Meaning & use
tradesman's
Last updated
Meanings
determinerbefore a noun
Belonging to or connected with a skilled manual worker who is paid for their work.
Grammar: Used only before a noun as a possessive: a tradesman's account, the tradesman's tools.
Patterns
- a tradesman's something
- the tradesman's something
The plumber parked his tradesman's van outside our gate.
They keep a tradesman's entrance at the back of the shop for deliveries.
A good tradesman's reputation spreads quickly by word of mouth.
proper nounproper
A place, shop, or service used by or meant for skilled manual workers.
Grammar: Used in names and signs such as 'Tradesman's Arms' or 'Tradesman's Entrance', with a capital letter.
Patterns
- Tradesman's Arms
- Tradesman's Entrance
We met at the Tradesman's Arms, a pub near the docks.
Follow the sign for the Tradesman's Entrance on the left side of the building.
Common combinations
- a tradesman's van
- He loaded his tools into a tradesman's van before sunrise.
- a tradesman's tools
- A joiner's workshop is full of a tradesman's tools.
- the tradesman's entrance
- Staff and deliveries use the tradesman's entrance at the back.
- a tradesman's account
- The hardware store offers a tradesman's account with monthly billing.
- a tradesman's reputation
- Word of mouth builds a tradesman's reputation faster than advertising.
Synonyms and how they differ
- craftsman's
- Similar possessive form, but it stresses high skill in making things by hand, while 'tradesman's' stresses paid manual work such as plumbing or electrical repairs.
- workman's
- Close in meaning and also possessive, but 'workman's' is more old-fashioned and often refers to a manual laborer rather than a self-employed skilled worker.
Word family
Commonly confused: tradesman's or tradesman? tradesman's or tradesmen?
tradesman's vs tradesman
'Tradesman' is the person; 'tradesman's' shows that something belongs to that person. Compare 'a tradesman arrived' with 'a tradesman's van arrived'.
tradesman's vs tradesmen
'Tradesmen' is simply the plural (two tradesmen), while 'tradesman's' is possessive and needs a following noun.
Practice
Which sentence uses the possessive form correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Tradesman's' is a possessive determiner and must be followed by the thing owned, here 'tools'. Option 2 drops the apostrophe, so it reads like a noun used as an adjective. Option 3 leaves the possessive with nothing to belong to, and option 4 wrongly adds a second apostrophe to the plural 'tools'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tradesman's”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.