Possessive apostrophes: orangutan
The Grammar Bit!
Read the three sentences opposite. They each contain a possessive apostrophe. Possessive apostrophes are used to show that someone or something belongs to someone or something else.
Notice that when something belongs to a singular noun (describing a single thing), an apostrophe is added and this is followed by an s e.g. infant’s human-like fingers, orangutan’s nest and fruit’s flesh.
Notice that when something belongs to a plural noun (describing two or more things), simply add an apostrophe after the existing s e.g. termites’ nest and lumberjacks’ chainsaws.
Exceptions to this include pluralised nouns that don’t end in s. e.g. men’s, children’s and women’s.
Scintillating Sentences
1) The infant’s human-like fingers probed deep inside the termites’ nest.
2) The orangutan’s daughter was learning how to identify when the durian fruit’s flesh had ripened to perfection.
3) The lumberjacks’ chainsaws could be heard from far and wide.
Mature male orangutans have large cheek pads called flanges. However, it would be wrong to call them cheeky monkeys; orangutans are in fact apes.