Use these plurals and possessives sample questions to review regular and irregular plurals, possessive nouns, family names, compound nouns, and possessive pronouns. Answer each question before opening the explanation.
Topics Covered
- Plural nouns
- Singular and plural possessives
- Irregular plural possessives
- Plural family names
- Possessive family names
- Plural compound nouns
- Possessive compound nouns
- Its vs. it’s
- Possessive pronouns
Sample Questions
The house was showing signs of wear along it’s foundation.
- A. Change “house” to “houses.”
- B. Change “was showing” to “had shown.”
- C. Change “it’s” to “its.”
- D. Change “foundation” to “foundations.”
- E. No correction is needed.
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The sentence needs the possessive form its, meaning the foundation belonging to the house.
It’s is a contraction of it is or it has. The phrase along it is foundation would not make sense.
Susan’s group had always advocated for woman’s rights.
- A. Change “Susan’s” to “Susans’.”
- B. Change “woman’s” to “women’s.”
- C. Change “woman’s” to “womens’.”
- D. Change “always” to “alway’s.”
- E. No correction is needed.
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The phrase refers to the rights of women in general.
Women is already an irregular plural noun. To make it possessive, add an apostrophe and s: women’s rights.
We are having a sale today featuring three pair of pants for $14.95.
- A. Change “pair” to “pairs.”
- B. Change “sale” to “sales.”
- C. Change “are having” to “have.”
- D. Change “pair” to “pair’s.”
- E. No correction is needed.
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The number three requires the plural noun pairs.
An apostrophe would make pair’s possessive rather than plural.
The dogs collar was bright red.
- A. Change “dogs” to “dog’s.”
- B. Change “dogs” to “dogs’.”
- C. Change “dogs” to “dog.”
- D. Change “collar” to “collars.”
- E. No correction is needed.
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The sentence refers to the collar belonging to one dog.
To form the possessive of a singular noun, add an apostrophe and s: the dog’s collar.
Dogs’ would indicate that the collar belongs to more than one dog.
I found two boy’s jackets that were left on the school bus.
- A. Change “jackets” to “jacket’s.”
- B. Change “boy’s” to “boys.”
- C. Change “boy’s” to “boys’s.”
- D. Change “boy’s” to “boys’.”
- E. No correction is needed.
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The sentence refers to jackets belonging to boys, so it needs a plural possessive noun.
First form the plural boys. Because that plural ends in s, add only an apostrophe: boys’ jackets.
We went to visit the Gutierrezes yesterday.
- A. Change “Gutierrezes” to “Gutierrez.”
- B. Change “Gutierrezes” to “Gutierrezs.”
- C. Change “Gutierrezes” to “Gutierrezes’.”
- D. Change “Gutierrezes” to “Gutierrez’s.”
- E. No correction is needed.
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The sentence refers to more than one member of the Gutierrez family.
A surname ending in z normally becomes plural by adding es: the Gutierrezes.
The name is plural but not possessive, so it does not need an apostrophe.
Were you at the Jones’s big party last month?
- A. Change “Jones’s” to “Jones.”
- B. Change “Jones’s” to “Jone’s.”
- C. Change “Jones’s” to “Joneses’.”
- D. Change “Jones’s” to “Jones’.”
- E. No correction is needed.
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The party belongs to the Jones family as a group.
First make the surname plural: Joneses. Then add an apostrophe after the plural s: the Joneses’ party.
Jones’s would normally refer to possession by one person named Jones.
Kathleen has three sister-in-laws.
- A. Change “sister-in-laws” to “sister-in-law’s.”
- B. Change “sister-in-laws” to “sisters-in-law.”
- C. Change “sister-in-laws” to “sisters-in-laws.”
- D. Change “sister-in-laws” to “sisters-in-law’s.”
- E. No correction is needed.
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To pluralize this compound noun, make the principal noun sister plural.
The correct plural is sisters-in-law. No apostrophe is needed because the phrase is plural, not possessive.
These are both my brother-in-laws’ cars.
- A. Change “brother-in-laws’” to “brothers-in-law’s.”
- B. Change “brother-in-laws’” to “brothers’-in-law.”
- C. Change “brother-in-laws’” to “brothers-in-laws’.”
- D. Change “brother-in-laws’” to “brother-in-law’s.”
- E. No correction is needed.
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The plural of brother-in-law is brothers-in-law because the principal noun brother becomes plural.
To make the full plural compound possessive, add an apostrophe and s at the end: brothers-in-law’s cars.
This jacket is her’s, not your’s.
- A. Change the phrase to “her’s, not yours.”
- B. Change the phrase to “hers, not your’s.”
- C. Change the phrase to “hers, not yours’.”
- D. Change the phrase to “hers, not yours.”
- E. No correction is needed.
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Independent possessive pronouns such as hers, yours, ours, and theirs do not use apostrophes.
The correct sentence is: This jacket is hers, not yours.
These forms differ from possessive determiners such as her, your, our, and their, which appear before nouns.
How to Use These Questions
Before adding an apostrophe, decide whether the word is plural, possessive, or both. Form the plural first, then add the possessive ending when ownership must also be shown.
Remember that possessive pronouns do not use apostrophes. With compound nouns, pluralize the principal word but place the possessive ending at the end of the complete compound.