Test Yourself

Nouns and Pronouns: Possessive Forms 

[Harbrace 6, 19a, & 22b]

Review

See Introduction to Possessives below 

• Pronoun Possessive Forms
• Noun Possessive Forms

Introduction

Pronoun Possessive Forms [Harbrace 6 & 22b] 

• Some pronouns have special possessive forms [Harbrace 6]: 

my, mine 
our, ours 
your, yours
his
her, hers
its
their, theirs
whose 

• Some possessives look and sound like contractions. [Harbrace 22b]: 

your, you're
their, they're
its, it's
whose, who's 

To test for the correct form, expand the contractions and read the sentence. If the sentence makes sense, the contraction with the apostrophe is the right form. If the sentence does not make sense, the possessive without the apostrophe is correct.

Its/It's

EXAMPLE:

Has the dog eaten it is dinner? (Contraction doesn't fit) 

Has the dog eaten its dinner? (Possessive does fit) 

Noun Possessive Forms [Harbrace 19a]

Nouns show possession with an apostrophe (generally used with something animate or alive), or with of (generally used with something inanimate, such as an idea or thing). 

The dog's feet 
Sam's hat 

Form a possessive noun by using apostrophe s with: 

• singular nouns 

dog's bone
writer's analysis 

• singular nouns ending in s, x, or z 

John's book 
Marx's writings 
Foz's touchdown pass won the game. 

• irregular plural nouns not ending with s 

children's toys 
men's shoes 

Use only an apostrophe to show possession in these cases: 

• singular nouns ending in s when the syllable created by adding 's would sound awkward 

righteousness' sake 
Moses' beard 

• plural nouns ending in s 

students' books 
puppies' toys 

Add the appropriate possessive form after the last noun in a series to show shared or joint ownership: 

Alice and Mike's parents 
(same parents) 

Add the appropriate possessive form after each noun in a series to show individual possession: 

Alice's and Mike's parents 
(different parents) 

Add the possessive form after the last word in a compound noun. 

my mother-in-law's home 
(not mother's-in-law)