A possessive noun shows ownership. Singular nouns add an apostrophe and s
to form the possessive (worker / worker's). Most plural nouns add an apostrophe
after the s to form the possessive (workers / workers'). Plurals that don't end in s
(men / mice) add an apostrophe and s (men's / mice's) to show possession.
See Handbook
Sections 7,30
Part 1
Underline each singular possessive noun. Circle each plural possessive noun. There may be more than one
possessive noun in each sentence.
1. Wilma Rudolph's early childhood was made painful by a series of illnesses.
2.
She got pneumonia and scarlet fever, and soon afterward
she contracted polio, that era's most dreaded childhood disease.
3.
That illness's effects left her with one leg paralyzed.
4.
Wilma's mother had 19 children then, but she found time
to get expert treatment for her young daughter's condition.
5.
Every week she and Wilma traveled 50 miles by bus from Clarksville,
Tennessee, to a hospital in Nashville to obtain doctors' help.
6.
The Rudolphs, an African American family, had to sit in the back
of the bus; Wilma Rudolph never forgot segregation's injustice.
In 1961 Rudolph received the
Sullivan Award, given each year
to the top U.S. amateur athlete.
7.
Thanks to the treatments and to her mother's encouragement, Wilma began to improve.
8.
In time she was able to walk with a brace's support, but she was determined to walk without it.
9.
By junior high, Wilma no longer needed the brace, and she joined the girls' basketball team.
10.
Her legs' muscles were now strong, and she starred in basketball.
11.
This brilliant athlete's greatest triumphs would come in the sport of track and field; she first qualified
for the United States Olympic Team in 1956, at the age of 16.
12. At the 1960 Olympics, Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals, gaining
recognition as the world's greatest woman sprinter.
13.
The champion's homecoming parade in Clarksville was the first integrated event in the town's history.
14.
Rudolph set world records in the women's 100- and 200-meter races and the 4 x lOa-meter relay.
15. Working with young people after her Olympic triumphs, Rudolph became many youths' inspiration.
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