In many of the examples you’ve just read, you’ll find the word “teeth.” Look at the word teeth. girl's - singular possessive, attributed to or owned/possesed by one girl girls' - plural possessive, attributed to or owned/possessed by more than one girl Nov 29 2018 11:48:41 It is plural, but teeth doesn’t end with the letter s. Teeth is an irregular plural. (singular, the bike of James.) woman’s dress (one woman who owns a dress) woman’s dresses (one woman with more than one dress) Rule: To show plural possession, make the noun plural first; then add an apostrophe. Your guess is as good as anyone’s about Secretary’s vs. Secretaries’ vs. BUT if next word starts with s: CMS treats it normally: the dress’s stitching But AP says the dress’ stitching because stitching starts with s Both agree on normal plural: the dresses’ stitching. You could even end up with the plural possessive: groom'smen's suits, and bride'smaids' dresses. I think my sister new dress is very fancy. So. 20. The Chicago Manual of Style lists the following holidays as singular possessives: Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day. I think this is just a dumb idea. My favorite snack is pistachios. Irregular plural possessives. If the compound word itself was possessive: bride'smaid's dress could possibly look like the bride's maid dress. Secretaries Day and Boss’s vs. Bosses’ vs. ‍♀️ Many writers incorrectly use apostrophes to indicate both plural and possessive forms, while many writers for whom English is not their first language omit the apostrophe entirely because their native language does not use it. For a long while it has been the custom to use ‘s for most names, but to make an exception for certain ancient names. possessive / not possessive? actress's -singular form ( example: actress's dress,) actress' shirt ( if a singular noun ending in s is followed by a word beginning with s, use only the apostrophe, not 's) actresses '-plural form (all English plurals ending in s form the possessive by adding an apostrophe) In that case, add only the apostrophe to the end of the word. Mens' Clothing, it would cause someone proficient with grammar to assume that there exists more than one group of pluralized men to whom the … To show ownership for an irregular plural, add an apostrophe and then the letter s (teeth’s). Bosses Day. (more than one girl, each with a hat) The women’s dresses matched their shoes. Actual ambiguity is rare (it almost always involves singular vs plural possessive, as in the girl's books vs the girls' books) and most such cases are easily resolved in practice. more than one man).If the apostrophe was after the 's', i.e. Possessive common nouns: the dress’s fabric, the dresses’ fabric. The first band’s playlist was the … We use s’ to indicate when a *plural* noun is also possessive. Check out these examples: (plural possessive, lights of more than one bike) o Carolyn’s house is so nice. Plural possessive is used for Presidents’ Day. If you have added an s to make a word plural (for example, cat ⇒ cats), adding 's will sound ridiculous (cats's). 4. Plural and possessive forms of English words often confuse beginning writers. Or for maximal apostrophe use: bride'smaids's dresses. Confusing Possessives. The party’s host’s dress was bright pink. 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