English Grammar

Possessive Case

Read the following sentence.

This is Ram’s house.

Here the noun Ram’s is in the possessive case. A noun which shows ownership or possession is said to be in the possessive case.

1. When the noun is singular, the possessive case is formed by adding ’s to the noun.

John’s mother
Mary’s goat

2. When the noun is plural and does not end in -s, the possessive case is formed by adding ’s to the noun.

Men’s hostel
The people’s voice

3. To form the possessive case of a plural noun ending in –s, we simply add an apostrophe (’) without -s.

A boys’ school

4. Singular nouns ending in –s may form the possessive by adding apostrophe (’) with or without –s.

Thomas’s house OR Thomas’ house
Yeats’s poems OR Yeats’ poems

5. In compound nouns, ’s is added to the last word.

My sister-in-law’s daughter

Notes

The letter –s is omitted and only apostrophe (’) is added when too many hissing sounds occur in a word.

For conscience’ sake
For goodness’ sake
For Jesus’ sake