🏷️ Grammar · Nouns
Possessives: ‘s vs Of
Who owns what, in English — when to say Mendes’s film and when to say the ending of Life of Pi.
Grammar › Nouns › Possessives: ‘s vs Of
The rule in one sentenceAdd ‘s to people, animals and organisations to show possession (Sam Mendes’s film) — use of for things, places and abstract ideas, or whenever the possessor is a long phrase (the ending of Life of Pi).
Two ways to show possession
English has two main ways to show that something belongs to, or is connected with, something else: the apostrophe -s (‘s), often called the possessive or genitive, and the word of. Mr. Turner’s biggest awards success came in 2014, when its star won Best Actor at Cannes — that could also be written as “the biggest awards success of Mr. Turner”, but nobody would actually say it that way.
The ‘s form usually attaches to living, named things — people, animals, companies, countries. Channel Four’s My Beautiful Laundrette follows a British-Pakistani man who reopens a run-down laundrette in 1980s London, and Britain’s film industry has produced decades of Carry On films.
The word of usually connects things, ideas and places, and is especially common when the possessor phrase is long or when we’re really describing a part of something rather than true ownership. The praise for The House of Mirth focused on its lead performance, and the plot of Dangerous Liaisons revolves around aristocratic seduction and betrayal in pre-revolutionary France.
Plenty of nouns can go either way, especially when they name a well-known work: both “CODA’s success” and “the success of CODA” are correct — the choice is often about rhythm and emphasis rather than strict grammar. Still, some patterns are far more natural than others, and the tendencies below will guide you almost every time.
🎬 Compare: “Topsy-Turvy’s ending” (thing + ‘s, still natural for well-known films) vs. “the director of Victoria & Abdul” (of + role, used when the focus is on the role rather than the name).
Same idea, different word order — the emphasis shifts.
How to build it
Singular possessive — ‘s
The star’s performance in Mr. Turner won the Best Actor award at Cannes.
The director’s Sunset Song took decades to reach the screen.
Plural possessive — s’
The actors’ strike delayed the release of Wish in 2023.
Irregular plural possessive — ‘s
The Kids’ Choice Awards honour children’s favourite films.
The “of” pattern
The director of Chéri adapted the screenplay from a Colette novel.
The tone of All or Nothing captures the daily struggles of a working-class London family.
Which pattern applies?
Use ‘s for…
- People & named individuals: Wes Craven’s dialogue, Taika Waititi’s direction.
- Characters: the boy Bud’s memories of 1950s Liverpool in The Long Day Closes.
- Organisations & studios: Pixar’s animators, Disney’s back catalogue.
- Time & duration: this year’s Oscars, yesterday’s premiere.
Use of for…
- Things & objects: the title of Belfast.
- Abstract qualities: the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- Long or complex possessors: the director of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, 2023’s highest-grossing animated film.
- Parts of a whole: the end of Mughal-e-Azam.
Quick test
🔍 Ask yourself: is the possessor a person, animal or organisation? If yes, ‘s usually sounds most natural — the director’s Lay the Favorite. If the possessor is a thing, place or idea, or the phrase is long, reach for of instead — the tone of Florence Foster Jenkins.
Visual guide
Teacher Teddy’s illustrated guide to this rule is being drawn — the full swipe-through infographic will appear here soon.
Common mistakes
❌ The films Stephen Frears’s are always acclaimed.
✅ Stephen Frears’s films are always acclaimed.
The possessor + ‘s comes immediately before the noun it owns, never after it.
❌ The Boyhood’s success surprised everyone.
✅ Boyhood’s success surprised everyone.
Don’t add “the” before a proper noun’s possessive form.
❌ The actors’s strike delayed Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
✅ The actors’ strike delayed Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
A plural noun that already ends in -s takes only an apostrophe, not ‘s.
❌ The setting of Peterloo’s story takes place in 1819 Manchester.
✅ Peterloo’s story is set in 1819 Manchester.
Choose one possessive marker, ‘s or of — not both together (see the exception below for when double marking is actually correct).
Exceptions & tricky cases
1. Names already ending in -s. “Jeff Bridges’s role in The Big Lebowski” and “Jeff Bridges’ role in The Big Lebowski” are both accepted — the s-less form is especially common in British English with names that already end in s.
2. The double genitive is a genuine exception. “Distant Voices, Still Lives is one of the early films of the director’s” means one among several of his films — this fixed, idiomatic “of + ‘s” pattern is correct, unlike the mixed marker mistake above.
3. Inanimate things can still take ‘s. Single well-known works often take ‘s even though they’re “things” — Dirty Pretty Things’ tension still keeps audiences on edge sounds just as natural as the tension of Dirty Pretty Things.
4. Joint vs separate possession. When two people share credit for the same work, only the second name takes ‘s — the director and producer’s shared vision shaped Mrs Henderson Presents (they worked as one team). When two people contribute something separately, both names take ‘s — the writer’s and the director’s approaches to High Fidelity (2000) were distinct.
Practice: ‘s or of?
Eight quick questions. Pick the answer you’d actually say — you get the explanation either way.
1. ___ film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
A named person needs the possessive ‘s before the noun.
2. Have you seen the ending ___ Doubt?
“Of” links “ending” and the film title in this pattern — you can’t insert ‘s mid-phrase like this.
3. The ___ strike delayed the release of The Marvels in 2023.
A plural noun ending in -s takes only an apostrophe.
4. ___ marketing team compared its tone to both Tamara Drewe and The Program.
A named organisation needs the possessive ‘s before the noun.
5. Have you seen the poster ___ The Grifters?
“Poster” belongs to a thing (the film), so “of” is the natural choice here.
6. The ___ favourite scene in Encanto was the family reunion.
Children is already an irregular plural — add ‘s, never childrens’.
7. Fruitvale Station is one of the early films ___.
This is the double genitive — “of + ‘s” is the fixed idiom meaning “one among several”.
8. ___ retrospective celebrated Terence Davies’s contribution to British cinema.
BAFTA is singular, so it takes ‘s — BAFTAs’ would wrongly treat it as a plural.
Keep going
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