Mans or Man’s or Mans’ (English Grammar Explained)

Grammar / By

Men is the plural for Man. Man’s is the singular possessive form of man. Men’s is the plural possessive form of men. 

Mans/Men

We use men when we want to make the word “man” plural.

So it is:

I need one man.

I need two men. 

Mans is incorrect and should not be used as the plural for man.

Man’s 

Man’s is the singular possessive form of man. We use the possessive form of man when we want to show that one man owns something.

This is a man’s bag.

I need to look after my man’s plant.

Remember we are talking about only one man. You can replace man’s with a name if that makes it easier to understand.

This is John’s bag.

We need to look after John’s plant.

Mans’ or Men’s

Men’s is the plural possessive form of men. When the noun already ends in “s” and we want to make the word possessive, we need to put the apostrophe after the “s”. In this case, the plural is irregular and “men” doesn’t end in “s” so we need to add “s” to men.

Where is the men’s room?

Mans or Man’s best friend?

It should be “Man’s best friend”. We need an apostrophe because an apostrophe shows possession. When you only add “s” that means it is a plural and that is incorrect in this situation. 

What is a Man’s Man?

A man’s man is a type of man that plays a traditional male role. 

What language is Le Mans? 

Le Mans is a noun in the French language. Le Mans is a town and race in France

Conor
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