Possessives

What's a possessive? The answer can depend upon whom you ask. Older grammar references say only humans can possess (own) something, so possessives must include them. According to those references, phrases such as "table's legs" would have to be written "legs of the table."

Newer thinking says possessives are merely a shorthand way of indicating a relationship between two nouns; they can include humans, other animate beings, inanimate objects, or ideas. Possessives have two characteristics: an apostrophe and the letter s. But how do you know exactly where the apostrophe goes? Here are the steps to forming possessives.

First, decide if the word you are making possessive (the first word in the pair) is singular or plural.

Because "tables legs" could be either "legs of the table" or "legs of the tables," it's important to know which word is right for your sentence. Are you writing about one table or more than one?

Here are the traditional rules for forming possessives:

1.  If the word is singular, add an apostrophe and the letter s.

IF "tables legs" is really "legs of the table," you would write "the table's legs."

2.  If the word is a regular plural, one that ends in s or es, add only an apostrophe. You already have the s built into the word.

IF "tables legs" is really "legs of the tables," you would write "the tables' legs."

3. If the word is an irregular plural, one that does not end in s or es, add an apostrophe and s.

Examples include men, women, children, and people. This one should be the easiest to spot, because without the apostrophe, the words mens, womens, or childrens don't exist. They are already plural without the s; you can't have plural plurals!

the room of the men = the men's room
the clothing of the women = the women's clothing
the toys of the children = the children's toys
the choice of the people = the people's choice

Now, can #1 ever be written differently? Yes, according to modern usage, which says that a singular noun ending in s needs only the apostrophe.

So, it's acceptable to write "the goddess' eyes" if you're writing about one goddess, or "Jesus' parables" when writing about Jesus. But because so many people are confused about working with possessives, it's often better to stick with the original three rules as listed above.