Possessive Forms in English Grammar

Possessive Forms and Possession Verbs

• When a noun is already in its possessive form (e.g., adding 's or using an apostrophe), the possession verb is often omitted, e.g., "Sarah's car" instead of "Sarah possesses a car."
• Possessive forms are used directly with personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) to indicate possession, e.g., "My book" or "Your car."
• When using a possessive noun (e.g., John's, Sarah's) as the subject, the possession verb is not required, e.g., "John's car is red" instead of "John possesses a red car."

Possession Verbs

• The -ing form is not added to possession verbs when using Present/Past Continuous tense, e.g., "Has/Have" instead of "Hasing/Having."
• Essential possession verbs in English include:
  • Belong
  • Have
  • Own
  • Possess
  • Hold
  • Keep
  • Retain
  • Control
  • Claim
  • Consist
  • Contain

Examples of Possession Verbs

• Possess: "I possess a great sense of humor."
• Own: "My mother owns her own restaurant in London."

Test your understanding of possessive forms in English grammar, including the use of apostrophes and personal pronouns to indicate possession. Learn how to correctly use possessive forms in sentences and identify the correct possessive forms of nouns and pronouns.