Puzzling Plurals & Possessives

Most people have a memory of sitting in a classroom where the teacher was saying words...but those words were getting lost before ever reaching our ears...or at least our minds. If you say you've never experienced that, you must be either very smart or have a very poor memory. One of my such experiences was when the teacher was teaching the parts of sentences. I mean, who ever heard of a participle, much less a past participle? Or worse, a dangling participle!!!

Don't worry...I won't be teaching about participles today so you can just let go of that mouse and relax. I want to talk to you about possessives...and if you'll bear with me just a moment, I'll explain what those are, too. The "root word" for possessives is "possess". Okay, take a deep breath. That wasn't so painful, was it? We all possess things.

A possess-ive is a word that describes who/what is possessing something. (Oh, yeah...it is also a word that explains how someone can get very possessive about the things they possess...but I am getting off-track so that's all I'll say about that. I wanted to be sure to answer the little voices in my head coming from future readers who might be trying to tell me that I missed something.)

We all remember that a noun is the name of a person, place or thing. Well, a noun can possess things. Here are some examples: dogs have leashes, a girl has friends, buildings have arches. The first problem comes when we try to add more than one of those nouns a.k.a. plural nouns. Let's quickly show some examples and then we'll go over them:

dog's paws vs dogs' paws
the girl's friends vs the girls' friends
building's arches vs buildings' arches
library's books vs libraries' books

To simplify things, I made all the other nouns plural, i.e. paws, friends, etc. The rule of thumb for plurals is that you write out the whole plural word and then you put the apostrophe at the end of the word. If there is a plural "s" at the end of a word, YOU DO NOT NEED AN EXTRA "s" AT THE END! Okay, sorry...I didn't mean to yell AT you...I just wanted those words to jump off the page at you and impact you. To be honest, it's a rule that has changed some over the years and is so frequently broken that it often sounds right even when it isn't. Some will say I'm wrong which basically means you have a choice...so here are some examples using that BIG RULE:

Since my last name is Rogers, it's a perfect example. Which sounds better to you?
"The Rogers's car" or "The Rogers' car"?
"The carpenters's tools" or "The carpenters' tools"?
"The shoes's soles" or "The shoes' soles"?

To be fair, it is possible but rare for plurals to sound better with the extra "s":
"Bass's fins" or "Bass' fins"?

Just remember ...if it is a plural, write the whole plural word before adding the apostrophe (and/or adding another "s"). See? That wasn't so puzzling after all, was it?

Some possessive words don't need an apostrophe, with or without an "s" to add to it. They're either breaking the possessives rule or making one of their own. Let's see if we can solve this puzzle, too...

Bear with me while I get a bit technical. There's such a thing as a pronoun and that doesn't mean a professional noun! Hahahaaa! Ahhh, I crack myself up! ;) A pronoun is something you use in place of a noun, a substitute, if you will. Words like he, you, it. Got that? Okay, let's amp it up just a notch and say that there's such a thing as a possessive pronoun and one great thing about possessive pronouns is that NONE OF THEM USE AN APOSTROPHE so you don't have to try to remember which ones do.

A possessive pronoun is a form of those words that says something is possessed or owned by someone or something. If I say I own a book, then it is "MY BOOK" so "MY" is the pronoun substituting for me (a noun)...and I would only use that word when I am talking about something that I possess or is a part of me, like MY brain. I can also use mine instead, as in "That book is mine."

Before we go any further, here is a little list: my, mine, his, hers, theirs, ours...get the picture? And just to remind you, they NEVER use an apostrophe. It's obvious that any word that would follow them would be something that belongs to them...even if it's something you can't touch like "HIS idea" or "THEIR membership" or "HER belief".

Practice using the following words in sentences. An example might be, "It belongs to me. It is my book. Yes, that book is mine." The bold words are just pronouns (words that are substituted for nouns). The others are possessive pronouns because they show possession.

me ~ my ~ mine he ~ him ~ his she ~ her ~ hers
they ~ them ~ theirs we ~ our ~ ours you ~ your ~ yours

I am about to teach you one more thing that is very important so I want it to stand out in your mind. It's a word that is gotten wrong by a majority of people and this is the perfect time to teach it to YOU. Here it is...are you ready?

Such tiny little words to be gotten wrong by so many people! Believe it or not, "its" is another possessive pronoun just like "his", "hers" and "theirs"...except that it is representing a thing, not a person. Remember the rule about pronouns is that they NEVER use an apostrophe? Well, "its" follows that rule! Here's an example of "its" used in a sentence:

The book has lost its jacket. Whose jacket is it? The book's jacket.
The dog has lost its way. Whose way is lost? The dog's way.
The world is on its axis. Who does the axis belong to? The world.

Remember: You can tell it is a pronoun because it is showing ownership of something. And because it is a pronoun, we don't use an apostrophe.

We all know that there is a word "it's".  This one HAS an apostrophe so the first thing you know about it is that it is NOT a pronoun. What on earth can it be? Well, don't be scared by the big word but it's called a contraction.

Here's an easy way to remember what a contraction is: A contraction is just a scary word that basically means two words made a contract and joined to become one word. Haha! Okay, it sounds silly but you might remember it by hearing it that way so I'm willing to sacrifice any serious reputation I might have for your education.

I'll write another hub about contractions later but for now, let's just take this little tiny one apart. One of the most famous ways to use this contraction is as follows:

"It's a boy!" or to keep everyone happy, "It's a girl!" It's obvious what two words joined in that contract to make this word...IT and IS. When you join two words to make one contracted word, you remove at least one letter...and stick an apostrophe in its (or their) place. In this case, we remove the "i" in "is" and put an apostrophe in its place: it + is = itis - i + ' = it's
Another example: is + not = isnot - o + ' = isn't

Remember: When you see this word... it's ...you should be able to read "it is" in its place. It just sounds so formal to shout, "It is a boy!" when announcing a birth, doesn't it?

In the paragraphs above, you will see both words: its and it's. If you'd like to practice, find those words and study them. Which is the pronoun? Which is the contraction? If you get to where you know the answer quickly and can tell others why that's true, you will have become a Master in the art of ITS...or should I say, "IT'S"? Hmmm...take your pick. It probably won't matter to many people since they don't know the rule but since you now know the answers, you'll be one up on your friends. ;)

This is my very first hub and I'm curious to know how it is seen or understood by others so I'd love to get your feedback. Here's basically what I'm looking for:

I would like to know if I was able to make things clear and hopefully memorable.

Did I try to squeeze in too much so that I should have made TWO hubs from this one?

Did I make you want to keep reading...or did you want to give up because you were confused or overwhelmed?

Thanks for your help!