{"id":2904,"date":"2016-03-01T11:45:07","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T19:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=2904"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:44:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:44:04","slug":"apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Apostrophes and Possessive Nouns, Part 2: Apostrophe After S"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In my previous <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-1-apostrophe-before-s\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">post on apostrophes and possessive nouns<\/a>, we looked at possessive nouns that end in apostrophe+s <em>(-\u2019s)<\/em>, as seen in possessive phrases such as \u201cMary\u2019s car\u201d or \u201cthe dog\u2019s tail.\u201d I showed you the specific rules for placing this ending on a possessive noun.<\/p>\n<p>In this post, we\u2019ll look at another apostrophe construction: the use of an apostrophe at the very end of a possessive word <em>without <\/em>adding an <em>s<\/em> after the apostrophe. Like <em>-\u2019s<\/em>, a lone apostrophe can show possession for both plural and singular nouns under certain circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Apostrophes after the letter S<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Rule 1:<\/em> When a plural noun ends in <em>s<\/em>, place an apostrophe after the <em>s<\/em> to show possession.\n<ul>\n<li><em>Example 1: <\/em>Sam and Mary Johnson live in a large house with their two daughters Rachel and Jenna Johnson; the Johnsons\u2019 large house is near here.<br \/>\n<em>(Here, the singular proper noun \u201cJohnson\u201d has an <strong>s<\/strong> added at the end, so that it becomes the plural word \u201cJohnsons\u201d and describes multiple people with the family name Johnson. When referring to the house that belongs to the Johnsons, this plural family name gets a possessive apostrophe added to the <strong>s<\/strong>, so that it becomes <strong>Johnsons\u2019<\/strong>.)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Example 2:<\/em> Many elephants marched by in the rain, and the elephants\u2019 footprints made deep impressions in the mud.<br \/>\n<em><em>(The plural noun \u201celephants\u201d has an apostrophe added at the very end to show that the footprints were made by the elephants. Because the elephants created the footprints, the <strong>elephants\u2019<\/strong> footprints belong to the animals, in a sense.)<\/em><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><em>Rule 2: <\/em>When a singular noun ends in <em>s<\/em>, you <strong>can<\/strong> make is possessive by putting the apostrophe after the <em>s<\/em>, but you don\u2019t <strong>have to<\/strong>. It\u2019s also possible to make a singular noun with an <em>s<\/em>-ending possessive by adding an apostrophe and another <em>s<\/em> at the end, as seen above in Rule 1 for <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-1-apostrophe-before-s\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">apostrophes before the letter <em>s<\/em><\/a>.The important thing is to be consistent. When you write, either always place the apostrophe after the <em>s<\/em>, or always add apostrophe+<em>s<\/em>.\n<ul>\n<li><em>Example 1:<\/em> ETS\u2019 exams include the TOEFL, the GRE, the Praxis, and the SAT a college entrance exam that\u2019s co-sponsored by both ETS and the College Board.<br \/>\n<em>(The proper noun ETS ends in \u201cs,\u201d so it\u2019s possible to make this noun plural simply by adding an apostrophe after the <strong>S<\/strong> at the end of the word. But again, it\u2019s important to be consistent. Normally, all of my other colleagues at Magoosh TOEFL use the also-acceptable possessive form <strong>ETS\u2019s<\/strong>. So for consistency, I would never use <strong>ETS\u2019<\/strong> as a possessive in a blog post\u2014I\u2019m using it here <strong>only<\/strong><\/em> <em>as an example of this rule.)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Example 2: <\/em>Rabies is a terrible disease; rabies\u2019 symptoms include fever and an inability to swallow water.<em><br \/>\n(Here, \u201crabies\u201d is the name of a disease, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/non-countable-nouns-that-cant-be-measured\/\"><em>so it\u2019s an uncountable noun<\/em><\/a><em><em> and can\u2019t have a plural form. Nonetheless, because it ends in <strong>s<\/strong>, it can be made possessive by putting an apostrophe at the very end of the word.)<\/em><\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Special note:<\/em><\/strong><em><em> If a noun ends in a double <strong>s <\/strong>instead of just one <strong>s<\/strong>, then it\u2019s much more common to add both an apostrophe and an extra <strong>s<\/strong> to the end of the possessive form. So you\u2019d be far more likely to say <strong>\u201c<\/strong>the <strong>dress\u2019s<\/strong> color is blue\u201d than \u201cthe <strong>dress\u2019<\/strong> color is blue.\u201d<\/em><\/em>There is such a strong tendency to add apostrophe+s to double-s possessives in English that you can even get away with being a little inconsistent. For example, you can say \u201c<strong>Bess\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong><em>written advice was mailed to Charles\u2019 house,\u201d using different apostrophe constructions for possessive \u201cBess\u201d (two-s ending) and possessive \u201cCharles\u201d (only one <strong>s <\/strong>at the end).<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In my previous post on apostrophes and possessive nouns, we looked at possessive nouns that end in apostrophe+s (-\u2019s), as seen in possessive phrases such as \u201cMary\u2019s car\u201d or \u201cthe dog\u2019s tail.