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00:04look at these three short sentences John's toll John's studied and John's car what do they have
00:18in common apart from the name John of course they all have an apostrophe s at the end of John
00:28what
00:29does an apostrophe s mean the apostrophe plus s has three different meanings in English when an
00:43apostrophe s is followed by an adjective like in the first example John's tall then the apostrophe s
00:54is a contraction of is John's tall is a short way of saying John is tall when an apostrophe s
01:08is
01:09followed by a past participle like in the second example John's studied then the apostrophe s is a
01:20contraction of has John's studied is a short way of saying John has studied remember that regular past
01:34participles end in ed a sentence with has plus past participle is in the present perfect tense
01:47when an apostrophe s is followed by a noun like in the last example John's car then the apostrophe s
01:59is used to show possession or that something belongs to someone or something we don't say
02:07the car of John as you do in some languages no in English we use the apostrophe s so we
02:18say John's car which means that the car
02:22belongs to John John's with an apostrophe s is called a possessive noun in this lesson we are going to
02:36look at
02:37possessive nouns and how to use the apostrophe s a possessive noun which contains an apostrophe s is used to
02:50show
02:50possession or that there is a relationship between two things or that something belongs to someone or something
03:02look at the example Paul's house is very big instead of saying the house of Paul in English we use
03:14the apostrophe s to show
03:16that the house belongs to Paul Paul's house is very big
03:24here are some more examples where is Julie's book the book belongs to Julie Julie is the owner of the
03:38book we don't say
03:40the book of Julie no we say Julie's book
03:47do you want to go to Mike's party it is the party that Mike is having
03:55I'm going to meet Susan's parents tonight Susan obviously does not own her parents the apostrophe s can
04:06show a relationship between different people or things here Susan's parents refers to
04:15the parents of Susan Paul's Julie's Mike's and Susan's are all possessive nouns
04:28now there are some simple rules about how to use the apostrophe s we're going to see those now
04:38when we have a singular noun we just add an apostrophe s like we have already seen for example
04:50we went to Ange's house last night Ange is a singular noun the name of a person so we just
05:01add an apostrophe s to the end of her name Ange's Ange's house this means the house belongs to Ange
05:17is that your friend's bike we're talking about one friend friend is a singular noun and his or her bike
05:29the bike the bike that belongs to your friend your friend's bike
05:39where is the dog's bone dog is a singular noun so we just put apostrophe s after it
05:50it refers to one dog owning or having one bone
05:59let's look at this example
06:03where are the dog's bones
06:08dog dog is a singular noun dog is a singular noun so we just add apostrophe s to the end
06:15the word that comes next tells us what belongs to the dog in this case bones
06:22the dog's bones the dog's bones means the bones of the dog dog is singular
06:33but what happens if there is more than one dog there are two dogs
06:43we say where are the dog's bones we say where are the dog's bones
06:51we only have an apostrophe after the s in dogs because dogs is a plural noun ending in s
07:04dog's bones
07:18dog's bones
07:21with only apostrophe after the s means
07:25the bones of the dogs dogs is plural
07:33in example one
07:35it refers to one dog and its bones
07:42in example two
07:44it refers to two dogs and their bones
07:49now listen to the pronunciation of these two examples again
07:55example one
07:57where are the dog's bones
08:00example two
08:01where are the dog's bones
08:05there is no difference in pronunciation
08:10so when someone is speaking
08:12how do we know if they are talking about one dog
08:15a dog or two dogs
08:17well it depends on the context
08:23let's look at another example
08:27this is my friend's house
08:31this refers to the house of my friend
08:35one friend
08:36one friend
08:38how can we write that my two friends
08:42have a house
08:46you would write
08:48this is my friend's house
08:51this refers to the house of my friends
08:56my two friends
08:59friends
09:00is a plural noun
09:02ending in s
09:04so we just add an apostrophe to the end
09:09we don't say friend's house
09:11no
09:12this is not correct
09:16so the rule is
09:19plural nouns ending in s
09:23we only add the apostrophe to the end
09:27and not an extra s
09:31the example we have already seen
09:34where are the dog's bones
09:37this is the same as saying
09:40the bones of the dogs
09:44dogs is plural
09:49you need your parents permission
09:53this is the same as saying
09:56permission from your parents
09:58both parents not just one parent
10:03fortunately
10:04the girls toilet was open
10:08this is the same as saying
10:10the toilet of the girls
10:13or in some countries it is called the bathroom
10:16or restroom instead of toilet
10:21since dogs
10:22parents
10:23and girls
10:25are all plural nouns that end in s
10:28we only add an apostrophe to the end
10:35now
10:36not all plural nouns end in s
10:39for example
10:42child is a singular noun
10:46we can say
10:47the child's toys are on the floor
10:53this refers to the toys of one child
10:58how can we say the same thing
11:01but referring to more than one child
11:06the plural of child is
11:10children
11:12so our sentence is now
11:14the children's toys are on the floor
11:19yes children is a plural noun
11:22but it does not end in s
11:26so we can just add an apostrophe s to the end
11:32children's toys means
11:34the toys of the children
11:38remember the plural of child is
11:41children
11:43not children's
11:46so we add apostrophe s to the end
11:51so the rule is
11:53so the rule is
11:54plural nouns
11:55not ending in s
11:57we add apostrophe s
12:00our examples
12:03the children's camping trip
12:07this refers to the camping trip of the children
12:11child is singular
