112. Instead of saying, “I borrowed the knife belonging to Will,” we are likely to say, “I borrowed Will’s knife.” Here we have a new form of the noun Will. It is used with the noun knife to denote ownership of the knife, and is called a possessive noun.

113. Since a possessive noun denotes ownership, it must be used with another noun, the name of the thing owned. The possessive noun is said to modify this other noun. In the expression doctor’s car, the possessive noun doctor’s modifies the noun car.

When the name of the thing owned is well known, it is often omitted. We say, “I bought these skates at Percy’s,” and omit the word store. A word omitted in this way is said to be “understood.”

114. Possessive nouns have a certain form of their own. The possessive singular of a noun is formed by adding to it the apostrophe and s; as, girl’s desk; friend’s home; George’s boat.

Note.—In a few common expressions, like for Jesus’ sake, for conscience’ sake, the possessive is formed, for the sake of euphony, by adding merely the apostrophe.

When the plural of a noun ends in s, the possessive plural is formed by adding an apostrophe; as, girls’ league; ladies’ bonnets.

When the plural of a noun does not end in s, the possessive plural is formed by adding the apostrophe and s; as, women’s shoes; oxen’s yokes.

115. When two persons are joint owners of one thing, we give the possessive form to the name of the second person only; as, Lewis and Fred’s boat.

When two persons own separate things, the name of each person must have the possessive form; as, I went to Mandel’s and Field’s, meaning two different stores.

116. Compound nouns form the possessive by adding the sign of possession to the last word; as, singular, son-in-law’s; plural, sons-in-law’s.

117. The possessive noun does not always express actual ownership. Thus, “an hour’s walk” means a walk lasting an hour, “Lowell’s poems,” means the poems written by Lowell, “a child’s grief” means the grief felt by a child. What is the meaning of the day’s work? a good night’s rest? a year’s vacation? the king’s death?

118. Possession may be denoted by a phrase beginning with the preposition of. This phrase is much used. We say the back of the chair, not the chair’s back; the roots of the elm, not the elm’s roots. This phrase enables us to avoid some awkward possessives. What may we say instead of my cousin’s wife’s sister? the king of Greece’s court?

119. In the expression “this book of John’s,” we have what is called a double possessive, for we have the possessive noun John’s, and the phrase introduced by of. We use the double possessive when the noun denoting the thing owned is first modified by some adjective, as a, the, this, every, both, no.

Summary.—A possessive noun denotes ownership.

A possessive noun modifies another noun, expressed or understood.

The possessive singular is formed by adding the apostrophe and s.

The possessive plural is formed by adding the apostrophe and s if the noun does not end in s, and the apostrophe alone if the noun does end in s.

A double possessive is a phrase consisting of the preposition of followed by some possessive word.

Exercise 1.—Write the possessive of each of these nouns. Tell whether it is singular or plural.

• attorney-general
• chairman
• city
• colonies
• Colonel Cleveland
• commander in chief
• Charles Dickens
• daughters-in-law
• dwarfs
• foxes
• geese
• goddess
• groomsman
• Frenchman
• John Keats
• ladies
• major generals
• Miss James
• mulatto
• sailor boy
• thief
• witches
• woodpecker
• yeoman

Exercise 2.—Select all the possessive nouns in the following sentences. Tell what nouns they modify, and whether they are singular or plural. Tell also the gender of each possessive.

1. The lady’s fondness and the gentleman’s blindness were topics ably handled at every sewing circle in the town.

2. St. Paul’s is the largest Protestant church in the world.

3. Last year’s nuts are this year’s black earth.

4. On the way home we stopped at the baker’s to get some cream puffs.

5. Every debt of my partner’s has been paid.

6. The woodsman’s aim was true.

7. The singers’ seats, where the pretty girls sat, were the most conspicuous of all.

8. A half hour’s tramp through difficult woods brought him to the nearest of the waters.

9. In August we had two weeks’ vacation.

10. This editorial of Roosevelt’s is attracting much attention.

11. Sulphur they could buy at the apothecary’s.

12. The horse is coal-black, which is the regulation color of the Horse-Guards’ horses.

13. My clothes and my father’s were packed in a little leather valise.

14. The backwoodsman cast a tender look on the sleepers’ faces, and slipped out of the cabin door as silently as a shadow.

15. Just where we leave the highway to go to Gibbs’s Hill we pass a ruined house.

16. He had melted up his wife’s gold thimble and his great-grandfather’s gold-bowed spectacles.

17. I called on Nancy because she was a friend of Miss Davis’s.

18. Can you give a traveler a night’s lodging?

19.

When beechen buds begin to swell,

And woods the bluebird’s warble know,

The yellow violet’s modest bell

Peeps from the last year’s leaves below.

Analyze sentences 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 16.