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Grammar
Course: Grammar > Unit 6
Lesson 5: Introduction to the possessiveAdvanced (plural) possession
Paige and David talk about using apostrophes to show that something belongs to multiple people.
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- How do you pluralize names that end in *
th
*? "th" sound the same as 's' so if I wanted to go to Keanan Elithabeth◻️◻️ house? Do I say the Elithbeths' or Elithbeth's? Txz.(15 votes)- It's the same deal, Oliver; you'd say "I'm going to the Elithbeths' house."
Pluralize the name, pop on an apostrophe, no seconds
.(16 votes)
- Dear David,
you are Very inspiring. can teach me more?(16 votes)- i think he knew that bru(5 votes)
- What about words like sheep and moose do they get s' or 's?(8 votes)
- Let's try a few:
That meadow is only for the flock of sheep.
It is the sheep's meadow.
That pen is for our only sheep. It is the sheep's pen.
Those woods are full of moose. They are the moose's woods.
That cage holds the zoo's only moose. It is the moose's cage.(9 votes)
- Why do some people hate on Paige?(7 votes)
- Most likely because they view her as some annoying intern or that she makes it to childish. I personally think she's interesting and adds a nice humour, but you weren't asking for my opinion so...
anyways yeah it's kinda confusing(10 votes)
- OK --- so what if we have a singular name ending in "s" -- followed by an adjective or noun that begins with "s"? e.g: Iris's swimming lessons? Or, Iris's sauna?
Am I right, as shown? Or should I use Iris' swimming .... etc?(7 votes)- You are correct as shown. The problem is in pronunciation, not punctuation.(8 votes)
- what about names that end in "S"?(10 votes)
- If I use British English, does all of the things Paige and David said in the video work the same way?(5 votes)
- The underlying grammar of all forms of English (and these forms are legion) is the same. Some aspects of vocablary and syntax vary. If you need to be clearer on British English, there is a lot of free online instruction at The British Council. https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/(9 votes)
- Atyou said the way to make names ending in S plural is adding ES so would this sentence be correct, "I am going to the Morrises house for dinner." 3:30(5 votes)
- Yes and no. The "es" does create the plural, but writing it that way is for the sake of pronunciation. What got lost is the element of possession, which is implied by the use of the apostrophe. I think (but I'm willing to be talked out of it), that you might work through it this way.
1) The surname of the people to whom the house belongs is Morris.
2) There is more than one person surnamed Morris who lives there.
3) The people who live in the house are "The Morrises"
4) The house belongs to them, so it is "The Morrises' House."(7 votes)
- is the doctor jones thing a indiana jones refrence?(8 votes)
- Finally,I'm not confused, but is like s' use only for family names like the Harpers' =P(5 votes)
- See if this helps:
There is one cat tower for the use of our two cats. It is the cats' tower.
Silas has a bottle with 14 olives in it. They are Silas' olives.
Jesus had 12 buddies. They were Jesus' disciples.
Mavis has three children. They are Mavis' kids.
Each of the candelabras has a sheds a different quality of light. They are the caldelabras' lights.(6 votes)
Video transcript
- [Paige] Hello grammarians, hello David. - [David] Hello Paige. - [Paige] So today we're gonna
talk about Plural Possession. Meaning when more than one
person, or thing, or animal, owns something else. And this, like most other
types of possession, tends to involve apostrophes. - [David] Makes sense, checks out. - [Paige] Yeah, cool. - [David] So it's just
apostrophe, S, right? Like, I mean, why are we
even making this video? - [Paige] Well, no. - [David] Oh. - [Paige] Apostrophe, S,
is a rule that applies when the possessive noun is singular. So for example, the dog's bone. Right, that's one dog's bone. - [David] One singular
dog possessing one bone. - [Paige] Exactly. - [David] What if I
wanted to talk about like, five dogs' bones? Like they had a big old pile of bones? - [Paige] Right, so that is a case where we will not use apostrophe, S. - [David] What? - [Paige] I'm sorry to disappoint. - [David] I'm not disappointed,
I'm just surprised. Not actually surprised,
that's just a stage trick. - [Paige] So, if we're
talking about five dogs, and their bones, we say five dogs, apostrophe, bones, and there's no S after the apostrophe. - [David] So it goes S, apostrophe? So we have the S for the plural, and then an apostrophe for possession, but not a second S for possession? - [Paige] Right, we don't want like, the dogs's bones. - [David] Okay. Okay, but the apostrophe
at the end isn't about there being multiple bones, right? It's about there being multiple dogs? - [Paige] Yeah, so even
if it's multiple dogs, and they're possessing a singular thing, - [David] So if five dogs
all had the same favorite dog park. - [Paige] Right, because
it's the best dog park in the world. - [David] Okay. - [Paige] So in that case
you would say something like, the dogs' favorite park. Right, park is still
singular, but dogs' is plural. So that's why it's just
apostrophe, and no S afterwards. - [David] So this also only
applies to plural nouns that end in S, right? So if I'm talking about one
of our irregular plural nouns, like mice, or geese, or men, or women, I would still add apostrophe, S, right? Like, okay, so I'm imagining
a department store, and there's a men's
section, a women's section, and a mice's section. - [Paige] (laughs) Okay,
that is an interesting department store. - [David] Well it doesn't
take up that much floor space for the mouse section. So, I get that if there's
more than one dog, it's D-O-G-S, apostrophe. If it's a plural irregular
noun that doesn't end in S, then it's still just apostrophe, S, like regular possession. What about family names? - [Paige] Oh, okay,
that's a good question. So, let's say there's a family
with the last name, Harper. - [David] Okay. - [Paige] And I am going to
visit the Harpers' house. - [David] Okay. - [Paige] Right, so that's
the house that belongs to all of the Harpers, the Harper family. - [David] Okay, so that seems
pretty straight forward, but what if we're talking
about a name that ends in S? Like Burns? - [Paige] Okay, yeah. That can make things a
little bit complicated. The way that names that
end in S become plural is by adding ES to the end of them. So Burns becomes Burnses. - [David] And so Burnses,
without the apostrophe, is how I would refer to that
family unit in total also. Right, like it's Mr Burns and the Burnses? Or Dr Jones and the Joneses? - [Paige] Exactly. - [David] Okay. - [Paige] So then when you
wanna make that possessive, as in, the Burnses' house, you make it plural by adding that ES, and then put the apostrophe after that. - [David] Cool, so plural
things that end in S don't have a second S
after the apostrophe? - [Paige] Yeah. - [David] But irregular plurals, like men, women, mice, do? - [Paige] Yeah. - [David] Thank you, Paige. - [Paige] You're welcome. You can learn anything. - [David] David out. - [Paige] Paige out.