Writing Better English for ESL Learners

20. He kicked the box into the other room. The contents of the box was our
    china.

Possessives and Plurals

English possessives of nouns are usually formed in two ways: (1) by placing of

before a noun or (2) by adding -’sto the noun. The preposition oftends to be

used with inanimate objects, and -’stends to be used with people or living

things. But often either one can be used. Look at these examples:

the color of the car, the car’s color

the depth of the river, the river’s depth

the face of a man, a man’s face

the roar of the lion, the lion’s roar

The ending -’sis used for most singular nouns. But if a singular noun

already ends in -s, just add an apostrophe to make it possessive (Mr. Jones’ car,

Chris’ house). However, an apostrophe with an -scan also be used (Mr. Jones’s

car, Chris’s house). Some examples of words that can take either form of the

possessive follow.

SINGULAR NOUN POSSESSIVE -’ POSSESSIVE -’S

boss boss’ boss’s

class class’ class’s

gas gas’ gas’s

miss miss’ miss’s

Most plural nouns already end in -s. In that case, just add an apostrophe

(two boys’ bikes, those girls’ books). But some plural nouns are irregular. These

form their possessive by adding -’s, but the meaning is still plural.

one goose two geese two geese’s eggs

one man two men two men’s suits

one woman five women five women’s shoes

one mouse ten mice ten mice’s babies

62 Writing Better English