Plural Possessive

Here’s a quick and easy guide to the concept of plural possessive:

INCORRECT: Boss’ office.

CORRECT    : Boss’s office. (It looks weird, but this is how it should be for singular nouns, even if they already end in  “s”.)

INCORRECT: mother’s-in-law cooking

CORRECT    : mother-in-law’s cooking (This is how we make a compound noun possessive.)

INCORRECT: The Davis’s cars.

CORRECT    : The Davises’ cars. (You have to first make the Davis plural =Davises. Then you have to add the apostrophe to make it possessive. For PLURAL nouns that end in “s”, simply add an apostrophe after the word.)

We use “the” with the person’s name to refer to a family as a whole (father, mother, and children).

• The Jones

• The Kimes

• The Cartlidges

• We’re the Flintstones

Plural Compound Nouns

Plural Linked-Words

How do we pluralize these compound nouns?

Drive-in movie

Passer-by

Does ‘drive-in movie’ become drives-in movie or drive-in movies?

Does ‘passer-by’ become passer-bys or passers-by?

Hold your thought for a moment until you finish reading this explanation thoroughly, then you can go back and answer that question again.

PLURALIZE THE CHIEF ELEMENT

Normally, we pluralize the chief element of a compound word. (e.g., tooth [noun modifier] brushes [chief noun];black [adjective] birds [chief noun]; copy [verb] cats[chief noun])

1. CLOSED (NO SPACE)

birthday  [n.– n.] –> birthdays

blackbird [adj.– n.] –> blackbirds

crybaby [v.– n.] –> crybabies

handshake [n.– v./n.] –> handshakes

gamekeeper [n.– -er] –> gamekeepers

passerby –> passersby

2. OPEN (TWO WORDS)

couch potato –> couch potatoes

lieutenant general –> lieutenant generals

filet mignon –> filet mignons

chaise longue –> chaise longues

maitre d –> maitre d’s

3. HYPHENATED

mother-in-law –> mothers-in-law

attorney-at-law –> attorneys-at-law

runner-up –> runners-up

grant-in-aid –> grants-in-aid

4. POSESSIVES (OPEN)

traveler’s check –> traveler’s checks

rabbit’s foot –> rabbit’s feet

visitor’s permit –> visitor’s permits

letter of credit –> letters of credit

head of state –> heads of state

PLURALIZE OTHER ELEMENT

Occasionally, we pluralize the final element, especially when the compound includes a preposition, a repeated word, linked words, or the suffix -ful. (An apostrophe is used to avoid a word that can be misread.)

1. PREPOSITIONS

drive-in –> drive-ins

get-together –> get-togethers

go-between –> go-betweens

hand-me-down –> hand-me-downs

show-off –> show- offs

time-out –> time-outs

2. REPEATED WORDS

no-no –> no-nos / no-no’s

so-and-so –> so-and-sos / so-so’s

ding-dong –> ding-dongs

ha-ha –> ha-has / h-ha’s

3. LINKED WORDS

two-by-four –> two-by-fours

do-it-yourself –> do-it-yourselves

know-it-all –> know-it-alls

wannabe –> wannabes

have-not –> have-nots

4. FUL

handful –> handfuls

cupful –> cupfuls

pocketful–> pocketfuls

spoonful –> spoonfuls

armful –> armfuls