The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 418–420 · Part 2: Part Second
115. Possessive plurals
Goal: Your child writes the possessive of plural nouns, with the apostrophe after the s or before it as needed.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)
What's in the book
Section 418 compares "the horse's feet" with "the horses' feet" and gives the rule for regular plurals. Section 419 shows irregular plurals like men's and children's, which add 's, and an exception for words like sheep. Section 420 gives nine sentences for dictation.
The lesson, step by step
One horse or many? (Section 418)
Read the two sentences about the horse's feet. Ask: How do we know how many horses?
The Genitive Singular ends in the apostrophe and s ('s). The regular Plural, already ending in s, takes the apostrophe only.
Read the twelve example pairs together.
Irregular plurals (Section 419)
Read the six examples: man's, men's, child's, children's.
Whenever the plural form of a noun does not end in s, the apostrophe and s are added in the genitive of both singular and plural.
Then and now
The book says the plural of sheep's should be written sheeps'. Today we write sheep's for one sheep and for many.
A quick test
Say a phrase and let your child write it: one bird's nest, two birds' nests, the children's toys, the women's hats, the boys' bats.
Dictation (Section 420)
Your child studies the nine sentences, then writes five of them from dictation.
Check it gently
Your child checks against the book and fixes the apostrophes. Ask only: one owner or more? Does the plural already end in s?
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
One bird's nest. Two birds' nests.
The children's coats hung by the door.
The girls' bicycles leaned against the fence.