things, places, and abstract ideas (not people or animals), we usually use of instead of 's.
- the capital of England (not England's capital)
- the name of the book
- the end of the film
- the beginning of March
- the colour of the skirt
- the parks of the town
