Page 28 - DENG103_English - I

Unit 3: Parts of Speech: Noun and Pronoun

The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus’ eggs. Notes

Shelly’s poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron’s.
Shelly’s poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron’s.
You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does not end in “s” by adding an
apostrophe and a “s,” as in the following examples:
The children’s mittens were scattered on the floor of the porch.
The sheep’s pen was mucked out every day.
Since we have a complex appeal process, a jury’s verdict is not always final.

The men’s hockey team will be playing as soon as the women’s team is finished.
The hunter followed the moose’s trail all morning but lost it in the afternoon.
You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does end in “s” by adding an apostrophe:
The concert was interrupted by the dogs’ barking, the ducks’ quacking, and the babies’
squalling.
The janitors’ room is downstairs and to the left.
My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels’ nest.
The archivist quickly finished repairing the diaries’ bindings.
Religion is usually the subject of the roommates’ many late night debates.

Using Possessive Nouns

When you read the following sentences, you will notice that a noun in the possessive case
frequently functions as an adjective modifying another noun:

The miner’s face was covered in coal dust.
Here the possessive noun “miner’s” is used to modify the noun “face” and together with
the article ”the,” they make up the phrase that is the sentence’s subject.

The concert was interrupted by the dogs’ barking, the ducks’ quacking, and the babies’
squalling.
In this sentence, each possessive noun modifies a gerund. The possessive noun “dogs”’ modifies
“barking,” “ducks”’ modifies “quacking,” and “babies”’ modifies “squalling.”
The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus’s eggs.
In this example the possessive noun “platypus’s” modifies the noun “eggs” and the noun
phrase “the platypus’s eggs” is the direct object of the verb ”crushed.”
My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels’ nest.
In this sentence the possessive noun “squirrels”’ is used to modify the noun “nest” and the
noun phrase “the squirrels’ nest” is the object of the infinitive phrase ”to locate.”

Types of Nouns
There are many different types of nouns. As you know, you capitalise some nouns, such as
“India” or “Bhutan,” and do not capitalise others, such as “badger” or “tree” (unless they
appear at the beginning of a sentence). In fact, grammarians have developed a whole series
of noun types, including the proper noun, the common noun, the concrete noun, the abstract

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