Possessive 's and s' | Learn and Practise Grammar
Quantifiers, possessives and demonstratives
Possessives

possessive ’sa2

Possessive 's and s'
  • This is Sam's bicycle.
  • Andy is Emma's brother.
  • ‘Have you seen Sam and Emma's garden?’ ‘It's really big.’
  • My parents' friends came for dinner.
  • Our children's toys are everywhere!
Noun + 's or s' noun
Singular Sam's bicycle
Plural Sam and Emma's house
my parents' friends
my children's toys
We use possessive 's to say that something or someone belongs to a person, is connected to a place, or to show the relationship between people. The possessive 's always comes after a noun.
  • Sam's bicycle
  • the shop's customers
  • New York's museums
  • Emma's brother
When something belongs to more than one person and we give a list of names, we put 's on the last name.
  • Sam and Emma's houseSam's and Emma's house
With regular plural nouns we use ' not 's.
  • They're my parents' friends.They're my parent's friends.
With irregular plural nouns we use 's.
  • They're my children's bicycles.They're my childrens' bicycles.
's has two other uses.
  • Jack's in the classroom. (= Jack is in the classroom.)
  • Jack's got a new laptop. (= Jack has got a new laptop.)
Possessive 's has no long form.
  • Here is Jack's room.Here is Jack is room.
Grammar contents
Grammar contentsView all
Present perfect and past perfect
Present perfect continuous
affirmative, negative, yes/no, wh- questionsb1
contrast: present perfect continuous vs present perfect simpleb2
Present perfect simple
affirmative, negative, yes/no questionsa2
contrast: present perfect vs past simpleb1
for/sinceb1
have been vs have gonea2
just/already/yetb1
negative sentences with still and yetb1
wh- questionsa2
Past perfect continuous
affirmative, negative, yes/no, wh- questionsb2
contrast: past perfect continuous vs past perfect simpleb2
Past perfect simple
affirmative, negative, yes/no, wh- questionsb1+
contrast: past perfect simple vs past simpleb1
with time expressions before, after, untilb1+

Quantifiers, possessives and demonstratives
Demonstratives
demonstrative adjectives (that book)a1
demonstrative pronouns (That is nice.)a1
Possessives
possessive adjectives (my book)a2
possessive pronouns (mine, theirs)a2
possessive ’sa2
Quantifiers
both, several, most, allb1
each/everyb1
few/littlea2
more, less/fewerb1
much/manya2
some/any with countable nounsa1
some/any with uncountable nounsa2
too many/much, (not) enoughb1