Grammar

1. Possessives

Possessives show who or what something belongs to - they show possession.

Most nouns can be made possessive simply by adding 's. For example:
- The restaurant's food is very good.
- David Beckham's right foot is excellent.
- You can eat an apple's skin.

If the noun is plural and ends in "s", you add just '. For example:

girls is plural and ends in "s" so:'
- The girls' books are interesting. (The girls's books are interesting)
children is plural but doesn't end in "s" so we just add 's as normal:
- The children's boks are interesting.
boss ends in "s" but is not plural, so again just add 's.
- The boss's office is very big.

This can however look and sound awkward, so you can sometimes just use ' instead. For example with names:
Thomas's book, Tess's house can also be Thomas' book, Tess' house.

The basic rule is; if the noun is plural and ends in "s" add ' - otherwise just add 's.

2. Possessive Adjectives

Here are the possessive adjectives with example sentences. Notice that possessive adjectives come before the noun.

3. Possessive Pronouns

Here are the possessive pronouns with example sentences. Notice they never come before nouns.

There is no possessive pronoun for its, so you cannot say "The book is its". Also possessive pronouns often come at the end of sentences and are usually stressed. "This is my book" can have a fairly factual meaning, but "This book is mine" stresses more strongly whose book it is.

Now try and put it all into practice!

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