Which sentence correctly uses possessive form?

Which sentence correctly uses possessive form?

• A. The students' books are on the shelf.
• B. The students books are on the shelf.
• C. The student’s books are on the shelf.
• D. The students books’ are on the shelf.

Answer: (A)

Forming possessives with plural nouns that end in s is the key idea here. When the possessor is more than one person and the noun ends with an s, you place the apostrophe after that s. So “the students’ books” means the books that belong to the students. That explains why the sentence with the apostrophe after the s is correct: it shows ownership by multiple students. The other forms break the rule in one way or another: missing the apostrophe, which makes it not possessive; using a singular possessive (student’s) would imply only one student owns the books; placing the apostrophe after books (books’) would wrongfully suggest something belonging to books, not to the students.

Forming possessives with plural nouns that end in s is the key idea here. When the possessor is more than one person and the noun ends with an s, you place the apostrophe after that s. So “the students’ books” means the books that belong to the students.

That explains why the sentence with the apostrophe after the s is correct: it shows ownership by multiple students. The other forms break the rule in one way or another: missing the apostrophe, which makes it not possessive; using a singular possessive (student’s) would imply only one student owns the books; placing the apostrophe after books (books’) would wrongfully suggest something belonging to books, not to the students.