Possession (John’s car, 

a friend of mine)
The wallet of Maria= Maria’s wallet
The food of the cat = Cat’s food c cvn
Days = plural word
Day’s = the possession of a day (1 day)
Days’ = the possession of many days (plural)

Grammar >  Nouns, pronouns and determiners >  Determiners > Possession (John’s car, a

friend of mine)
de English Grammar Today

Possessive ’s
We use apostrophe s (’s), also called possessive ’s, as a determiner to show that something
belongs to someone or something:
Is that Olivia’s  bag?
Britain’s coastline is very beautiful.
We can also use it in complex noun phrases (underlined):
Greg is her youngest daughter’s husband.
We can use two possessive ’s constructions in the same noun phrase:
We went to Jake’s father’s funeral.
We also use possessive ’s to talk about time and duration:
Is that yesterday’s  paper?
I’ve only had one week’s  holiday so far this year.

Rules for using possessive ’s

We use ’s after a singular noun and ’ after a plural noun.
Compare

singular noun + ’s plural noun + ’

The girl’s bedroom The girls’ bedroom.

singular noun + ’s plural noun + ’

(The bedroom belongs to one

girl.) (The bedroom belongs to more than one girl.)

We use ’s with irregular plural nouns (e.g. children, men, people, women):

The  children’s parents decided which university they would go to.
They have no respect for other people’s property.
The rules for the pronunciation of a noun with ’s are the same as the rules for pronunciation of
plural forms of nouns.
Compare

noun + ’s or ’ plural noun pronunciation

The  cats  were running around the

The cat’s dinner is in the fridge. /s/
garden.

The kids’  uncle gave them all some

The  kids are getting impatient. /z/
money.

There are three Georges in my

George’s  brother was there. /ɪz/
family.

When a first or second name ends in -s, we can either add ’ or ’s. It is more common to
use ’ than ’s. When we speak, we usually pronounce the final part of the word as /zɪz/ or /sɪz/:
Is that James’ car? (or Is that James’s car?) (both usually pronounced /ˈdʒeɪmzɪz/)
I love Keats’ poetry. (or I love Keats’s poetry.) (both usually pronounced /ˈki:tsɪz/)
With compound nouns, we add ’s to the final noun:
My sister-in-law’s  friend came with us. My sisters-in-law’s
Not: My sister’s-in-law friend
We don’t usually use the possessive ’s with things:
the door handle
Not: the door’s handle
 the shop window
Not: the shop’s window
the kitchen table
Not: the kitchen’s table
Spoken English:
When we talk about places which are familiar to the speaker and the listener, we sometimes
don’t use the noun after possessive ’s:
the hairdresser’s salon – the hairdresser’s
the doctor’s surgery – the doctor’s
We had to take our cat to the vet’s twice last month. (the same as: We had to take our cat
to the vet’s clinic twice last month.)
Do you shop in  Marks and Spencer’s?
We decided to go to John’s after the cinema. (the same as: We decided to go to John’s
house after the cinema.)
In short answers, we can omit the noun if it is not necessary to repeat it:
A:
Is that your coat?
B:
No, it’s Sandra’s.
We use possessive ’s with words such as one, anyone, someone, anybody, somebody:
It’s important to know  one’s rights as a tenant.
Is this  someone’s coat here?
When we use else with these words, the ’s is added to else:
Why didn’t you come? Everyone else’s husband was there.
Warning:
The pronoun other has the same forms as nouns. We add ’s to the singular form, and we add an
apostrophe after the plural -s ending in the plural form:
They took each other’s hand and started walking.
All of our luggage arrived but the others’ cases didn’t. The airline promise they will be
here this evening.
Warning:
We don’t use ’s with possessive pronouns:
 Is that dog yours?
Not: Is that dog your’s?
I think that car is theirs.
Not: I think that car is theirs’
We don’t use ’s with the possessive determiner its. It’s means ‘it is’:
The city is proud of its parks.
Not: The city is proud of it’s parks.

