🎓SAT English
READING 5
SAT Plurals and Possessives for ESL Students
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Digital SAT plurals and possessives are nouns that use an apostrophe before or after the letter ‘s’ at the end of words.
Plural nouns add an ‘s’ to the noun in singular form (regular nouns) without needing an apostrophe. But if the noun ‘possesses’ or own something then we add -‘s to the noun. Finally when we have the plural noun possessive then we add the apostrophe after the s (s’), as shown below.
Grammar Rules: Plurals and Possessives
Single dog, plural dogs, to own or posses dog’s bone (single dog), and to own or posses dogs’ bones (multiple dogs)
It’s is called a contraction, it is a shorter form of “it is”. But pronouns can also be possessive such as a dog possesses a tail it is “its tail”.
TIP: If you see the possessive form like its, try to replace it with ‘it is’. For example “The dog wags it is tail” – you can easily see that it is wrong!
What is a plural noun?
books, dogs, students
Yes, these are just simple nouns that are not single but are plural, like 2 students, 3 dogs or 20 books. We have ireegular nouns but that is not really relevant here.
What is a possessive noun?
the student’s book, Sarah’s phone, the dog’s ball
Again, simple. When something is owned or possessed by a person or thing, then we use an apostrophe. The student possesses the book, Sarah possesses the phone, and the dog possesses the ball.
What is a plural possessive noun?
the students’ books, the teachers’ room, the dogs’ owner
When many students posses books then we have a plural noun (students) and a possession (they possess books), then we use the apostrophe after the letter ‘s’ for plural possessive nouns. Both teachers and dogs are also plural in these examples.
What is a possessive pronoun?
✅ A dog bites its tail
We also have possessive pronouns. The tail belongs to the dog, the dog posesses a tail. Can you replace the word its with it is? No? Then it is a possessive pronoun, as the word “it’s” is a contraction of ‘it is’.
❌ A dog bites it’s tail
Exercise 1 Plurals and Possessives for ESL Students
Complete the multiple choice questions in the worksheet (pdf download)
Help for Plurals and Possessives
- Our comprehensive guide with examples can be found at this page: Ultimate Guide to SAT Apostrophe Rules for Possessives for Language Learners
- Types of plurals and possessives, practice questions and tips are found on this SAT practice questions page and how to answer these SAT-style questions at this page – how to answer SAT plurals and possessives.
Exercise 2 Plurals and Possessives for ESL Students
Complete the multiple choice questions in the worksheet (pdf download)
SAT questions
Do you wish to try Khan Academy SAT practice questions now? Plurals and Possessives | Lesson