Question

Choose the possessive case of the underlined noun:
Vasishta was the teacher of the princes.

a. The princes’ teacher was Vashishta.
b. The prince’s teacher was Vashishta.
c. The princes teacher was Vashishta.
d. None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: The noun with whom a possession has to be indicated is plural.

Complete answer:

The possessive case indicates possession between any two given nouns and pronouns. This is achieved by adding an apostrophe s at the end of the noun. Generally, the possessive case replaces phrases starting with ‘of the’. For e.g. the brother of the actor gets changed into the actor’s brother. Note that when we apply the possessive case, it is the second noun in the phrase that is written first.
Let us consider some rules for writing phrases in the possessive case.
1. The most basic way of indicating a possessive case is to add an apostrophe s to the end of the noun, with whom you want to show the possessive relationship.
2. If the noun ends with an s, i.e. if the noun is plural, you must only add an apostrophe. It is not necessary to write an s after the apostrophe. For e.g. the pens’ nibs.
3. If the noun is a Proper Noun and ends with an s, you must write the s after the apostrophe. For e.g. Jess’s bicycle.
Let us consider the question given above. Here, the relation is between the princes and Vasishta being their teacher. As princes are plural, the apostrophe will come after the s. Besides, as ‘princes’ is a plural common noun, we won’t add an s after the apostrophe. Following the rules given above, we get the option ‘a’ the princes’ teacher was Vashishta as the correct answer.

Note: You must be clear as to which noun/pronoun comes first and which noun/pronoun comes second while indicating a possessive case.