Singular vs Plural Possessive Exercises

The position of the apostrophe tells us whether one person or more than one person owns something. For singular nouns (one person or thing), add 's: 'the girl's phone' means one girl owns the phone. For regular plural nouns ending in -s, add just an apostrophe after the -s: 'the girls' phone' means the phone belongs to more than one girl. This small difference in apostrophe position completely changes the meaning of the sentence.

Irregular plurals that do not end in -s follow the singular rule — add 's: 'children's toys,' 'women's rights,' 'people's opinions.' This is because the word itself already shows the plural, so you still need 's to show possession. For names that end in -s, like James or Charles, both 'James's car' and 'James' car' are accepted in British English. The important skill is recognising whether the noun before the apostrophe is singular or plural and placing the apostrophe correctly. This rule is one of the most commonly tested grammar points in Cambridge A2 Key and B1 Preliminary writing sections.