1. Plurals, Possessives, and Contractions! Oh, MY!
Grammar Unit 1: Lesson 3
Plurals, Possessives, and Contractions!
Oh, MY!

2. DEFINITION A POSSESSIVE NOUN is a noun
that shows ownership or possession of
things or qualities.
Ling’s birthday cake

3. How to form possessive nouns:
Examples
All singular nouns; plural nouns not ending in S
Add an apostrophe and s (‘s)
A girl—a girl’s name
The bus—the bus’s route
Children—children’s toys
Mr. Nevins—Mr. Nevins’s tie
Plural nouns ending in S
Add just an apostrophe (‘) at the end of the plural noun.
Babies—babies’ bottle
The Joneses—the Joneses’ car

4. Singular Possessive Noun Plural Possessive Noun
Examples
Singular Noun
Lyndell has a book about baseball.
Singular Possessive Noun
Lyndell’s book is about baseball.
Plural Noun
Several cities have baseball teams.
Plural Possessive Noun
Several cities’ teams attract fans.

5. Write the possessive form of the noun in parentheses.
Guided Practice
Write the possessive form of the noun in parentheses.
1. The hawk stole the eggs from that (bird) nest.
2. (Janel) entry in the soapbox derby won first place.
3. (Oscar) claws are very sharp.
4. The three (students) homework was accepted one day late.
5. (Mr. Nevins) tie is always around his neck.
6. The (bus) wheels go round and round.
bird’s
Janel’s
Oscar’s
students’
Mr. Nevins’s
bus’s

6. DEFINITION
A CONTRACTION is a word made by combining two words and leaving out one or more letters. An apostrophe shows where the letters have been left out.

7. SPEAKER’ S Contractions The speaker is happy about her presentation.
We can join the two words speaker and is to create a contraction.
SPEAKER’ S
The speaker’s happy about her presentation.

8. Complete the following chart
Singular Noun
Singular Possessive
Plural Noun
Plural Possessive Noun
Contraction
woman
echo’s
countries
speakers
woman’s
women
women’s
woman’s
echo
echo’s
echoes
echoes’
country
country’s
countries’
country’s
speaker
speaker’s
speakers’
speaker’s

9. Guided Practice Plural noun Singular Poss. Singular Poss. contraction
Identify the bolded word in each sentence by writing plural noun, singular, singular possessive noun, plural possessive noun, or contraction.
1. School hours begin at 7:40 am.
2. Elvis’s cage is in the 7B science room.
3. Micky Rodgers’s bus arrives at 7:25 am.
4. Skylar’s the illustrator for that book.
5. The children’s mittens are lost.
6. My two sneakers’ laces are too short.
Plural noun
Singular Poss.
Singular Poss.
contraction
Plural Poss.
Plural poss.

10. Testing Your Knowledge
1. What is a possessive noun?
AN: A noun that shows ownership
2. How do you form singular possessive nouns?
AN: By adding an apostrophe s (‘s)
3. How do you form plural possessive nouns?
AN: By adding an apostrophe after the s.

11. 4. How do you form the possessive form of plural nouns that DO NOT end in s?
AN: By adding an apostrophe and s (‘s).
5. What is a contraction?
AN: a word made by combining two words and leaving out one or more letters using an apostrophe.