The word else’s is the correct possessive form of the word else. You use it after words like every, any, no, and some to discuss things belonging to another person. E.g., “Someone else’s car is parked in front of my driveway.” Furthermore, the term elses is incorrect.
Due to the fact that there is no plural form of else, the word elses with no apostrophe is an incorrect grammatical form, and you should not use it in your writing.
Furthermore, the word else means another, other, or different, and there is only one possessive form, which is else’s.
Here are some examples of the term else’s in context:
- He doesn’t like anyone else’s cooking except for his mother’s.
- I think we should ask someone else’s opinion before we proceed.
- Everyone else’s class schedule at college is better than mine.
The difference between the examples is that anyone else’s and everyone else’s refer to all people or all the people in a particular place. In contrast, someone else’s refers to a specified person or number of people.
Now that you have learned the basics about the term else’s, please keep reading to discover more about how you can use the term else’s correctly in your writing.
Else’s
The term else’s is the only correct possessive form of the word else.
The word else comes from the Old English term elles, which means other, different, or another.
Therefore, you use the possessive form else’s to indicate that something either belongs to or was done by someone else.
In terms of things that belong to people, you can use else’s to refer to objects, as well as opinions and abilities.
- I don’t know who else’s house is big enough for us to all fit in comfortably.
- No one else’s advice made him change his mind.
- I don’t want anyone else’s love except yours.
Elses
The term elses is wrong, and you should not use it. If you want to use the possessive of the word else, you must use else’s.
- Incorrect: I want to get someone elses diagnosis before having the operation.
- Correct: I want to get someone else’s diagnosis before having the operation.
Also, because there is no plural form, there is no plural possessive form. This means that elses’ is also incorrect.
Furthermore, if you want to use else in a non-possessive context, it must always remain as else because there is no plural form. Consequently, the other words in the sentence indicate plural quantities rather than else.
For example, in the following sentence, we can refer to all the people at a particular place using the word everyone.
- Everyone else said they enjoyed the food except Georgina.
Alternatively, we can refer to no people by using the term no one.
- No one else can compare to you.