Plural and Possessive -s
Plural
Possessives
To show ownership, add an apostrophe with an -s: “The cat’s toy is under the couch.”
[Infographic provided by Grammar.net]
The -S and Third Person Singular
Third person singular is anything that excludes the speaker and the person spoken to and can be considered a “he,” “she,” or “it.” So far, we have seen multiple cats play with toys, but when the subject of the sentence is a single cat, the -s relocates from the noun to the verb.
“The cats play with their toys.”
“The cat plays with her toys.”
A third person singular verb always ends in -s when used in present tense, but sometimes that -s needs a friend or two. Verbs that end in -sh, -x, -ch, -ss, and -o are awkward and clumsy with just an -s, so they get an -es, and those that end in a consonant with a -y get an -ies. Don’t panic, here are a few examples:
Washes, coaxes, crunches, stresses, goes
Hurries, worries, studies, marries, flies
