Places and Businesses: Dropped Noun — English Grammar Exercises
boss's or bosses'? Tom and Sarah's or Tom's and Sarah's? — own it
Possessive 's with Places and Businesses: The Dropped Noun
English has a well-established pattern of using possessive 's to refer to a place associated with a person or service, while omitting the noun that names the type of place. This ellipsis is not informal slang — it is grammatically standard and appears consistently in British English across formal and informal registers. Corpus data from the British National Corpus shows that this pattern is near-universal in spoken British English for healthcare providers, service businesses, and domestic locations. Learners who omit the apostrophe are understood to refer to the person rather than their premises, which can create confusion in context.
Healthcare and Service Providers
She left her bag at the hairdresser's. (= the hairdresser's salon)
I'll pick it up from the pharmacist's. (= the pharmacist's shop)
My appointment at the doctor's is at three. (= the doctor's surgery)
People's Homes
I left my jacket at my friend's. (= my friend's house)
We stayed at my grandmother's for the weekend. (= my grandmother's house)
Place Names with 's
Many established British place names retain the possessive 's as part of the name. The 's is part of the official name and cannot be dropped: St James's Park, St Paul's Cathedral, King's College. Names ending in -s still add 's in standard British English usage.
Common Mistakes
✗ We stayed at my grandmother for the weekend. → ✓ We stayed at my grandmother's.
✗ The dentist is closed on Sundays. → ✓ The dentist's is closed on Sundays. (referring to the place, not the person)
Frequently Asked Questions
When do you add 's and when do you add just an apostrophe (s')?
The rule depends on whether the noun is singular or plural and how the plural is formed. Singular nouns — including those ending in -s — add 's: the boss's office, James's car. Regular plural nouns already ending in -s add only an apostrophe after the -s: the students' essays, my parents' house. Irregular plural nouns that do not end in -s add 's: children's playground, women's changing room, people's opinions. The key question is: what is the base plural form? If it ends in -s, add only an apostrophe. If it doesn't, add 's.
When do you use 's and when do you use an of-phrase?
's is the natural choice for people, animals, organisations, institutions, and time/distance/value expressions: the director's office, the government's decision, a week's holiday. The of-phrase is more natural with inanimate objects and physical parts of things: the roof of the house, the beginning of the film, the colour of the sky. For parts of objects, English also frequently uses compound nouns with no apostrophe: table leg (not table's leg), car door handle (not car's door handle). The rule of thumb: if you can replace it with a person's name, use 's. If the owner is an inanimate object, prefer of or a compound noun.
What is joint possession and how do you show it with apostrophes?
Joint possession means two or more people share a single item. In that case, only the last name takes 's: Tom and Sarah's wedding (one shared wedding). Separate possession means each person has their own. In that case, every name takes 's: Mark's and Lisa's offices (different offices). The grammar follows the logic: if one apostrophe covers both people, it must go on the final name in the pair. If each person owns their own item independently, each name needs its own possessive marker.
What is the double genitive and why is 'a friend of Sarah's' correct?
The double genitive (also called the 'of-possessive') is the construction: a/an + noun + of + possessive. 'A friend of Sarah's' means one of Sarah's friends — the possessive 's is required because the sentence implies Sarah has multiple friends and you are referring to one of them. Without the 's, the meaning changes: 'a friend of Sarah' would suggest the friend is somehow about Sarah or depicts her. The pattern extends to pronouns (a friend of mine, a colleague of yours) and to plural names (a neighbour of the Smiths'). The double genitive is obligatory when the indefinite article a/an precedes the noun.