Question

What is the plural possessive form of ‘mouse’?

Answer 1

Hint: Plural forms of nouns are generally formed by simply adding an ‘s’ at the end of the word. When the word already ends with an ‘s’, then we add ‘es’ at its end. ‘es’ is also added when a word ends with sh, ch, x, etc. Other than that, there are irregular plurals, for e.g. man – men, louse – lice, radius – radii, etc.

Complete answer:
To form the possessive case of a singular noun we add an apostrophe and an ‘s’. This shows ownership or relationship. For e.g. I found the hat of the mechanic. To make this sentence more concise we can remove the prepositional phrase and take the singular noun ‘mechanic’ and place it before the ‘hat’ to show ownership. Now we add the apostrophe and the ‘s’ to the mechanic. Hence, the new sentence is, I found the mechanic’s hat.

Now let us do the same for a plural noun. First of all, we need to know that the plural form of the word ‘mouse’ is ‘mice. Now let us form a sentence. The habitat of the mice is a burrow. From this sentence also, we shall remove the prepositional phrase and place the plural noun ‘mice’ before the ‘habitat’. Then we add the apostrophe and the ‘s’ at its end. Now the sentence is, the mice’s habitat is a burrow.

Therefore, the plural possessive form of ‘mouse’ is ‘mice’s’.

Note: When a singular noun already ends with an ‘s’, we add only an apostrophe at its end and not an additional ‘s’. For e.g. The Texas’ football team is great. When a plural noun already ends with an ‘s’, we again add only an apostrophe and not an additional ‘s’. For e.g. The tigers’ habitats were destroyed.