Possesive'

[Arushin]

I need some answers. I wrote a sentence:
The man's bicycles were stolen from him.
Someone told me the apostrophe goes after the s and depending on the way you say it, you may put another s after that.
I could use the rule. I am very confused right about now.

[riverkid]

Originally Posted by Arushin

I need some answers. I wrote a sentence:
The man's bicycles were stolen from him.
Someone told me the apostrophe goes after the s and depending on the way you say it, you may put another s after that.
I could use the rule. I am very confused right about now.

'man' is singular denoting one man, Arushin, so your example is fine. If there were two or more men [plural], then you would put the apostrophe after the 's', as in,


The mens' bicycles were stolen from [him] them.

[Arushin]

Originally Posted by riverkid

'man' is singular denoting one man, Arushin, so your example is fine. If there were two or more men [plural], then you would put the apostrophe after the 's', as in,


The mens' bicycles were stolen from [him] them.

Now, my English teacher told me that with words such as genius and making it possessive, you would write it as you say it.
For example, I would say genius's plate, but others may say genius' plate, or maybe I didn't understand it and he was talking about the plural forms or something else I didn't understand fully.

[David L.]

If there were two or more men [plural], then you would put the apostrophe after the 's', as in,
The mens' bicycles were stolen from [him] them.
This is incorrect.

Here is the rule:
Determine who owns the object/s. Then the apostrophe comes straight after. So:
John owns the bike, so
It is John's bike. - John 's
The boys have bicycles. So
They are the boys' bicycles - boys '
The child owns the bike, so
It is the child's bike - child 's
The children have hats. So
They are the children's hats - children 's
the man has a bicycle, so
It is the man's bicycle - man 's
Men own their bicycles, so
They are the men's bicycles - men 's

[riverkid]

I wrote:
If there were two or more men [plural], then you would put the apostrophe after the 's', as in,
The mens' bicycles were stolen from [him] them.

Originally Posted by David L.

This is incorrect.

David is right. It is indeed, incorrect. I was mistaken. Sorry for the inaccurate information, Arushin.

[Arushin]

It is all right. I thank both of you for your help.