Possessive nouns: rules and examples

If two people share one thing, mark only the last name: "Ali and Sara's house" is one house. If each person has their own, mark both: "Ali's and Sara's houses" means two houses.

A plural doesn't take an apostrophe unless it also shows possession. "Two teachers came" has no apostrophe. Possessive pronouns don't take one either: yours, hers, ours, theirs and its. It's always means "it is" or "it has".

For things, English often uses of instead: "the end of the road" is more natural than "the road's end". Time phrases do use the possessive form: "today's news" and "two weeks' notice".

• Wrong: The student's are late.

  Right: The students are late.

  A simple plural takes no apostrophe.

• Wrong: The childrens' toys

  Right: The children's toys

  Children is already plural, so add 's.

• Wrong: The company changed it's name.

  Right: The company changed its name.

  Its shows possession. It's means "it is".

Apostrophe errors are easy marks to lose in IELTS and PTE writing, and they can change your meaning: "the country's economy" is one country, but "the countries' economies" is several. Check these when you describe charts: "men's wages" and "the UK's share".

Try each one, then open it to check your answer.

1. 1. Write the possessive: the books of the girl

   the girl's books

   Singular noun: add 's.

2. 2. Write the possessive: the coats of the boys

   the boys' coats

   Plural ending in s: add an apostrophe only.

3. 3. Write the possessive: the ideas of the women

   the women's ideas

   Irregular plural: add 's.

4. 4. Choose: "The cat licked (its / it's) paw."

   its

   Its shows possession.

5. 5. One shared shop: "Ravi and Meena___ shop"

   Ravi and Meena's shop

   With joint ownership, mark the last name only.

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