Possessive Nouns Quiz

For each of the following phrases, choose the correct possessive nouns	Your answers
the tail of the horse	the horse's tail the horses' tail
the bags of the women	the women's bags the womens' bags
the hooves of the oxen	the oxen's hooves the oxens' hooves
the doll of the girls	the girl's doll the girls' doll
the book, the cover	the book's cover the cover of the book	See below
the computer of Charles	Charles's computer Charles' computer	See below
the car of my father-in-law	my father's-in-law car my father-in-law's car		See below
the book written by both Peter and John	Peter's and John's book Peter and John's book		See below
the calculators of Jack and John	Jack's and John's calculators Jack and John's calculators		See below
Basic rules for forming possessive nouns

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Comments:

5. The rule of using the words "of the" before a noun (a non-living thing) is not universally accepted. In the case of #5 above, it would be acceptable to say "the book cover".

6. When people's names end in "s", you can either add just an apostrophe (') or apostrophe s ('s). Therefore, either Charles's computer or Charles' computer is acceptable.
   
   In speaking, it may be better to add apostrophe s ('s). For example, if you were to say:
   
   
   • My computer is older than Charles'. (pronounced with just /iz/ at the end)
     
     The statement may be interpreted as "Your computer is older than Charles, the person."
     
     
   But if you say:
   
   
   • My computer is older than Charles's. (pronounced with /isiz/ at the end)
     
     Then it is clear that you are comparing the ages of two computers.

7. For singular compound nouns (such as father-in-law), use the possessive form for the last element (i.e., father-in-law's car).
   
   For plural compound nouns, use the words "of the" e.g., the clothes of the passers-by.

8. Peter and John jointly wrote one book. To show this joint possession, use the possessive form for only the last "owner". In other words, treat "Peter and John" as one and simply add apostrophe s ('s).

9. Although there is possession of the same noun (i.e., calculators), in reality there is separate possession of the objects. In other words, Jack and John individually have their own calculators. To reflect this separate possession, use the possessive form for each "owner".