Verb Agreement in Sentences with Possessive Nouns

Question

Does the verb need to agree with the possessive noun or the noun that is being possessed? Example:

"The leaves' color changes in the fall." or "The leaves' color change in the fall."

Answer 1

The answer is that the verb must agree with the SUBJECT of the sentence, which, in this case, is color.

Some of the confusion is caused by the fact that there appear to be two nouns in a row—leaves and color—but only one of them is the subject of the sentence. In the sentence you cited, leaves is modifying color, telling the reader something about the color (i.e., whose color). This sentence could also have been written the color of the leaves... which would make the structure a little clearer. Additionally, leaves could be substituted for with any other modifier: the bright color, the new color, the beautiful color, and so on.

Thus, the sentence should read: The leaves' color changes in the fall.

P.S. As a stylistic matter, this word order would be most likely if you had already been talking about the leaves, for example:

The leaves of the oak tree are a distinctive in their shape and not easily confused with leaves of other trees. The leaves' color changes in the fall.

Otherwise, such a sentiment could be said:

The color of the leaves changes every fall.

This word order places a little more emphasis on the color rather than on the leaves.

Answer 2

Hmmm. I disagree with the above explanations. Here's why:

Actually, the subject here is color or colors ... not leaves. The verb needs to match color/s. This is because it's the colors that are changing in this sentence, not the leaves.

Either color or colors might be correct, depending on what you're describing. Are the leaves all one color or many colors? Assuming they are many colors:

The leaves' colors change in the fall.

Or

The leaves' color changes in the fall.

Or

The leaf's color changes in the fall.

Or

leaf's colors change in the fall.

Alternatively, in this case the leaves are the subject:

The leaves change in the fall.