\u201d I showed you the specific rules for placing this ending on a possessive noun. In this post, we\u2019ll look at another apostrophe construction: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13603],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13630],"class_list":["post-2904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Apostrophes and Possessive Nouns, Part 2: Apostrophe After S - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Apostrophes and Possessive Nouns, Part 2: Apostrophe After S\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In my previous post on apostrophes and possessive nouns, we looked at possessive nouns that end in apostrophe+s (-\u2019s), as seen in possessive phrases such as \u201cMary\u2019s car\u201d or \u201cthe dog\u2019s tail.\u201d I showed you the specific rules for placing this ending on a possessive noun. In this post, we\u2019ll look at another apostrophe construction: [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-01T19:45:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-10T21:44:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/files\/2016\/09\/Facebook-SEO-Default.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Recine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Recine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/\",\"name\":\"Apostrophes and Possessive Nouns, Part 2: Apostrophe After S - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-01T19:45:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Apostrophes and Possessive Nouns, Part 2: Apostrophe After S\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\",\"name\":\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\",\"description\":\"Online TOEFL Preparation\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768\",\"name\":\"David Recine\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/de262e64bb4e3e488753d8c58ff3cc70\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Recine\"},\"description\":\"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. 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In this post, we\u2019ll look at another apostrophe construction: [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/","og_site_name":"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/MagooshTOEFL","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning","article_published_time":"2016-03-01T19:45:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-10T21:44:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/files\/2016\/09\/Facebook-SEO-Default.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"David Recine","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@MagooshTOEFL","twitter_site":"@MagooshTOEFL","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Recine","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/","name":"Apostrophes and Possessive Nouns, Part 2: Apostrophe After S - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-03-01T19:45:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/apostrophes-and-possessive-nouns-part-2-apostrophe-after-s\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Apostrophes and Possessive Nouns, Part 2: Apostrophe After S"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/","name":"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","description":"Online TOEFL Preparation","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768","name":"David Recine","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/de262e64bb4e3e488753d8c58ff3cc70","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Recine"},"description":"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS and MA from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew"],"knowsAbout":["TOEFL","IELTS","TOEIC","PET","FCE","BULATS","Eiken","SAT","ACT","GRE","GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English","Italian"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/davidr\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13630,"user_id":80,"is_guest":0,"slug":"davidr","display_name":"David Recine","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Recine","first_name":"David","description":"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT.\r\n\r\nDavid has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar?hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0%2C50&amp;q=Recine+magoosh&amp;btnG=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> many scholarly articles<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/minds.wisconsin.edu\/handle\/1793\/65479\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> his Master's Thesis<\/a> is featured on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingwithpictures.org\/2013\/09\/research-highlight-teaching-english-language-learners-with-comics\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Reading with Pictures<\/a> website, and he's presented at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.witesol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-WITESOL-Program-FINAL-10-28-14.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> WITESOL (link to PDF)<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/interoff\/docs\/nafsaregionv_2014conference\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> NAFSA<\/a> conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru.\r\n\r\nCome join David and the Magoosh team on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew\"> Youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\"> Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en\"> Instagram<\/a>, or connect with him via<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/\"> LinkedIn<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2904"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}