Kyle Pounds - forming possessives

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Forming Possessives

Showing possession in English is easy; just add an an -'s.

* If the word ends in an -s you can just add an apostrophe: Illinois'

Possessives of Object Pronouns
My	Our
Your	Your
His, Her, Its	Their

Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe threw three touchdown passes. (plural as Modifier)
The Patriots' [new] quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, threw three touchdown passes. (possessive as modifier]

When you are showing possession with compounded nouns, the apostrophe's placement depends on whether the nouns are acting separately or together.

Miguel's and Cecilia's new cars are in the parking lot.
This means that each of them has at least one new car and that their ownership is a separate matter.
Miguel and Cecilia's new cars are in the parking lot.

This construction tells us that Miguel and Cecilia share ownership of these cars. The possessive (indicated by 's) belongs to the entire phrase, not just to Cecilia.

Another example:

Lewis and Clark's expectations were very much the same.
This construction tells us that the two gentlemen held one set of expectations in common.
Lewis's and Clark's expectations were altogether different.
This means that the expectations of the two men were different (rather obvious from what the sentence says, too). We signify separate ownership by writing both of the compounded proper nouns in the possessive form.

With Apostrophe	With Of
My daughter-in-law's car	The car of my daughter-in-law
A friend of mine's car	The car of a friend of mine
The daughters-in-law's car	The car of the daughters-in-law
The family attorney's signature	The signature of Joe Bidwell, the family attorney
My best friend's car, Bob.	The car of my best friend, Bob

Used with people
I'm a fan of hers.	not	I'm a fan of her.
He's a friend of mine.	not	He's a friend of me.
This is my friend's friend's car	not	This is my friend friend car.
A friend of my uncle's	not	A friend of my uncle.
A friend of my father's	not	A friend of my father.
Not used with inanimate objects or animals
This white board belongs to the libraries room.	not	This is the libraries rooms white board.
A friend of the museum	not	A friend of the museums
A relative of the tiger	not	A relative of the tiger's
A hunting partner of the coyote	not	A hunting partner of the coyote's

Practice - Correct the sentences or fill in the blanks:

1) This car belongs to them. This is _______ car.

2) La casa de Kyle y Paola es bonito. _____________________________________.

3) La madre de Jesus era Maria. ___________________________________.

4) Este perro es mio. ________________________________.

5) Este es un auto de un amigo mio. ____________________________________.

6) Este es un bici de un amigo de mi amigo. _______________________________.

7) Este hueso es de un pariente del Elefante. _______________________________.

8) Este pertinece al biblioteca. ___________________________________.

9) Este pertinece al dueno de la libreria. ________________________________.

10) Este goma pertinece al numatico del auto. ____________________________.

11) Este goma pertinece al hijo de Paola. _______________________________.