Practise Using Apostrophes for Possession with Tricky Plural Words

One of the uses of the apostrophe is to show possession, which means who something belongs to.

 

For example:

the girl's ball = the ball belonging to the girl

 

 

If the ball belongs to more than one girl, we make the world into a plural by adding s, then place the apostrophe at the end of the word.

the girls' ball = the ball belonging to the girls

 

The word girl is a singular noun, but the word girls is a plural noun (plural means 'more than one').

 

Most plural nouns in English end in 's' so the apostrophe comes after the 's'.

 

Sometimes however, a singular proper noun ends in an s. A proper noun always begins with a capital letter and is a naming word for a person or place.

 

Some examples of proper nouns ending in s are:

Cyprus

Miss Williams

Brussels

 

When using an apostrophe to show possession with these words, we use the ending 's

For example:

Cyprus's population

James's cat

 

 

It's easy for us to become mixed up with these words as they end in s just as plural nouns do, so let's practise!