Explained: The Distinction Between ‘Employees’ and ‘Employee’s

Employees are essential to the success of any firm because they are a company’s building blocks. These employees are in charge, and their dedication, enthusiasm, and emotional bond with the company are assets in terms of money.

However, when discussing employees, confusion arises regarding grammatical rules as the words, “employees’ ” and “employee’s” have different meanings. But suppose you know the rules that apply to these two grammatical concepts, then, in that case, it becomes easier to understand and simpler to recognize & judge where to put the apostrophe so that anyone can comprehend the actual meaning of it.

The idea behind this uncertainty is plural and possessive forms, which look similar, even though, their meaning is different. You can use an apostrophe before “s” with a singular noun showing possession, whereas, an apostrophe after “s” is used with a plural noun showing possession.

The word “employee’s” suggests something that a single employee owns. It is a singular possessive word. On the other hand, if there are multiple employees, they are referred to as “employees’.” If you want to mention something that numerous employees own, you’ll have to use the plural possessive form “employees’.” The most important thing is that both words are correct while having different meanings.

This article will explore both forms and clarify whether we are talking about single or numerous workers. It will demonstrate the ownership of both. But, before figuring out the differences, we will look into the exact definition of an employee according to the literature.

Who is an Employee?

Now, it’s time to grasp the meaning of an employee to sort out the linguistic issues properly. So, to learn more about it, let’s dive into the word’s context.

The “employee” originated from the French word employe.’ It’s a word that dates around 1850. An employee is someone who receives payment to work for someone else, whether it’s an organization or any other client.

The person who offers employment opportunities is the employer, and an employee performs his job for the betterment of the organization. The employer is responsible for paying wages and salaries to all employees.

Words like worker, job holder, staff member, and pay earner are synonyms for this noun.

After receiving the information about the word’s literal meaning, let’s move toward the disparity.

Employees’ Vs. Employee’s

Let’s consider a few examples to understand the fundamental difference between employee’s and employees’. The following examples will show some noun applications in singular, plural, and possessive forms.

When the word “employee” is used as a singular noun, the example could be

• Mr. Harry is a valuable employee of XYZ organization.

The employees are a plural noun

• Several employees left the organization because of specific salaries and work-life balance issues.

An employee in its singular possessive form is “employee’s.”

• The parking area for an employee’s car is at the corporate headquarters.

The possessive plural form of the word employee is “employees.”

• The employees threw a farewell party for their boss.

The above examples display singular, plural, and possessive usage of nouns like “employee.”So let’s begin by comparing singular nouns as well as plural nouns before moving on to a brief discussion of how to pluralize English nouns.

The Plural of Employee

Understanding plurals is the first fundamental concept to grasp. With this help, we will be clear about the plural form of employee and other nouns.

Nouns are naming words for individuals, groups, or objects.

The nouns have two families. The first is “countable noun.” It is a group of nouns that we can count, including singular and plural forms. The second one is the “non-countable” or “uncountable nouns.” The terms like “love,” “labor,” and “water” express abstract qualities or masses that are impossible for us to divide and quantify.

Now, if you are wondering from which family the employee word belongs? No need to worry about it, as we are heading towards this issue.

The term “employee” refers to someone who works for a business or another individual and receives payment for their services.

Pluralization of Countable Nouns: Applying Rules in Sentences

When talking about the countable nouns, we add the letter “s” at the end to convert them into plural form, as in the instances below:

Employee	Employees
Dog	Dogs
Shirt	Shirts
Hand	Hands

The examples above justify the approach of singularity and plurality of countable nouns. But how to apply the plural form of the employee in sentences? For that, we provide a list of sentences below. After reviewing them, take a pen and notebook to make some of your own.

• The ABC company has 1548 employees.
• The employees decided to go on the picnic.
• She prefers to receive treatment that is unique from that of the other employees.

Two forms of the employee; the possessive and plural possessive

English nouns’ possessive form shows that they are the owner of a particular object. Because it adheres to a fairly strict set of rules, it is relatively easy to master.

