Jim Roth’s Website

Making Words Possessive

Apostrophes Pretest

To make a non-possessive word possessive, look at the last letter of the word (don’t add any letters yet for the ‘S’ sound). 

EIf the last letter of the word that you want to make possessive is not an 's,' add apostrophe and ‘S’ to its end to make it possessive.

Here are examples:

The coat belonging to the boy becomes the boy’s coat.

The headlights belonging to the car becomes the car’s headlights.

The wife of the accountant becomes the accountant’s wife.

EIf the last letter of the word that you want to make possessive already ends in an ‘S,’ (before you’ve added the ‘S’ to show possession), make it possessive by adding only an apostrophe after the ‘S’that’s already there.

Some examples:

The chairs of the teachers becomes the teachers’ chairs.

The colors belonging to the leaves becomes the leaves’ colors.

The lens belonging to the glasses becomes the glasses’ lens.

Please keep in mind that if the owner comes after what it owns, no new punctuation is necessary.

The cries of the children were heard.

The results of the election were announced.

Practice Timeê Using the two completed examples below as guides, create possessives out of the phrases that follow. Remember that the phrases as they are now are correct and need no punctuation to show ownership. But when the owner comes before what is owned, possession must be shown by the proper use of the apostrophe and ‘S’ or by the apostrophe itself.

The lights belonging to the river the river’s lights______

The puzzle belonging to the boys the boys’ puzzle______

The voters belonging to the county ___________________

The traffic belonging to the city ___________________

The colors belonging to the painting ___________________

The music belonging to the symphony ___________________

The aroma belonging to the coffee ___________________

The bottle belonging to the baby ___________________

The bottles belonging to the babies ___________________

The car belonging to James ___________________

The house belonging to Jones ___________________

The children belonging to the Joneses ___________________

The coat belonging to the woman ___________________

The coats belonging to the women ___________________

The message belonging to the letter ___________________

The siding belonging to the house ___________________