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A noun must be pluralized before its possessive can be formed because the different endings of plural nouns determines how to form the possessive. The same is true for compound nouns, which form the plural in different ways.

Singular possessives are formed by adding an apostrophe s to the end of a noun; for example:

  • apple; apple's core
  • boy; boy's bicycle
  • class; class's homework
  • Dover; Dover's mayor

For plural nouns that end in -s, the possessive are formed by adding an apostrophe after the existing -s; for irregular plural nouns that don't end with -s, the possessive is formed by adding the apostrophe s the same as a singular noun.

This is when you need to know how the plural form ends in order to form the plural possessive; for example:

  • the plural noun apples ends with an s, so the possessive is formed by just adding an apostrophe after the existing s: apples' cores
  • but the plural form for the noun child is children, which does not end with an s; plural nouns that do not end with s are made possessive the same as singular nouns; children'splayground
  • plural nouns that do not end with s are called irregular plurals; some other examples of irregular plural possessive nouns are (mouse) mice's tracks or (man) men's shoes

Compound nouns can also have different plural forms and must be made plural before determining how its plural possessive is formed; for example:

  • the plural form for the the regular compound noun bedroom is bedrooms, the plural possessive is: bedrooms' doors
  • the plural form for the compound noun paint brush is paint brushes, the plural possessive is: paint brushes'bristles
  • examples of irregular plural compound nouns are:
    • businessman, the plural is businessmen, the plural possessive is: businessmen's luncheon
    • mother-in-law, the plural is mothers-in-law, the plural possessive is: mothers-in-law's opinions
    • passerby, the plural is passersby, the plural possessive is: The passersby's attention was drawn by our new sign.
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11y ago
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AnswerBot

2w ago

To pluralize compound possessive nouns, add an apostrophe and an "s" to the last word of the compound noun. For example, "my brothers-in-law's car" is the possessive form of the compound noun "brothers-in-law" in plural form.

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Q: How do you pluralize compound possessive nouns?
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