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I can show respect for my readers and for my own ideas by writing in formal American English.
Overview
Things or qualities can belong to nouns. Nouns are marked for possession either by use of an apostrophe (for most plural nouns and nouns that end in s) or an apostrophe s (s) for all other nouns. The substitute for a noun in a sentence is a called a pronoun. There is a normal set of pronouns to substitute for nouns, and there is a special set of pronouns to show possession. Possessive pronouns NEVER take an apostrophe. Unfortunately, some of them are confusing because they are extremely similar to words that have nothing whatsoever to do with them.
The word woman, like the words man, child and (usually) person, is not marked as plural by adding an s. So you just mark their plural forms for possession by adding an s, the same way you would for the singular form.
Its is like his, hers or their. It is a possessive pronoun. It never takes an apostrophe.
Homophones/Homographs
Homophones are words that sound alike but have different meanings and may be spelled differently. Homographs are words than have the same spelling but different meanings. Its and its are homophones AND homographs. But its is a possessive pronoun, while its is a contraction for the verb phrase it is. Thats why its easy to confuse its and its. Just remember that its is like his and hers. Since youre not using Tweetys name or a regular noun phrase like the bird, its has no apostrophe. Other possessive pronouns have homophones, too.
The two homophones on this slide are theyre (the contraction for they are) and their (the possessive pronoun for them.)
. . . and another . . .
Is the poody-tat here or there? Hes up here now. Soon he will be down there.
An easy way to remember the difference between indicator there and possessive pronoun their is that the indicator there has the indicator here inside it.
As the old saying goes, Grammar is the difference between knowing your s**t and knowing youre s**t.
In-Class Exercises
1. Annalies thought about ______ knowledge of formal English. 2. _____ more complicated than I thought to figure out ____ ins and outs, she said. 3. All of the student____ brains must work overtime to learn about possessive pronouns. 4. When _________ ready to work on _______ grammar, the topic____ intricacies will no longer befuddle them. 5. The difficulties ___ possessives will disappear, and ____ mystery will change to mastery. 6. Annalies___ grammar power is growing by leaps and bounds.
Summary
Singular nouns and proper nouns, as well as irregularly-formed plural nouns and noun phrases that end in singular nouns, are marked for possession with s. (For proper nouns that end in s, this is a judgment call.) Regularly-formed plural nouns are marked for possession with an apostrophe only. The singular possessive pronouns are my, your, his, her/hers and its. The singular possessive pronoun its is a homophone and a homograph with the contracted verb phrase its. The singular possessive pronoun your is a homophone with the contracted verb phrase youre. The plural possessive pronoun their is a homophone with the indicator there and the contracted verb phrase theyre. The preposition of can also be used to mark a noun or noun phrase for possession.