Coaches or Coach’s or Coaches’? (Correct Possessive Explained)

When using the possessive form, we are met with some challenges. Some words don’t follow standard rules, but luckily, this article will cover a word that does. We’ll run you through how to use the possessive form of “coach” so you can write it properly.

Coaches or Coach’s or Coaches’: Which Is The Correct Possessive Form?

The correct possessive form of “coach” is “coach’s.” We use this form to refer to a singular “coach” owning an object. We can also use “coaches'” as the correct plural possessive form, but this only works when more than one “coach” owns an object.

The singular and plural possessive forms are similar in impact. The only difference comes from the amount of “coaches” being used. They both come from their singular and plural counterparts, too. As long as we know the possessive rules, we’ll know how to write them.

Singular	Coach
Plural	Coaches
Singular possessive	Coach’s
Plural possessive	Coaches’

As you can see, the singular “coach” becomes the singular possessive “coach’s.” We add an “‘s” to the end of the word to show that the “coach” now owns an object in the sentence.

The same works for “coaches,” which is the plural form. The plural possessive “coaches'” takes that plural form and adds an apostrophe to the end. Since the plural already ends with an “S,” we do not need another “S” after the apostrophe.

Coaches

Let’s start with the easiest of the three forms we are sharing with you. The plural form is by far the easiest because it doesn’t have any possessive attributes that we need to cover.

“Coaches” is correct when talking about more than one “coach.” There is no possession involved. It simply follows the standard pluralization of the word “coach,” which we use to talk about or describe “coaches.”

That’s all there is to it. As long as we’re talking about more than one “coach,” we can write it in this way.

Remember, “coaches” can refer to the vehicle that carries multiple passengers like a bus or a person who’s qualified to help teach certain things (mostly to do with physical fitness, though you can have “coaches” in all aspects of life).

1. The coaches gathered around to talk about their teaching methods.
2. I have two different mental health coaches that I go to.
3. There are too many coaches on the same route at the minute.
4. The coaches have all been returned to the depot.
5. My coaches would like to know more about what I do on a typical day.

“Coaches” refers to more than one “coach” only.

Coach’s

“Coach’s” is the first possessive form we will talk about. It’s the singular possessive form, which is slightly more common than the plural possessive form.

“Coach’s” means that a “coach” owns an object. We can use it when the object comes directly after “coach’s” in the sentence to show that the “coach” is the appointed owner of that thing.

The object can be anything. Even people can be objects if the context works (i.e., “the coach’s children” or “the coach’s passengers”).

The object will always come directly after the word “coach’s.” We use the “‘s” ending to show that it’s the plural form, and we pronounce it the same way that we’d pronounce the plural form.

1. The coach’s route has been changed too many times.
2. Your coach’s ideology is far better than anything I could have come up with!
3. My coach’s belief is that I’ll make it far in this world.
4. His coach’s team isn’t going to perform as well as they hope.
5. The coach’s qualifications aren’t nearly as impressive as I thought they’d be.

“Coach’s” works to talk about one “coach” owning an object.

Coaches’

Finally, we come to the plural possessive form. While it’s not a common form, it’s still grammatically correct, and it would help to know it.

“Coaches'” means that multiple “coaches” own an object or a similar group of objects. We can use it when the objects come straight after the plural possessive form.

The pronunciation of the word is the same as the plural form. We don’t include an extra “S” sound after it (like we would with the singular possessive form).

We also don’t include the “S” letter because “coaches” already ends with one. Instead, we simply add an apostrophe to show that it’s a possessive word.

1. The coaches’ meeting is somewhere in that building.
2. The coaches’ assignments are a lot more grueling than we thought they would be.
3. The coaches’ room is just around the corner.
4. Both of the coaches’ ideas contradicted each other, so they had to work on a compromise.
5. The coaches’ routes coincided, causing a lot of delays later down the road.

“Coaches'” works to talk about more than one “coach” owning an object or group of objects. It works well when the group of objects is the same. When this is the case, we simply write the object in the plural form (i.e., “coaches’ ideas”).

Quiz: Have You Mastered Coaches or Coach’s or Coaches’?

You might benefit from a quiz at this stage to see what you’ve picked up from this article. We’ll cover the answers after this section, but try your best to work them out yourself before you refer to them!

1. The (A. coaches / B. coach’s / C. coaches’) route isn’t the same as it once was.
2. All of my (A. coaches / B. coach’s / C. coaches’) registers are filled with names of people I don’t know.
3. My (A. coaches / B. coach’s / C. coaches’) ideas for helping me out so far haven’t proved useful!
4. The (A. coaches / B. coach’s / C. coaches’) have a meeting about what their next steps would be.
5. The (A. coaches / B. coach’s / C. coaches’) brother is on his way here now!

Quiz answers

1. B
2. C
3. B
4. A
5. B

Final Thoughts

“Coach’s” is the singular possessive form of “coach,” while “coaches'” is the plural possessive form. We can use them based on the number of “coaches” we’re talking about that own an object. Remember the possessive rules that come with the apostrophes for each, though.

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