A plural possessive noun is a plural noun that indicates ownership of something.<\/p>\n
Example<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
The dog’s food is in the bag on the floor. (singular possessive: one dog)<\/p>\n
The dogs’<\/u> food is in the bag on the floor. (plural<\/u> possessive: multiple dogs)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In the two sentences, the nouns dog <\/em>and dogs<\/em> are neither the subjects nor the objects. Rather, both words are nouns that identify the owner of the subject (food<\/em>).<\/p>\n
The first sentence includes a singular possessive (dog’s<\/em>): The food belongs to one dog. The second sentence tells us that the food belongs to more than one dog by means of a plural possessive noun, dogs’.<\/em><\/p>\n
Forming a Plural Possessive Noun<\/h2>\n
To make a plural possessive noun, first form the plural of the singular noun. Many singular nouns can be made plural by adding -s<\/em> or -es<\/em> to the end of the noun: string<\/em> > strings<\/u><\/em>, car<\/em> > cars<\/u><\/em>, church<\/em> > churches<\/u><\/em>, glass<\/em> > glasses<\/u><\/em>.<\/p>\n
Some nouns are irregular, so they form the plural in ways other than by adding -s<\/em> or -es<\/em>: loaf<\/em> > loaves<\/u><\/em>, mouse<\/em> > mice<\/u><\/em>, man<\/em> > men<\/u><\/em>, foot<\/em> > feet<\/u><\/em>.<\/p>\n
After you have formed the plural of the noun, add an apostrophe (‘<\/em>) if the plural noun ends in -s <\/em>or -es:<\/em> strings’, cars’, churches’, loaves’<\/em>. If the plural noun does not end in -s<\/em>, add an apostrophe and an s<\/em>: mice’s, men’s, feet’s.<\/em><\/p>\n
Let’s look at more examples of both regular and irregular plural possessive nouns:<\/p>\n
I really like the string’s sound on that guitar.<\/em> (singular possessive)
\nI really like the strings’<\/u> sound on that guitar.<\/em> (plural<\/u> possessive)<\/p>\nThe glass’s fragments left a glittering trail on the floor.<\/em> (singular possessive)
\nHave you seen the\u00a0churches’<\/u>\u00a0stained-glass windows?<\/em>(plural<\/u>\u00a0possessive)<\/p>\nHave you seen the church’s stained-glass windows?<\/em> (singular possessive)
\nHave you seen the\u00a0churches’<\/u>\u00a0stained-glass windows?<\/em>(plural<\/u>\u00a0possessive)<\/p>\nWhat is the foot’s purpose for that table?<\/em>\u00a0(singular possessive)
\nWhat is the\u00a0feet’s<\/u>\u00a0purpose for that table?<\/em> (plural<\/u> possessive)<\/p><\/blockquote>\nNote that some irregular plural nouns are the same as their singular forms (e.g., aircraft, deer, sheep, furniture<\/em>). In these cases, we would apply the same principles for forming the plural possessive for a noun that does not end in -s<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Examples<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Both aircraft’s<\/u> engines have been checked.<\/p>\n
The three deer’s<\/u> hoof tracks are all in the same spot.<\/p>\n
The furniture’s<\/u> prices appear on their tags.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Some animal nouns also might form the plural by either maintaining the singular or adding\u00a0-s<\/em>\u00a0or -es<\/em>: shrimp<\/em> > shrimp<\/em> or shrimps<\/em>, fish<\/em>\u00a0> fish<\/em> or fishes. <\/em>Once again we would treat the plural possessive form according to the word’s ending as we’ve discussed:<\/p>\n
You can put the shrimp’s<\/u> tails in that bowl.
\nYou can put the shrimps’<\/u> tails in that bowl.<\/em><\/p>\nWe could see the fish’s<\/u> eyes as their school swam past us.<\/em>
\nWe could see the fishes’<\/u> eyes as their school swam past us.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nPlural Possessive: Multiple Nouns<\/h2>\n
If two or more nouns have ownership of another noun together, we would express that ownership by making only the last noun of the group possessive.<\/p>\n
Jack, Jill, and Jerry’s water pail is at the top of the hill. <\/em>(The pail belongs to all of them.)<\/p>\n
The lawyers are reviewing the players and managers’ contract. <\/em>(The contract belongs to the players and managers jointly.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If two or more nouns each have their own separate possession of one or more nouns, we would make each noun of ownership possessive.<\/p>\n
Jack’s, Jill’s, and Jerry’s water pails are at the top of the hill. <\/em>(They all have their own pails.)<\/p>\n
The lawyers are reviewing the players’ and managers’ contracts. <\/em>(The players and managers have their own contracts.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Plural Possessive: Hyphenated and Compound Nouns<\/h2>\n
Some plural nouns are formed by making the first word in the phrase plural: sisters-in-law, passers-by, attorneys at large. <\/em>In these cases, we would form the plural possessive by making the last word in the phrase possessive: sisters-in-law’s, passers-by’s, attorneys at large’s.<\/em><\/p>\n
The sisters-in-law’s<\/u> relationships with one another are healthy and strong.<\/em><\/p>\n
The passers-by’s<\/u> testimonies about the incident will be included in the investigation.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Related Topics<\/h3>\n
Possessive Pronouns<\/a>
\nApostrophes and Proper Nouns<\/a><\/p>\nPop Quiz<\/h2>\n
Provide the plural possessive noun for each singular noun in parentheses.<\/p>\n
1. The (truck) tires need to be changed.<\/p>\n
2. You will find that scarf in the (woman) department.<\/p>\n
3. I can see the (mouse) crumbs on the floor.<\/p>\n
4. (Robin and Jolene) TV is still in the box.<\/p>\n
5. We still have to ask about the (father-in-law) opinions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n
1. The trucks’<\/strong> tires need to be changed.<\/p>\n
2. You will find that scarf in the women’s <\/strong>department.<\/p>\n
3. I can see the mice’s<\/strong> crumbs on the floor.<\/p>\n
4. Robin and Jolene’s<\/strong> TV is still in the box.<\/p>\n
5. We still have to ask about the fathers-in-law’s<\/strong> opinions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A plural possessive noun is a plural noun that indicates ownership of something. Example The dog’s food is in the bag on the floor. (singular possessive: one dog) The dogs’ food is in the bag on the floor. (plural possessive: multiple dogs) In the two sentences, the nouns dog and dogs are neither the subjects […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nouns","category-possessives"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5709"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5709"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5715,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5709\/revisions\/5715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}