Known as possessive -‘s, genitive -‘s or Saxon genitive.

We use it to show that something

belongs to somebody. Read about the different uses in the boxes and do the exercises.

SINGULAR NOUNS PLURAL NOUNS PROPER NOUNS (NAMES) IRREGULAR NOUNS

We add -‘s to a We add an apostrophe Both uses in the examples the child’s / children’s dog
singular noun: (‘) to a plural noun: are allowed: the mouse’s / mice’s food
the boy’s ball the boys’ ball Chris’ dog and/or Chris’s dog the man’s / men’s car
the girl’s father the girls’ father Doris’ cat and/or Doris’s cat the hero’s / heroes’ fear
the pupil’s classroom the pupils’ classroom BUT: Moses’ and Jesus’ the wolf’s / wolves’ den

-‘s vs of Notice that the number of

We can use of instead of -‘s,
but -‘s is more usual and
natural:
the mother of my son
my son’s mother
balls does not matter. The
structure is influenced by
the possessor and not the
possessed.
(www.englishclub.com)

Rewrite these using the genitive case

1. The father of my daughter. _____________________________________________________________________
2. The owner of the car. __________________________________________________________________________
3. He is the boss of my wife. _______________________________________________________________________
4. They are the children of my uncle. ________________________________________________________________
5. The car belongs to my sister. ____________________________________________________________________
6. The phone belongs to Louis. ____________________________________________________________________
7. The bike and bat is owned by my neighbor. ________________________________________________________
8. The writers of the books are Tom and Jerry. ________________________________________________________
9. My aunt is the one who owns the shop. ___________________________________________________________
10. The two women are the owners of the houses. _____________________________________________________

Make sentences in the genitive case using the pictures

1. _______________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________
3. _______________________________________________________
4. _______________________________________________________
5. _______________________________________________________
6._______________________________________________________
7._______________________________________________________
8._______________________________________________________
9._______________________________________________________