{"id":248,"date":"2014-04-11T20:22:21","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T20:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english-language\/?page_id=248"},"modified":"2014-04-11T20:22:21","modified_gmt":"2014-04-11T20:22:21","slug":"the-possessive-noun","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/parts-speech\/the-basics\/the-noun\/the-possessive-noun\/","title":{"rendered":"The Possessive Noun"},"content":{"rendered":"

A noun becomes a possessive noun<\/em> when it is used in a certain way in a sentence. Look at the sentence below.<\/p>\n

The boy<\/span> is very playful.<\/p>\n

The sentence above has just one noun: boy.<\/p>\n

The sentence above doesn’t indicate that the boy owns anything.<\/p>\n

Let’s change the sentence a little bit.<\/p>\n

The boy is very playful and he has a red ball.<\/p>\n

The sentence now has two nouns: boy and ball. Even though the sentence does indicate that the boy owns the ball, the noun “boy” is not used as a possessive noun.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

A possessive noun<\/span> is a noun used in such a way as to show that it owns another noun in a sentence.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let’s reconstruct the sentence to make boy<\/em> into a possessive noun<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The playful boy’s<\/strong> red ball is outside.<\/p>\n

In the sentence above, boy’s<\/strong> is a possessive noun because it is used in such a way as to show ownership.<\/p>\n

In all the sentences below, the nouns in bold<\/strong> are possessive nouns because they own another noun in the sentence.<\/p>\n

The cat’s<\/strong> tail is very long. (cat owns tail)<\/p>\n

The rat’s<\/strong> tail is very thin. (rat owns tail)<\/p>\n

The donkey’s<\/strong> ears are very big. (donkey owns ears)<\/p>\n

The man’s<\/strong> boat is in the river. (man owns boat)<\/p>\n

The children’s<\/strong> ice cream is in the fridge. (children own ice cream)<\/p>\n

The snake’s<\/strong> teeth are very dangerous. (snake owns teeth)<\/p>\n

The bees’<\/strong> nest are full of honey. (bees own nest)<\/p>\n

The bee’s<\/strong> sting is very dangerous. (bee owns sting)<\/p>\n

To turn a noun which does not end in s<\/em><\/strong> into possessive noun, add apostrophe + s<\/em> (‘s<\/strong>). Example:<\/p>\n

The boy‘s<\/strong> ball is on the table. (singular noun not ending in s<\/strong><\/em>)<\/p>\n

The children‘s<\/strong> food is on the table. (plural noun not ending in s<\/strong><\/em>)<\/p>\n

To turn a noun which ends in s<\/strong><\/em> into a possessive noun, just add an apostrophe<\/em> (‘<\/strong>). Examples:<\/p>\n

The trees‘<\/strong> leaves are green. (plural noun ending in s<\/strong><\/em>)<\/p>\n

Mr. Jones‘<\/strong> shirt is very nice. (singular noun ending in s<\/strong><\/em>)<\/p>\n

More on the noun:<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

[related-articles-by-tag]<\/p>\n

Article location: Patrickcarpen.com >> English >> English Language >> Grammar >> Parts of Speech >> The Noun<\/p>\n

Keywords: possessive nouns, nouns that show possession, parts of speech, English, grammar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A noun becomes a possessive noun when it is used in a certain way in a sentence. Look at the sentence below. The boy is very playful. The sentence above Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":866,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-248","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-the-noun"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Possessive Noun - English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Patrick Carpen defines and explains the use of the possessive noun.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/parts-speech\/the-basics\/the-noun\/the-possessive-noun\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Possessive Noun - English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Patrick Carpen defines and explains the use of the possessive noun.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/parts-speech\/the-basics\/the-noun\/the-possessive-noun\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"English\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/english\\\/parts-speech\\\/the-basics\\\/the-noun\\\/the-possessive-noun\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/english\\\/parts-speech\\\/the-basics\\\/the-noun\\\/the-possessive-noun\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Possessive Noun - 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