Hello, everyone, and welcome back to my channel Sparkle English where I teach you
how to improve your level of English. Today is a new video in my English writing essential series.
I am going to teach you about possessive nouns and how to make possessive nouns
using apostrophe s, or just s with an apostrophe after. So what are possessive nouns? A possessive
noun is a noun that possesses has or owns something. So let's say this is a car,
and Jane owns this car. It is her car. In English, we would not say it is the car of Jane.
We use an apostrophe s after Jane to create a possessive noun. It is Jane's
car. That would be correct. Possessive nouns are usually formed by adding an apostrophe plus s
to the noun. So Jane's is the possessive noun. So how do we make possessive nouns?
The first rule is that with singular nouns, we add apostrophe s. For example: that is Tom's house.
The house belongs to Tom. The boy's bike is green. This is the boy, and this is his bike. So we say
the boy's bike. My friend's pool is amazing. So all of these are singular nouns: tom, boy,
and friend. And so we add apostrophe s after the singular noun to make the possessive noun.
Now, the second rule is that with singular nouns or names ending in s, adding the apostrophe s
to make it possessive is optional. So for example, you could say that is Chris's house, and you see
that Chris is a singular noun, a proper noun that ends with S. So you could add the apostrophe s.
Or you could leave it out. That is Chris' house. Another example. James's girlfriend is beautiful,
or James' girlfriend is beautiful. Also, I want you to listen to how we pronounce the apostrophe
s, we would say, Chris, but when we add the apostrophe s after a name that ends with S,
we say Chris's with a Zed sound: Chris's. James's not James's. Okay, so I want to note that style
guides differ in their recommendations of whether or not you should add an apostrophe
or an apostrophe s to names ending in S. So if you are writing an essay, or doing a school project,
make sure you follow the correct guide. But in general, adding an apostrophe s or just an
apostrophe is correct. Just be consistent in your writing. So the third rule is with plural nouns
ending in s, we just add an apostrophe. So for example, the girls' bedroom is big.
This would mean there are two or more girls and they share a bedroom. If we had this apostrophe
before the s, this would mean one girl. She has a big bedroom. But because we have the apostrophe
after the s, this would mean two girls, two sisters, for example, share a big bedroom.
My parents' farmhouse is lovely. Again, we have a plural noun parents, my mother and father, and we
use the apostrophe after the s because this plural noun ends in S. The dogs' tails were wagging.
Again, this would mean there are two or more dogs and their tails were wagging.
Okay, so the fourth rule is that with plural nouns that don't end in s, so irregular plural nouns,
we add apostrophe S. For example, in English, we say one child,
but we say two children. Children is the plural of child. So we would say: the children's
toys were all over the floor. Because this is the plural noun and it does not end in s, we
use apostrophe s afterwards. Another example, the men's beards are very long. Men is the plural form
of man. The women's dresses were very elegant. Again, women is the plural of woman. So we add
apostrophe s, for all of these examples, because none of these plural nouns end in s.
What about shared possession? Let's look at this sentence. Mom and Dad's car is new. We only add
an apostrophe s to the last noun, Dad, because we are trying to say that mom and dad share this car.
This car belongs to both mom and dad. So mom and dad's car is new. Another example, Peter and Ian's
friend is coming to the party. This would mean that both Peter and Ian have the same friend
and he is coming to the party. But what happens if you're talking about separate possession:
one car for Dad, one car for mom, or one friend, that is Peter's and one friend that is Ian's. In
this case, we would add apostrophe s to each noun. So for example, Mom's and Dad's cars are new.
Because we have apostrophe s after Mom and after Dad, we are talking about separate possession. Dad
owns one car, and Mom owns another car. Another example: Peter's and Ian's friends are coming to
the party. Again, this would mean that Peter is inviting some friends that are his, and Ian is
inviting a friend or friends that are his friends. They are different friends. So this is how we form
shared possession or separate possession. And finally, with hyphenated or compound nouns,
we usually add apostrophe s. So for example, my father-in-law's cottage is on the lake. This means
that the cottage belongs to the father-in-law. We would not say my father's-in-law.
My father-in-law's cottage is on the lake. We only add apostrophe s to the final noun. The maid of
honor's duty is to attend to the bride. Again, we add apostrophe s to this final word here.
Okay, so now we are going to do a 10 question quiz to practice what you have learned about
apostrophes and possessive nouns. So which of the following sentences are incorrect? And if
they are incorrect, you have to correct them. I'm going to read each sentence once and afterwards,
we will correct them together. Number one: Tom's new haircut looks terrible. Number two,
have you been to Sara and Kyle's house yet? Number three, the children's toys are in the attic.
Number four, my mother's-in-law car isn't working. Number five, the men's changing room is around the
corner. Number six, my baby's blanket is in the washing machine. Number seven, the girls book is
on the table. And a hint the book belongs to one girl. Number eight. The boys video game is in the
basement. And a hint here: The game belongs to two boys. Oscar and Raul's dogs are cute.
And each man owns a different dog. Finally, number 10. My parents' home is near the mountains.
Okay, so now we are going to correct these together. So number one is incorrect. We
have to add an apostrophe after the M. Tom's new haircut looks terrible. Because Tom is a singular
noun and it doesn't end with S, we just add apostrophe s. Tom's new haircut looks terrible.
Number two is also incorrect. We have to add an apostrophe after Kyle: Sarah and Kyle's house.
We're talking about the house that belongs to Sara and Kyle. So we add apostrophe s only after
Kyle. Number three is incorrect. The apostrophe is wrong it should not be at the end or after
s. It should be after n. The children's toys and that is because children is a plural noun
that does not end an S. Remember that after irregular plural nouns, we just add apostrophe s
because it does not end in s. Number four is also incorrect. We don't say mother's-in-law, we say
mother-in-law's. Apostrophe s after the W with hyphenated and compound words.
Number five is correct, the men's changing room is around the corner. Men is an irregular plural
noun, it ends with an N, so we just add apostrophe s. Number six is also correct. My baby's blanket
is in the washing machine. Baby is a singular noun that ends in a y. And so we just add apostrophe s,
the blanket that belongs to the baby. Number seven, the girls book is on the table.
This is incorrect, we need to add an apostrophe before the s, because it is a book that belongs
to one girl. The second one is also incorrect. The boys video game is in the basement. Because
this game belongs to two boys, we put the apostrophe after the s, the boys' video game,
because both boys own the same video game, maybe they're brothers, so we put it after the s
because we have a plural noun that ends in S. So we just add the apostrophe after the s.
Number nine, Oscar and Raul's dogs are cute. This is incorrect. This sentence would be correct if
Oscar and Raul together owned multiple dogs. But because each man owns a different dog, we have to
say Oscar's and Raul's dogs are cute, because one dog belongs to Raul, and one dog belongs to Oscar.
And finally, number 10. My parents' home is near the mountains. This is correct. Because parents is
two people, both of your parents, your mother and your father, for example. And the apostrophe would
go after the s because this is a regular plural noun that ends in S. Now could you say parent's,
my parent's home is near the mountains. If you said my parent's home is near the mountains,
you're talking about one parent, your mother or your father. And it is not very common to refer to
one parent as a parent. You usually say mother or father. Okay? It's not common to say I'm going to
my parent's house if you were only talking about your mother. Okay, so I want you to let me know
in the comments section how many you got correct out of 10. I hope this video helped you understand
possessive nouns and apostrophe s. If you have any questions, leave a comment in the comments
section below. Make sure to subscribe to Sparkle English for more videos on how to
improve your English writing skills and your level of English and I will see you in my next video.