12:13the plural of child is children
12:18he always corrects people's grammar
12:22this refers to the grammar of different people
12:26person is singular
12:28the plural of person is people
12:34so our example sentence
12:37the men's toilet is disgusting
12:42this refers to the toilet for the men
12:44or the toilet that is used by men
12:47men
12:48man is singular
12:50the plural of man is
12:52men
12:56the fun part comes
12:58when we have singular nouns ending in s
13:03for example
13:04class is a singular noun ending in s
13:09even though it ends in s
13:13it is still a singular noun
13:16so we add an apostrophe s to the end
13:20like other singular nouns
13:23for example
13:25the class's project
13:28this means the project of the class
13:31the entire class had one project to do together
13:35class is a singular noun
13:41did you hear how i added a final is syllable to the end
13:48class is
13:50the class's project
13:54this extra syllable is added to singular nouns ending in s
14:00when we have added the apostrophe s
14:04but what happens when we are talking about two classes
14:11the plural form of class is classes
14:16how would we write the sentence now if we are talking about the projects of both classes
14:27we would say
14:29the class's projects
14:33we just add an apostrophe to the end
14:37because classes is a plural noun ending in s
14:43and this refers to the projects of the classes the different classes
14:49also note that we don't say classes is
14:54now
14:55it is a plural noun that ends in s
14:57so we just add the apostrophe
15:04now listen to the pronunciation of both sentences again
15:17in both sentences classes and classes are pronounced the same
15:24but they are written differently
15:28the context of what we are talking about
15:31what usually tells us if we are talking about one class or two classes
15:40so the rule is singular nouns ending in s
15:46we add apostrophe s
15:49our examples
15:51the classes teacher is nice
15:56this refers to the teacher of the class
16:01the princess's dress is pink
16:05this refers to the dress of the princess
16:10the final example
16:12my boss's office is big
16:16this refers to the office of my boss
16:22all of these nouns
16:23class princess and boss
16:26end in s
16:27but they are singular nouns
16:30so we just add the apostrophe s at the end
16:35how about with the names of people that end in s
16:40like james or lewis or jones
16:45grammarians are divided between adding an apostrophe s
16:50or only the apostrophe
16:54you may see it written in the following ways
16:59james's dog is hungry
17:02with an apostrophe plus s
17:04or james's dog is hungry
17:09only with an apostrophe
17:12both forms are considered correct
17:15though the first one seems more common
17:20my personal preference is using
17:23apostrophe s as in the first example
17:27because in spoken English
17:29we add the additional syllable of is
17:32at the end like james is
17:36james's dog is hungry
17:40but with classical or religious names ending in s
17:46we only add an apostrophe
17:52sophocles plays are still performed today
17:58hercules strength seemed unlimited
18:05when we're talking about two or more people
18:10we add an apostrophe s
18:12or only an apostrophe depending on the rules we have already seen
18:19let's look at stacy and steve
18:24if there are two owners of something
18:28we only add apostrophe s to the final name
18:34for example
18:36stacy and steve's car is old
18:41both stacy and steve are joint owners of the same car
18:47so we only add apostrophe s to the final name
18:52in this case steve
18:55stacy and steve's car is old
19:01but what happens if each person owns a car
19:06both stacy owns a car
19:09and both cars are old
19:16in this situation we add apostrophe s to both names
19:21stacy's and steve's cars are old
19:28this way we see there are two owners of two different cars
19:34notice how the verb is in the plural form
19:38because we're talking about more than one car
19:44usually we don't put the noun or object or thing
19:48after the apostrophe s to avoid repetition
19:53especially when the meaning is clear
19:58my car is older than john's
20:03this is the same as saying
20:06my car is older than john's car
20:10the word car at the end is not necessary as it sounds repetitive
20:17so when we say my car is older than john's
20:22the meaning is clear as we already know we're talking about cars
20:27as it was mentioned before
20:30the same applies when answering a question
20:35someone asks
20:37whose umbrella is this
20:40and another person responds
20:43it is mary's
20:46we don't need to say
20:47it is mary's umbrella
20:50because it is obvious we're talking about the same umbrella
20:54the meaning is clear
20:56if you hear this
20:57whose umbrella is this
20:59it is mary's umbrella
21:02saying umbrella again is not necessary and sounds repetitive
21:06just say
21:07it is mary's
21:09it is mary's
21:11a couple more examples
21:12a couple more examples
21:14whose are these shoes
21:17they are my brothers
21:21this is the same as saying my brother's shoes
21:25but without sounding repetitive
21:29that is a beautiful dress
21:32is it your sister's
21:34means
21:35is it your sister's dress
21:37because obviously you don't have any beautiful dresses
21:40so it could only be your sister's dress
21:44the apostrophe s
21:46can also be used with time periods
21:51had you seen today's newspaper
21:56this morning's meeting was boring
22:02last year's profits increased significantly
22:08but be careful
22:11we do not use an apostrophe with decades or years
22:19a lot of great music was created in the 80s
22:24no apostrophe between the number and the s
22:30the hippie movement began in the 1960s
22:34again there is no apostrophe
22:40we also do not use an apostrophe s as the plural form of an acronym
22:48there have been many sightings of ufos in the area
22:54there's no apostrophe after ufo and before the s
23:01he has just sold all of his dvds
23:05again no apostrophe
23:09i hope you found this lesson useful
23:12if you did remember to click the like button and subscribe to our channel
23:17so you know when i create new videos to help you improve your english
23:22have an awesome day
23:23you
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