The possessive case shows the relationship of a noun to other words in a sentence. That relationship can be ownership, possession, occupancy, a personal relationship, or another kind of association. The possessive of a singular noun is formed by adding an apostrophe and the letter s.
The cat’s toy was missing.
The cat possesses the toy, and we denote this by use of -’s at the end of cat.
Casey’s sister is a geologist.
Here, the possessive case indicates the relationship between Casey and their sister.
The novel’s release made quite a splash.
In the above example, the possessive case is denoting that novel is in the role of object in relationship to release; someone released the novel.
The possessive of a plural noun that ends in –s or –es is formed by adding just an apostrophe.
My nieces’ prom outfits were exquisite.
The possessive of an irregular plural noun is formed by adding –’s.
The children’s drawings were hung on the walls.
When a singular noun ends in the letter s or z, the general rule of adding –’s often applies.
I have been invited to my boss’s house for dinner.
Ms. Sanchez’s coat is still hanging on the back of her chair.
This is a matter of a style, however, and some style guides call for leaving off the s after the apostrophe.
Brussels’ cathedrals attract hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
Whichever style an organization or writer chooses should be used consistently.
Functions of nouns
Nouns take on different roles based on their relationships to the rest of the words in a sentence.
Nouns as subjects
Every sentence must have a subject, and that subject will always be a noun or pronoun. The subject of a sentence is the person, place, or thing that is doing or being or experiencing whatever is described by the verb of the sentence.
Maria played the piece beautifully.
The noun Maria is the subject of this sentence; it tells us who is performing the action described by the sentence’s verb (played).
Nouns as objects
Nouns can also be objects of a transitive verb in a sentence. An object can be either a direct object (a noun that receives the action described by the verb) or an indirect object (a noun that receives direct object).
Cleo passed the salt.
Cleo passed Otto the salt.
In both of the above sentences, the noun salt is the direct object of the verb passed; the salt is what Cleo passed. In the second sentence, there is also an indirect object: the noun Otto. Otto is the person to whom Cleo passed the salt; Otto is the recipient of the salt. A good way to identify an indirect object in a sentence is to ask yourself to whom/what or for whom/what something is being done.
Nouns as subject and object complements
Another role nouns sometimes perform in a sentence is that of a subject complement. A subject complement normally follows a linking verb such as be, become, or seem and gives more information about the subject of the sentence.
Mary is a teacher.
In this sentence, the noun teacher is being used as a subject complement. A teacher is what Mary is.
A related function of nouns is to act as an object complement, which provides more information about the direct object of a sentence with a transitive verb.
I now pronounce you husbands.
Husbands is a noun used as an object complement in this sentence. Verbs that denote making, naming, or creating are often followed by nouns behaving as object complements.
Nouns as appositives
A noun used as an appositive immediately follows another noun in order to further define or identify it. You can also say that the second noun is in apposition to the first noun.
My brother, Michael, is six years old.
Michael is an appositive here, further identifying the noun phrase my brother. Appositives can be restrictive or nonrestrictive; in the above example, we can see from the fact that it is set off between commas that Michael is nonrestrictive—that is, it could be left out of the sentence without leaving out essential information about who is six years old. In other words, we can surmise that Michael is the writer’s only brother; telling us his name is extra information about him. Here is a version of the same sentence where the appositive is used restrictively, without being set off by commas:
My brother Michael is six years old.
In this case, the appositive Michael is providing information that is essential for narrowing down which brother the writer is telling us about. We can infer that they have multiple brothers, and understand that it is the one named Michael who is six years old.
Nouns as modifiers
Sometimes, nouns can be used to modify other nouns, functioning like adjectives. When they do this, they are often called attributive nouns. .
He is a speed demon.
Speed is normally a noun, but here it is acting as an adjective to modify demon.
Leave a Reply