Understanding Possessive Apostrophes in Customer Orders

When analyzing the sentences provided, it's crucial to identify how the possessive apostrophes are used. Let’s break each sentence down:

• 1. The waiter took the customers order’s.

  This sentence incorrectly uses an apostrophe to form a plural. The word "order's" suggests possession, which is unneeded here.

• 2. The waiter took the customer’s orders.

  This sentence is grammatically correct. It shows that one customer has multiple orders, with the possessive apostrophe correctly indicating ownership of the orders.

• 3. ✓ The waiter took the customers’ orders.

  This is also correct. Here, the possessive apostrophe after "customers" indicates that the orders belong to more than one customer. Thus, multiple customers each have their own orders.

• 4. The waiter took the customers orders.

  This sentence lacks any possessive apostrophes, leading to confusion about ownership. It implies that "customers orders" is a compound noun, which is not clear.

Among these sentences, the second and third sentences are punctuated clearly. The second states that a single customer has multiple orders, while the third suggests multiple customers have orders, both of which are clearer than the others. Using the possessive form appropriately clarifies who the orders belong to, which is essential for understanding the meaning.