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Understanding Possessive Nouns

Here is a 193-word paragraph describing the image with 5 possessive nouns highlighted in bold: The old farmhouse sat nestled in a valley surrounded by rolling green hills. Decades of weathering had worn down the wooden siding of the once vibrant red house, leaving it a dull pinkish color. Behind the house, an overgrown garden spilled out from behind a dilapidated wooden fence. Among the weeds and wildflowers, one could still make out the remnants of orderly vegetable beds and flower plots. An old oak tree stood proudly in one corner of the **garden's** yard, its massive branches reaching out over the roof of the house, providing much needed shade on hot summer days. A weathervane in

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64 views17 pages

Understanding Possessive Nouns

Here is a 193-word paragraph describing the image with 5 possessive nouns highlighted in bold: The old farmhouse sat nestled in a valley surrounded by rolling green hills. Decades of weathering had worn down the wooden siding of the once vibrant red house, leaving it a dull pinkish color. Behind the house, an overgrown garden spilled out from behind a dilapidated wooden fence. Among the weeds and wildflowers, one could still make out the remnants of orderly vegetable beds and flower plots. An old oak tree stood proudly in one corner of the **garden's** yard, its massive branches reaching out over the roof of the house, providing much needed shade on hot summer days. A weathervane in

Uploaded by

Elle Bee
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

POSSESSIVE

NOUNS
What Are Possessive
Nouns?
A possessive noun is a noun indicating
ownership (or possession) by ending 's or just an
apostrophe.

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Place your screenshot here

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Examples of
Possessive Nouns
• a dog's bone
• a man's jacket
• a lion's mane

• The examples above are obviously about possession (i.e.,


ownership). They refer to "the bone of the dog," "the
jacket of the man," and "the mane of the lion." However,
possessive nouns are not always so obviously about possession.
Look at these examples of
possessive nouns:
▰ a book's pages
▰ a day's pay
▰ a week's worth
▰ the stone's throw

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Sometimes, possessive nouns are
clearly not about possession. Look at
these examples
▰ The Children's Minister
(This is a minister for children's affairs. The
minister does not belong to the children.)
▰ Rembrandt's paintings
(These are paintings by Rembrandt. He does not
own them.)
So, in order to say that possessive nouns indicate
possession, you have to accept a broad scope for the word
"possession."
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Using Apostrophes to Form Possessive Nouns
You will notice that all of the examples above end 's. However, not
all possessive nouns end this way. Here are the basic rules for
creating a possessive noun with an apostrophe:

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Type Example of Type Possessive Noun Comment

gular noun dog dog's dinner Add 's for a singular possessor (in this case, a dog).
dog's dinners (NB: It is irrelevant how many things are owned. So, it is irrelevant

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if the dog has one dinner or a hundred dinners. Only the number
of possessors is important.)

ral noun dogs dogs' dinner Add ' for a plural possessor


dogs' dinners

gular noun ending -s Chris Chris' hat Add 's or ' for a singular possessor that ends -s. You have a
or choice.
Chris's hat

ral noun not ending -s People People's rights Add 's for a plural possessor that does not end –s.

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Possessive Nouns with
Inanimate Objects
As you can see from some of the examples above (e.g., "a book's
pages," "a day's pay"), it is possible for inanimate things (e.g. "a
book") and even intangible things (e.g. "a day") to possess objects
from a grammatical perspective. However, be aware that some
writers like to shy away from using the possessive form with
inanimate objects.

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In other words, they would
prefer:
▰ The pages of a book
▰ the nib of a biro.
to:
▰ A book's pages
▰ A biro's nib

This is one of those times when you can let your instinct guide you. Both versions
are acceptable. Choose the one that grates less on your ears.
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Do not forget that some nouns can be used as adjectives
(called "attributable nouns"). So, you might not need to
make a decision on whether to use "of" or a possessive
noun. For example:

▰ A car door (best version)


▰ A door of a car (possible but awkward)
▰ A car's door (possible but still awkward)

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Possessive Nouns in Time Expressions
Possessive nouns are common in time expressions (or
"temporal expressions" as they're also known). For
example:
▰ A day's salary
▰ Two days' salary
▰ Three years' insurance
▰ Three years' insurance

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Similarly, possessive nouns are used for other
measurements unrelated to time. For example:
▰ Five dollars' worth
▰ A stone's throw away

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Review each sentence and decide if it needs a possessive noun or a
plural noun, then choose the correct form from the bold options
provided.

▰ The dogs/dog's collar is blue.
▰ Aaron's/Aarons friend is named Adam.
▰ I really like my grandmothers/grandmother's cookies.
▰ I really like to drink soda using spiral straws/straw's.
▰ My brothers/brother's are twins.

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Rewrite the prepositional phrases below so that they feature
possessive nouns. The meaning of the phrase should not change.
▰ the book of the teacher
▰ the garden of my aunt
▰ the house of my friend
▰ the stripes of the zebra
▰ the car of my sister

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“
I will be showing you an image. I want
you to create a paragraph about the latter.
Now here’s the catch, the paragraph has to
contain at least 5 possessive nouns .

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