oxford_guide_to_english_grammar

17 NOUNS AND NOUN PHRASES
In expressions with man/woman + noun, both parts change to the plural.
women jockeys (= jockeys who are women)
d After a year or an abbreviation, the plural ending can be apostrophe + s.
the 1950s/the 1950's most MPs/most MP's
2 Use
a
b
c
We use the singular to talk about one thing.
The door was closed. We waited for an hour.
There was only one passenger. I've lost my job.
We use the plural for more than one.
The doors were all closed. We waited for one and a quarter hours.
There were hundreds of passengers. I've got one or two jobs to do.
NOTE Some nouns are always plural, e.g. clothes, goods. • 154(1)
For a negative or unknown quantity, we normally use the plural.
There were no passengers on the bus.
Have you read any good books lately?
NOTE
We can use the singular after no meaning 'not a single one'.
No passenger(s) came to the driver's help when he was attacked.
146 The possessive form
1 Form
To form the possessive we add an apostrophe + s to a singular noun; we add an
apostrophe to a plural noun ending in s; and we add an apostrophe + s to a plural
not ending in s.
Singular + 's my friend's name
s-plural + ' my friends' names
Other plurals + 's the children's names
For pronunciation, • 290(4).
a After a singular noun ending in s, we normally add 's: the boss's office, Chris's address. But
after a surname ending in s, we can add just an apostrophe: Perkins' room/Perkins's room,
Yeats' poetry/Yeats's poetry. We can pronounce Perkins' or
b If there is a short phrase after the noun, then the possessive ending comes after the phrase.
the people next door's cat/the cat belonging to the people next door
c We can leave out the noun after the possessive if the meaning is clear without it.
That umbrella is my friend's.
d Pronouns ending in one/body and the pronouns one, each other and one another can be
possessive.
I found someone's coat here. They visit each other's rooms.
e We can add an apostrophe + s to a phrase with and.
I've just been to Peter and Zoe's flat.
This is much more usual than Peter's and Zoe's flat.
f We can sometimes use two possessive forms together.
Anita is my cousin - my mother's brother's daughter.