Possessives or Plurals ... That is the question ...

I'm in the middle of grading a slew of essays for another group of students, and it's making me a bit ... um ...

Well, let's just say, one of my pet peeves is being prodded (and you know what they say about poking a bear with a stick?).

It's this whole issue of possessives versus plurals. I wrote an entire blog about possessive use in April 2014 (please read it for even more detail), but because it is front of mind, I thought I'd post a quick refresher.

Possessive form is NOT the same as plural. Possessive form means ownership. Plural means more than one. They are not interchangeable. HOWEVER, there is such a thing as plural possessive (ownership by more than one)... have I confused you yet?

Let's take them one at a time.

Possessive form:

It is the student's book. (In other words, the book belongs to one student.)

Plural:

Several students bought their books. (In other words, more than one student bought books.)

Plural possessive:

The students' books are on the table, (In other words, the books of more than one student are on the table.)

It's really very simple.

So let's take a little quiz.

A student writes:

The stories theme is about fate.

Questions: Is she writing about multiples stories? Then the word stories should still be possessive, and the noun and verb need to be changed. Is she writing about a single story? Then the word stories should be single possessive.

If it's the first (multiple stories), then the sentence should be:

The stories' themes are about fate.

If it's the second (single story), the the sentence should be:

The story's theme is about fate.

Again, I go into much more detail in the entry I mentioned above. If this is something you struggle with, PLEASE review that entry.

Okay. I'm glad I got that off my chest. Now, back to grading!

Keep pen to paper!
Prof. Rinehart