singular noun ending in S + possessive ‘ (-s’) – English Grammar Profiler

From Google/Oxford, the suffix:

denotes possession in plural nouns and sometimes in singular nouns having a final s. For example:  “the girls’ dormitories”

Usually, the possessive singular noun takes ‘s regardless if it ends in s or not.  (Many English users get this wrong.)

You are the boss‘s son. (A2 grammar)

listen

Boss is singular.  However, Species can be singular or plural.  In the following example, species is singular ‘this species‘:

Now, we actually don’t know this species‘ closest relative yet. (C2 grammar)

listen

C2 point 66 in DETERMINERS/possessives is defined as:

apostrophe after singular nouns ending in s, to indicate possession.

The English Grammar Profile only lists one example:

and mentions it is a very low-frequency feature.  This grammar is more centered on the vocabulary here because ‘series’ is considered a ‘zero plural’.  It is singular or plural with no s or es for plural forms. It also refers to a group of things.  The only other similar word I can think of is ‘species‘

*Searching for this grammar is incredibly hard because it locates a lot of errors in the English of ‘expert’ users or in the tagging!

A search in iWeb for:

*s_NN1 _GE _N

1 BUSINESS ‘S NEEDS 464

2 GOODNESS ‘ SAKE 454

(Nouns that end in an s sound take only an apostrophe when they are followed by sake.)

In the Cambridge online dictionary:

for goodness’ sake
(also for Pete’s/heaven’s/pity’s sake)

I am surprised or annoyed by this:
For goodness’ sake, don’t tell anyone else about this!

3 BUSINESS ‘ NEEDS 450

4 BUSINESS ‘S STOCK 438

5 BUSINESS ‘ SUCCESS 379

*In the above example business’ should be business’s

6 BUSINESS ‘S SUCCESS 365
7 BUSINESS ‘S REVENUE 330

8 RIGHTEOUSNESS ‘ SAKE 305 9 BUSINESS ‘S NAME 274 10 BUSINESS ‘S WEBSITE 270 11 BOSS ‘S OFFICE 241 12 BUSINESS ‘ 239 13 BUSINESS ‘ WEBSITE 209 14 BUSINESS ‘S REPUTATION 207 15 BOSS ‘S BOSS 204 16 BUSINESS ‘ NAME 191 17 WITNESS ‘S TESTIMONY 181 18 CONGRESS ‘ POWER 177 19 BUSINESS ‘ REPUTATION 176 20 CONGRESS ‘S POWER 173 21 NEWS ‘ 172 22 BUSINESS ‘S FINANCES 166 23 BUSINESS ‘S ABILITY 165 24 BOSS ‘S DAY 163 25 BUSINESS ‘S GROWTH 155 26 CRISIS ‘ 155 27 WITNESS ‘ TESTIMONY 155 28 BUSINESS ‘ GROWTH 152 29 BOSS ‘S DAUGHTER 149 30 BUSINESS ‘S CASH 144 31 BUSINESS ‘ ABILITY 140 32 NEWS ‘ REQUEST 136 33 OCTOPUS ‘S GARDEN 132 34 BUSINESS ‘ OPERATIONS 126 35 BUSINESS ‘S ASSETS 125 36 BUSINESS ‘S MARKETING 125 37 BOSS ‘ OFFICE 124 38 BUSINESS ‘S OPERATIONS 121 39 BOSS ‘S WIFE 120 40 BUSINESS ‘S RESPONSE 120 41 BUSINESS ‘ MARKETING 119 42 CONGRESS ‘ INTENT 117 43 BUSINESS ‘S CREDIT 116 44 NEWS ‘ SEAN 116 45 BUSINESS ‘ FINANCES 113 46 BUSINESS ‘ PERFORMANCE 108 47 PROCESS ‘ 108 48 BUSINESS ‘S PERFORMANCE 105 49 PROCESS ‘S LIFECYCLE 105 50 BUSINESS ‘S DATA 100 51 BUSINESS ‘ CASH 96 52 BUSINESS ‘S GOALS 96 53 BOSS ‘S SON 95 54 BUSINESS ‘S PRODUCTS 94 55 BUSINESS ‘S ENERGY 93 56 BUSINESS ‘S FUTURE 87 57 NEWS ‘ BILL 87 58 NEWS ‘ LIST 87 59 SUCCESS ‘ 87 60 CONGRESS ‘S INTENT 85 61 LENS ‘ APERTURE 85 62 BUSINESS ‘S BRAND 84 63 COMPLETENESS ‘ SAKE 84 64 BUSINESS ‘S PROFITS 82 65 BUSINESS ‘S EXPOSURE 78 66 CLASS ‘S CONSTRUCTOR 78 67 BUSINESS ‘ BRAND 77 68 BUSINESS ‘S VALUE 77 69 PROCESS ‘S ADDRESS 77 70 BUSINESS ‘S INCOME 76 71 PROGRESS ‘ 76 72 WITNESS ‘S EVIDENCE 76 73 ADDRESS ‘ FIELD 75 74 ASS ‘S COLT 72 75 BUSINESS ‘ DATA 72 76 BUSINESS ‘ PRODUCTS 72 77 BUSINESS ‘S SALES 72 78 STATUS ‘ COLUMN 71 79 CLASS ‘ 70 80 LOSS ‘ 70 81 CONGRESS ‘ APPROVAL 69 82 NEWS ‘ CHRIS 69 83 BOSS ‘ BOSS 68 84 NEWS ‘ SECTION 68 85 BUSINESS ‘ CREDIT 67 86 NEWS ‘ GEORGE 66 87 BOSS ‘S JOB 65 88 NEWS ‘ DAVID 65 89 BUSINESS ‘S BANK 64 90 LENS ‘ FOCUS 64 91 NEWS ‘ MEGYN 64 92 POLITICS ‘ 64 93 BUSINESS ‘ FUTURE 63 94 BUSINESS ‘ GOALS 63 95 BUSINESS ‘S LOGO 63 96 CONGRESS ‘ DECISION 63 97 BUSINESS ‘ VALUE 62 98 CONGRESS ‘ AUTHORITY 62 99 CONGRESS ‘ FAILURE 62

