Pimp my English | Recap on plural-s and possessive-s

By Anna Malczyk

Here’s some brief revision on how to use the letter “s” at the end of a word, depending on whether you are indicating a plural or a possessive term.

Plural-s

The plural-s is used at the end of a word when there is more than one of something. It follows directly on after the last letter and no apostrophe should ever be used.
•    The courses are listed on the website.
•    I have downloaded the three PDFs.

Possessive-s

The possessive-s is used when you want to show that something belongs to something else, and is always written with an apostrophe just before the “s”.
•    Robyn’s iPad is on her desk.
•    The student’s complaint has been resolved.

If you want to indicate possession and the word already ends in an “s”, you still theoretically write “ ‘s”, but this “s” becomes invisible. This is a point of good writing style.
•    The business’ owner (theoretically “business’s”, but the final “s” is invisible)
•    The cats’ toys (theoretically “cats’s”, but the final “s” is invisible)

Ask yourself
1.    Is this a plural noun? If yes, use “s”.
2.    Am I showing possession? If yes, use “ ‘s”.


This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution license.