Question

(5) to form the possessive of a hyphenated word, the name of an organization or a business firm, or a word in a group showing joint possession, add s or an apostrophe only to the last word.
examples mother - in - laws apartment
lewis and clarks expedition
acme hardwares sale
fey and poehlers comedy sketch
(6) to show individual possession of similar items by each noun in a word group, add s or an apostrophe only to each noun in the group.
example jareds, dalilas, jewels, and pacos campaign posters were all convincing.
(7) use an apostrophe to form the possessive of words that indicate time or that indicate an amount in cents or dollars.
examples five minutes rest
a full days work
a years time
a dollars worth
exercise 5 forming possessive nouns and pronouns
each item below expresses possession by means of a prepositional phrase. rewrite each item to express the same possession using a possessive noun or pronoun instead of a preposition.
ex. blare of the trumpets
trumpets blare

1. march of the toy soldiers
2. the hat of charles
3. the weather of the season
4. the main idea of it
5. the office of stone & rock co.
6. a guess of someone
7. the drawings of sheila and ryan
8. food for the cats
9. plans of someone else
10. honks of the geese

Explanation:

1. For "march of the toy soldiers", since it's a plural - non - possessive noun "toy soldiers", we add an apostrophe at the end to form the possessive: toy soldiers' march.
2. For "the hat of Charles", as "Charles" is a singular noun, we add's: Charles's hat.
3. For "the weather of the season", "season" is a singular noun, so we add's: season's weather.
4. For "the main idea of it", "it" is a pronoun, and its possessive form is "its": its main idea.
5. For "the office of Stone & Rock Co.", as it's a company name (a group showing joint possession), we add's to the last word: Stone & Rock Co.'s office.
6. For "a guess of someone", "someone" is a singular indefinite pronoun, we add's: someone's guess.
7. For "the drawings of Sheila and Ryan", indicating individual possession by each person, we add's to each name: Sheila's and Ryan's drawings.
8. For "food for the cats", "cats" is a plural - non - possessive noun, we add an apostrophe at the end: cats' food.
9. For "plans of someone else", "someone else" is a singular indefinite pronoun phrase, we add's: someone else's plans.
10. For "honks of the geese", "geese" is a plural - non - possessive noun, we add an apostrophe at the end: geese's honks.

Answer:

1. toy soldiers' march
2. Charles's hat
3. season's weather
4. its main idea
5. Stone & Rock Co.'s office
6. someone's guess
7. Sheila's and Ryan's drawings
8. cats' food
9. someone else's plans
10. geese's honks