100 BUSINESS ‘S CUSTOMER 61

2 BUSINESS ‘S 15739 3 NEWS ‘ 10719 4 CLASS ‘ 5997 5 PRESS ‘ 5811 6 BOSS ‘S 4868 7 CONGRESS ‘ 3983 8 BOSS ‘ 3884 9 PROCESS ‘ 3040 10 CLASS ‘S 2835 11 CONGRESS ‘S 2637 12 STATUS ‘ 2498 13 PLUS ‘ 2371 14 LENS ‘ 2295 15 SUCCESS ‘ 2089 16 PRINCESS ‘ 2072 17 PROGRESS ‘ 1997 18 CAMPUS ‘ 1973 19 ADDRESS ‘ 1886 20 CRISIS ‘ 1869 21 ACTRESS ‘ 1816 22 ACCESS ‘ 1806 23 IRS ‘S 1725 24 EXPRESS ‘ 1650 25 CROSS ‘ 1645 26 WITNESS ‘ 1489 27 PRINCESS ‘S 1483 28 PASS ‘ 1384 29 POLITICS ‘ 1333 30 WITNESS ‘S 1327 31 FOCUS ‘ 1309 32 PRESS ‘S 1224 33 BUS ‘ 1191 34 KISS ‘ 1174 35 GAS ‘ 1170 36 LOSS ‘ 1158 37 PROCESS ‘S 1148 38 ATHLETICS ‘ 1136 39 MISS ‘ 1133 40 CAMPUS ‘S 1094 41 ANALYSIS ‘ 1070 42 GENIUS ‘ 1058 43 DARKNESS ‘ 975 44 VIRUS ‘ 942 45 HAPPINESS ‘ 886 46 DRESS ‘ 865 47 GLASS ‘ 851 48 ACTRESS ‘S 788 49 GODDESS ‘ 784 50 CHAOS ‘ 779 51 NEWS ‘S 771 52 ELECTRONICS ‘ 736 53 BONUS ‘ 727 54 IRS ‘ 716 55 STRESS ‘ 713 56 MADNESS ‘ 705 57 WIRELESS ‘ 703

58 GOODNESS ‘ 693 (most of these are tagging errors)

61 BIAS ‘ 677 (most of these are tagging errors)

C2 vocabulary: bias, goodness