The Importance of Punctuation in Possessive Nouns

The combination of proper punctuation and possessive nouns

The __________ combined score moved the competitor to the top of the scoreboard.

Which noun is punctuated appropriately to indicate possession?

judges'
judge's
judges
judges's

Answer: judges'

It's a plural noun, so to show ownership, put the apostrophe after the s.

Which noun is punctuated appropriately to indicate possession? judges'

Explanation:

The expression "combined score" lets us infer that there is more than one judge, therefore we should start with the plural noun "judges" and apply the rule that the possessive case can be applied to nouns ending in "s" by only adding the apostrophe after that final "s."

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