The apostrophe is where the fundamental confusion arises in different minds. But if you adhere to the straightforward guidelines, you shouldn’t ever get the possessive form wrong.

The samples below will enable an accurate picture of employees’ possessive and plural forms. Where and when to add the “s” and how it can be employed in the literature.

• Add an apostrophe ( ‘ ) when there is a singular noun (even with those terms ending in the -s). The example sentences could be, “The employee’s coat was at his chair.” “Ms. Sara is coming for dinner.”
• Add an apostrophe ( ‘ ) with the plurals that don’t end with the -s. The sample sentences are “The women’s jackets were in the market.” “Water pollution destroyed the habitat of all the living creatures.”
• Add apostrophes with the plural forms that end with the -s. The sample sentences for this scenario are “The cats were shivering in the rain.” “The dogs’ owner demanded a high price for selling his pets.”

The plural possessive form of employees and the singular possessive form of employees should now be clear to you. These possessive forms have a proper place in grammar.

Employees’ or Employee’s: Applications

Let’s now analyze the definition and applications of these two words; the possessive forms of “employee.” What do “employees” and “employees'” mean? If you doubt the arrangements, remember that you can flip the possessive to form an “if “statement. We will demonstrate it with specific sample sentences below;

• The employee’s bag = the bag of the employee
• The employees cars = the cars of the employees

It has now been clear to you exactly what these terms mean. The word “employees'” talks about a large group of people; it refers to all the things that belong to numerous employees. It could be anything owned by two or more persons.

However, the term “employee” picturizes a single person, especially alluding to a possession that belongs to the employee in question.

Uses of the Apostrophe

The word “employee’s” denotes a single individual who works for an agency; however, “employees'” refers to a group of coworkers the same company employs. We have previously discussed this fact before the utilization of an apostrophe. Let’s now head toward where we must add an apostrophe.

The possessive forms of nouns most frequently put an apostrophe before or after the letter “s,” which makes it confusing. Let’s explore the apostrophe and look at how we can use it.

The three primary uses of apostrophe are;

• During the formation of possessive nouns
• When displaying the absence of letters
• When using symbols, numerals, and letters to indicate plurals

Given this, you would wonder if “workers” has an apostrophe. You already know that we put apostrophes when using the “employee” in the possessive form, but not when it is merely used in the plural form and not a possessive form.

Employing determiners while referring to “employee.”

In written or spoken English, there are countless ways to utilize the word “employee,” a frequently used countable noun.

Today, we must focus on how it operates with determiners. Determiners are descriptive words that provide additional details about the noun. Now, list some determiners below.

“The” is the definite article

• The employee works in the refinery sector.

“A/An are indefinite articles.”

• An employee has shown me the way to the parking area.

“This/that/these/those are demonstrative words”

• This worker accused you of wrongdoing.
• These workers accused you of wrongdoing.

“My/mine/yours/his, etc., are possessive words.”

• The best performance award goes to his team.
• My staff member forgot to lock the office.

Does “All” use with Employee’s or Employees’?

“All” denotes a large number of people. Its placement before a noun shows the quantity. When mentioning several employees, more than a single one, it’s a recommendation to use “all employees” instead of “all employee.” Let’s see a few samples below

• All employees must report to the manager’s office at 4 pm.
• I’ve invited every employee to come along to the charity drive.

To provide more context, we frequently combine “all” with an article, a possessive or demonstrative pronoun, or a number, as in the instances below.

• All three employees attended the meeting.
• All these employees were present at the award ceremony.

Another situation in which we put “all” is when we utilize an employee as an attributive noun.

• You have to work hard to qualify for all employment necessities.

Bottom Line

• An employee plays a vital role in an organization. This article, however, focuses on the grammatical confusion between “employees” and “employee’s.”
• It is because these two words allude to a single position.
• The disparity between them occurs due to the apostrophe and the letter “s.” It is cleared through examples.
• Employees’ refer to a group of coworkers employed by the same business. Whereas “employee’s” describes a single person who works for an agency.
• We appropriately touched the possessive nouns to resolve all misunderstandings.
• Using ‘all’ correctly with ‘employees‘ ensures grammatical correctness.

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