Mens or Men’s or Mens’ (English Grammar Explained)

Grammar / By

Men is the plural for man. Men’s is the plural possessive form of men. Mens’ is not used in English. 

Men/Mans

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.

Men’s 

Men’s is the plural possessive form of Man/Men. We use the possessive form of men when we want to show that more than one man owns something.

The men’s tennis rankings are coming out soon

Remember we are talking about more than one man.

If you need a possessive for only one man, then “man’s” is correct.

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Mens’ 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?

Mens’ is incorrect and should not be used in English.

Mens or Men’s health?

It should be “Men’s health”. 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. 

Mens or Men’s clothing?

“Men’s clothing” is correct in English. 

 

Conor
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