Congresses or Congress’s or Congress’? (Correct Possessive Explained)

The possessive form gets really tricky when working with nouns that end in “S.” There seem to be a lot of contradicting rules that we need to go over. This article will look at the correct possessive forms of “congress” and how we can use them all.

Congresses or Congress’s or Congress’: Which Is The Correct Possessive Form?

The correct possessive form of “congress” is “congress’s.” We keep the extra “s” at the end of the word even though “congress” already ends with an “S.” However, if the object or word following “congress’s” begins with an “S,” we would drop the “S” after the apostrophe.

To help you understand more about all the forms, you can refer to the following:

Singular	Congress
Plural	Congresses
Singular possessive	Congress’s
Plural possessive	Congresses’

The two possessive forms follow different rules. That’s part of the reason why so many people struggle to get their heads around them.

The singular possessive includes the “‘s” ending, meaning that “congress’s” is correct. However, the plural possessive form removes the “S” after the apostrophe, meaning that only “congresses'” is correct.

Congresses

Let’s start with the plural form since it’s the easiest of the three forms to understand.

“Congresses” is the plural form of the singular “congress.” We use it only when talking about multiple “congresses” in the sentence, and there is no possessive form involved in the word.

Since it’s not a possessive form, there’s no way for “congresses” to own an object in a sentence. You can see that in the following examples:

1. Multiple congresses have gathered together to discuss what to do next with the rulings.
2. The congresses are finding it hard to come to any sort of agreement with each other.
3. Which of the following congresses do you believe in the most?
4. Our congresses are not trying to compete for different rights; we’re simply trying to find common ground and work together.
5. You should not belong to more congresses than you can handle; otherwise, you’ll get all confused!

“Congresses” is the plural form of “congress.” It only ever talks about multiple subjects of “congress” rather than involving any possessed objects.

Congress’s

The first possessive form is “congress’s.” This takes the singular word “congress” and adds the expected possessive rules of an apostrophe and an “S.”

The singular possessive form is “congress’.” We use this to talk about one “congress” owning an object in a sentence. The object comes directly after “congress'” in the sentence to highlight the ownership of it.

There is one exception to the extra “S” at the end of “congress” here. If the word following “congress’s” begins with an “S,” we must drop the “S” after the apostrophe. If we don’t, we’re left with the following:

• Congress’s statement

There are four “S” letters together in the above example, which is grammatically incorrect. It’s difficult to read and is even harder to pronounce, which is why we must drop the “S” after the apostrophe.

1. Congress’s methods aren’t something that I agree with, but I have to stand by them.
2. Our congress’s meetings are taking place now, and we don’t know what the results will be.
3. Congress’ statement will be available to view in the coming days.
4. Congress’s time is precious, which is why they’re so secretive while they’re in office.
5. Congress’s business plan doesn’t make any sense, and I’m sure that there’s something we can do to fix them!

“Congress’s” is the singular possessive form. It acts as the subject of the sentence, while the noun that directly follows it is the “object.” When combined, the subject owns the object, which is what the possessive form shows.

Congresses’

“Congresses'” isn’t something you come by often, but it’s still an acceptable word to use. It’s the plural possessive form, and it’s rare that multiple “congresses” will ever own the same object.

“Congresses'” takes the plural “congresses” and adds an apostrophe to create the plural possessive form. It is used when multiple congresses own the same object or the same group of objects.

There aren’t many cases where “congresses'” will make sense. We often only talk about “congress” in the singular form since there’s only ever one “congress” that applies to most people.

Still, it’s correct to only include an apostrophe after “congresses” and drop the extra “S” you might expect. These examples will show you how that works:

• Correct: Both of the congresses’ meetings clashed, making it very difficult to get anything done.
• Incorrect: All of the congresses’s gatherings were canceled at the same time.
• Correct: Which of the congresses’ members do you have the most faith in?
• Incorrect: None of the congresses’s findings in my area are worth looking into.
• Correct: Your congresses’ ideals are nothing compared to the ones that mine offers.
• Incorrect: Both of the congresses’s court dates have been set.

“Congresses'” refers to multiple “congresses” at once. We include an object directly after the plural possessive form to indicate what is owned by the multiple “congresses.”

Quiz: Have You Mastered Congresses or Congress’s or Congress’?

We believe that a quiz is the best way to solidify your understanding of this article. We’ll include all the answers after this section, but make sure you’ve been paying close attention before answering any of them (you don’t want to get them wrong!)

6. (A. congresses / B. congress’s / C. congresses’) time management is abysmal.
7. (A. congresses / B. congress’s / C. congresses’) are a very important part of the political system.
8. Which of these (A. congresses / B. congress’s / C. congresses’) do you think offers the best support?
9. Your (A. congresses / B. congress’s / C. congress’) statement is irrelevant to me.
10. Both of the (A. congresses / B. congress’s / C. congresses’) overlapping testimonies contradict each other.

Quiz answers

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

Final Thoughts

“Congress’s” is correct in the singular possessive form when one congress owns an object in a sentence. We drop the “S” at the end when the following word starts with an “S.” “Congresses'” is the only acceptable plural possessive form, with no rules that change its spelling.

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