- John’s yacht lies at her moorings.
- The duck’s feet are webbed.
- The mutineer’s pistol burst when he fired.
Note. Most uses of the possessive come under the general head of possession in some sense. Special varieties of meaning are source (as in “hen’s eggs”) and authorship (as in “Wordsworth’s sonnets”).
A possessive noun or pronoun modifies the substantive to which it is attached as an adjective might do. Hence it is classed as an adjective modifier.
Forms of the Possessive Case
90. The possessive case of most nouns has, in the singular number, the ending ’s.
Examples:
- the owl’s feathers,
- Elizabeth’s hat,
- the officer’s name.
Plural nouns ending in s take no further ending for the possessive. In writing, however, an apostrophe is put after the s to indicate the possessive case.
Examples:
- the owls’ feathers,
- the officers’ names,
- the artists’ petition,
- the engineers’ ball.