The -s genitive

Sometimes you will need to express a possessive relation between people or things. This means
telling if someone/something belongs to someone/something.
In this case, you use an "'s" after the noun or the name. Take a look at the following example:
You have a book. But it is not your book, it is your friend's book. This means: the book belongs
to your friend.
You add an 's to the noun that someone/something belongs to. Don't forget the apostrophe ' :

Anna's room: the room that belongs to Anna

her mother's bedroom: the bedroom that her mother sleeps in
the dog's coat: the coat that the dog has
the boy's bike: the bike that belongs to the boy
the woman's shoe: the shoe that belongs to the woman

If the noun is in the plural form and ends with the letter s, do not add another 's. Only add an
apostrophe:

the boys' shirts: the shirts that belong to more than one boy
the girls' hats: the hats that belong to more than one girl
the schools' principals: the principals of many schools

Compare: the girl's hats: the hats that belong to one girl the girls' hats; the hats that belong to
more than one girl
In spoken language, you can also use the 's-genitive without a noun following it, especially when
you talk about a house or an apartment that belongs to someone:

I'm going to Johnny's. Then everybody knows that you talk about Johnny's place or
house.
Meet me at Julia's.
I'm staying at Thomas's tonight.
I'm going to Maria's.
He's staying at the Smiths' today.

Note that when you want to form the s-genitive for a name that ends on "s", you have two
possibilities: you can use "'s" or just the apostrophe. However, it is considered to be better
English to use "'s". Therefore, you should stick to that in the exercises below.
Besides the s-genitive, there is also the of-genitive that you can use to express a possessive
relation:

the boys' shirts the shirts of the boys

the girls' hats the hats of the girls
the woman's shoe the shoe of the woman
Anna's room the room of Anna
Mandy's brother John plays football.
My teacher's name is ...

Plural:
Add the apostrophe ' to regular plural forms:

Examples:
The girls' room is very nice.
The Smiths' car is black.

Add 's to irregular plural forms:

Examples:
The children's books are over there.
Men's clothes are on the third floor.

Singular names ending in -s

Although it is not considered to be good English, you may add only the apostrophe words ending
on unpronounced -s

Charles's

dog
Charles'
dog

Illinois's capital Illinois' capital

Words ending in -x and -z follow the same rules.

Felix's car Felix' car

But there are situations where only 's is the best choice to make the meaning clear.

NOTE:

If there are multiple nouns that refer to one person/thing add an 's to the last noun.
Peter and John's mother is a teacher.

If there are multiple nouns that refer to more persons/things add 's to both nouns.
Susan's and Steve's bags are black.