English Lesson 8

Plural Possessives

In Lessons 3-6 you learned the following plural rules:

 

Rule 1 for Plurals  To form the plural of most nouns you simply add an s to the end of the noun.

 

Rule 2 for Plurals  If the noun ends in sh, ch, x, s, or z add es to make it plural.

 

Rule 3 for Plurals If a noun ends in a consonant plus y, the y changes to i before es is added. Note: If the noun ends in a vowel plus y, just add s.

 

Rule 4 for Plurals  Most of the words that end with f, ff, or fe are made plural by changing the ending to -ves.

 

Rule 5 for Plurals  Some words form their plural by changing the whole word. These are called irregular nouns. With irregular nouns, you have to memorize the plural form.

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In this Lesson you will learn how to show possession (ownership) when the noun is plural.

Rule 2 for  Possessives  To show ownership of plural nouns ending in s, all you do is add an apostrophe after the s.

Examples

ten cats' tiny teeth (the tiny teeth belong to ten cats)

many crickets' wings (the wings belong to a lot of crickets)

a thousand boys' parents (the parents belong to a thousand boys)

 

Rule 3  for Possessives For irregular plurals not ending in s show ownership by adding  's.

Examples

two women's lunches (the lunches belong to two women)

teeth's cavities (the cavities belong to the teeth.)

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Practice

Choose one of the following drawings from The Cricket in Times Square.

Directions:

In column one list singular nouns that may be found in the drawing or items that could be found in this location. (For example on page 37 of the soda shop you can not see an ice cream scoop in the drawing, yet one may be found in a soda shop.) Be sure to use the singular form of the nouns in column one. Using the same nouns fill in the other three columns so that the singular possessive, plural, and plural possessive is formed for each noun in the singular column. (Challenge - Try to use some nouns that have irregular plural forms.)

singular noun singular possessive noun plural noun plural possessive noun
cat cat's meow cats cats' paws
lady lady's bag ladies ladies' shoes
mouse mouse's whiskers mice mice's toes
1.       
2.       
3.       
4.       
5.       
6.       
7.       
8.       
9.       
10.       
11.       
12.       

Practice

Circle the correct plural/possessive form.

  1. His families / family's newsstand has very little business.
  2. The neon signs / sign's shone brightly on Times Square.
  3. The animals / animal's diet was in need of an expert.
  4. The newspapers / newspaper's print was difficult to read.
  5. The cash registers / register's drawers were hard to unlock.
  6. Mama Bellini needed many boxes of tissues / tissue's when she listened to opera.
  7. The radios / radio's music varied between opera and Italian songs to church hymns.
  8. The clocks / clock's ticking was so loud that Chester was unable to sleep.
  9. Matchboxes / Matchbox's are great beds for crickets.
  10. Sai Fong's shop was filled with hundreds of vases / vase's.
  11. The umbrellas / umbrella's were decorated with beautiful flowers.
  12. The pipes / pipe's smoke circled around Sai Fong's cluttered shop.
  13. The lanterns / lantern's glow made shadows on the dinner table.

 

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1-12 Answers will vary.

  1. family's
  2. signs
  3. animal's
  4. newspaper's
  5. register's
  6. tissues
  7. radio's
  8. clock's
  9. Matchboxes
  10. vases
  11. umbrellas
  12. pipe's
  13. lantern's