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Ask for help > Help,please!
Help,please!
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memthefirst
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Help,please!
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Look at these two sentences.
The student �s pencils are red.
The students � pencils are red.
How can we understand if the word "student" is plural or singular while we are speaking?
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17 Feb 2011
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jandremela
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student �s pencil - singular,
and students � pencil - plural
Normally you add " �s" to indicate possesion, so if the pencil belongs to one student then you say "the student �s pencil", but what if we are talking about several students, how do we add the " �s"?, all we have to do is just add the apostrophe and that �s it, because the word "students" already ends in "s". It would be the same case in names, for example:
Matt �s pencil - (the owner of the pencil is MATT)
James � pencil .(the owner of the pencil is JAMES, and his names ends in "s", so just add the apostrophe)
I hope I was clear enough, cheers...
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17 Feb 2011
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lalla99
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As persie says, from the context ideally - that �s why that kind of distinction must be made clear if these examples are used in sentence excercises.
But even as native speakers, we occasionally have to check on clarity  |
17 Feb 2011
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tulpen25
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You can �t tell, that �s why context is important :) |
17 Feb 2011
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libertybelle
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When speaking you can �t know unless the person speaking has been talking about many students are just the one.
If in doubt - you can always ask the speaker!!!
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18 Feb 2011
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