Welcome to 15mins.today the home of English Shadowing. I'm your host Gavin and this is InTense Episode 45. In the previous four episodes we looked at nouns, and today we're going to be looking at another kind of noun. Now this noun covers basically common nouns and proper nouns and it's basically possessive nouns. It's when something belongs to somebody. So, we can recognize them usually quite easily by the fact that they have an apostrophe and an s on(‘s). That tells us whose object it is, who it belongs to. So, it's quite easy to spot them and for example if we say, “It is Mary’s watch.” The Mary with an apostrophe s tells us whose watch it is. So, it is actually a proper noun Mary with an ‘sand that is a possessive noun. The other one is, “The dog’s tail.”Again, now we have a common noun because it's not a capital the dog, but the tail belongs to the dog.

Ok, so let's look at the examples and again it's easy to recognize them they'll have an apostrophe s. Just be aware that sometimes when we have plurals as in dogs’ bones, we say the dogs’ bones, there the apostrophe goes after the s, so dogs and then apostrophe bones. Whereas when it's a singular like dog’s tail, dog apostrophe S tailand of course when we have something like teeth or men the men's clothes so there men is plural but apostrophe S, because it doesn't have an S on. Okay, it is a little bit crazy but again I will underline the possessive nouns in our questions. Okay, let's look at the examples.

Is that Jane’s key? Yes, it is Jane's key.

Is that Jane's key? No, it is not Jane's key.

Is the car's window up? Yes, the car's window is up.

Is the car's window up? No, the car's window is not up.

Is that the cat's toy? Yes, that is the cat's toy.

Is that the cat's toy? No, it is not the cat's toy.

Is that John's sandwich? Yes, it is John's sandwich.

Is that John's sandwich? No, it is not John's sandwich.

Are the mice’s tails long? Yes, the mice’s tails are long.

Are the mice’s tails long? No, the mice’s tails are not long.

Are the singers’ voices beautiful? Yes, the singers' voices are beautiful.

Are the singers’ voices beautiful? No, the singers’ voices are not beautiful.

Is Peter’s watch accurate? Yes, Peter's watch is accurate.

Is Peter’s watch accurate? No, Peter’s watch is not accurate.

Is Mary’s hair beautiful? Yes, Mary’s hair is beautiful.

Is Mary’s hair beautiful? No, Mary’s hair is not beautiful.

Are the children's toys clean? Yes, the children's toys are clean.

Are the children's toys clean? No, the children's toys are not clean.

Is that your pen’s cap? Yes, it is my pen’s cap.

Is that your pen’s cap? No, it is not my pen’s cap.

Is she Peter's friend? Yes, she is Peter's friend.

Is she Peter's friend? No, she is not Peter's friend.

Are the couches’ legs unstable? Yes, the couches’ legs are unstable.

Are the couches’ legs unstable? No, the couches’ legs are not unstable.

Well there you go guys; I hope that helps. Keep practicing, and remember, we can spot possessive nouns by the fact that have an apostrophe and an S on, or sometimes S and an apostrophe after that. Good, catch you in the next one, bye!