Possessives with of
Noun phrase + of + possessive pronoun
We can talk about possession using the pattern: noun phrase + of + possessive pronoun:
A friend  of mine told me that all of the tickets have already sold out.
A:
Where’s Martin?
B:
He’s gone to pick up a cousin of his at the station.
Is Linda McGrath a close friend  of yours?
Warning:
We use a possessive pronoun, not the object form of the pronoun:
A neighbour of  mine called late last night.
Not: A neighbour of me …

Noun phrase + of + possessive ’s noun phrase

We can also use the noun phrase + of pattern before a noun phrase with possessive ’s:
He’s a brother of Maria’s.
A friend  of my sister’s has opened a café on Dawson Street.
She was a daughter of the President’s.

’s or of or either?
There are some general rules about when to use ’s and when to use of but there are
many cases where both are possible:
The film’s hero or The hero of the film
The car’s safety record or The safety record of the car
The report’s conclusion or The conclusion of the report
Sometimes when we first mention a noun, we use of, and later when we refer to it
again, we use ’s:
The mountains of Pakistan are mostly in the north. At least one hundred of them are
above 7,000 metres … Most of Pakistan’s mountains are in the spectacular
Karakoram range.

When we don’t use ’s

We don’t use ’s when the noun is not a person, animal, country, organisation, etc., or
when the noun phrase is very long:
The name of the ship was ‘Wonder Queen’. (preferred to The ship’s name was
‘Wonder Queen’.)
The house of the oldest woman in the village. (preferred to The oldest woman in the
village’s house.)

When we don’t use of

When we are talking about things that belong to us, relationships and characteristics of
people, animals, countries, categories, groups or organisations made up of people, we
usually use ’s:
The men’s dressing room is on the left at the end of the corridor.
Not: The dressing room of the men …
The cat’s paw was badly cut.
Not: The paw of the cat …
See also:
 Possessive  ’s

Possession: typical errors

We don’t use ’s with plural nouns:
It’s my responsibility to deal with customers’ complaints.
Not: … to deal with customers's complaints.
The possessive determiner its has no apostrophe:
We bought this car because we liked its colour.
Not: … because we liked it’s colour.
We don’t use ’s to make nouns plural. When we want to show that something is
plural, we add -s without an apostrophe:
They had to rebuild the roads after the earthquake.
Not: They had to rebuild the road’s …
Possessive Adjectives
Possessive Adjectives are used to show that something or someone belongs to a
person. It shows a relationship. The Possessive adjective is always used with a noun.

Examples: I like my new mountain bike. She does her homework.

Person Personal Possessive

Pronouns Adjectives
singular    
1st I my
nd
2 you your
3rd (male) he his
3rd (female) she her
rd
3  (thing) it its
plural    
1st plural we our
nd
2  plural you your
3rd plural they their

What are possessive adjectives?

Possessive adjectives - my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their - modify the noun
following it in order to show possession.

Examples:

 I'll get my bag.
 Is this your luggage?

Possessive adjectives are often confused with possessive pronouns.

Examples:

 Your bike is blue. (your is an adjective which modifies bike)

 Mine is yellow. (mine is a pronoun which functions as the subject of the
verb is)
Examples
Subject Pronouns I you he she it we you they

Possessive my you his her its our you their

Adjectives r r
Examples:

 Why didn't you clean your room?

(your modifies the noun room)
 Mary doesn't like her dress.
(her modifies the noun dress)
 The chameleon can change its color.
(its modifies the noun color)

 
Her hair is long.His hair is short

Things to remember:
1. Possessive adjectives are different from possessive pronouns.

 This is your (possessive adjective) book and this is mine (possessive

pronoun).

2. its, their are possessive adjectives.

 Its color is beautiful.
 Their car is in their garage.

3. it's, they're and there are not possessive adjectives — its is a contraction of it

is or it has; they're is a contraction of they are; there is an adverb of place.

 It's not my book = It is not my book.

 My house is big. It's got five bedrooms = It has got five bedrooms.
 Nancy and Alan are from New York. They're my friends = They are my
friends.
 Please, put the chair there. (adverb)
The wallet of Michael = Michael’s wallet
The car of luis = Luis’s car / Luis’ car
The baskets of the apples = Apples’ baskets
The father of my mother = My Mother’s father
The brother of my son = My son’s brother

Shop window
Kitchen table
Door handle