Possessive pronouns in English.
I have a book.
This is my book.
MY is a possessive adjective
The book is mine.
MINE is a possessive pronoun.
What is a possessive pronoun and when do we use them?
Look at the sentence.
This book is my book, not your book.
Here the word book is repeated three times
so it sounds very repetitive.
We already know we're talking about a book
so we can replace my book and your book with possessive pronouns.
We can say: This book is mine, not yours.
Mine replaces my book.
Yours replaces your book.
Now it doesn't sound repetitive. It sounds more natural.
This book is mine, not yours.
Mine and yours are possessive pronouns.
A possessive pronoun replaces a possessive adjective + noun
to avoid repeating information that is already clear.
Look at these sentences:
This is my book.
These are my books.
In the second sentence, books is plural.
Notice how the possessive adjective MY does not change
when it comes before a singular noun or plural noun.
It is always the same.
How can we change these sentences to include a possessive pronoun?
They become:
This is mine.
These are mine.
Again, you can see there is no change.
Possessive pronouns also only have one form.
It doesn't matter if they refer to one thing or more things.
They always remain the same.
We cannot say: These are mines. No, this is NOT correct.
Let's compare sentences with possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns together.
My shirt is green.
The shirt is mine.
Your book is new.
The book is yours.
His pillow is soft.
The pillow is his.
Her dog is small.
The dog is hers.
It's bone is old.
There is no possessive pronoun for IT.
We don't use ITS as a possessive pronoun.
Out bird is noisy.
The bird is ours.
Your house is big.
The house is yours.
Remember, YOUR can be used to refer to one you or two, you plus you.
Their car is slow.
The car is theirs.
Let's look at some more examples.
Please give this dictionary to Susan. It is hers.
What does hers refer to?
In this case hers refers to her dictionary.
We can eat all of the food. It's ours.
What does ours refer to?
In this case ours refers to our food.
I found his passport but not mine.
What does mine refer to?
In this case mine means my passport.
Are these Alice's keys or yours?
What does yours refer to?
In this case yours refers to your keys.
Excuse me, those seats are ours.
What does ours refer to?
In this case ours refers to our seats.
This is Jack's wallet and I think this watch is his too.
What does his refer to?
In this case his refers to his watch.
Possessive pronouns don't always go at the end of a sentence.
They are also common near the beginning of a sentence, especially when you are answering a question.
Are these your shoes?
No, mine are in my bag.
Here mine refers to my shoes.
Is this Vicky's dress?
No, hers is black.
Here hers refers to her dress.
Which bag is yours?
Mine is the blue one.
Notice how in the last example
there are two possessive pronouns,
yours in the question
and mine in the answer.
Here yours refers to your bag
and mine refers to my bag.
Let's practice.
Complete the following sentences with the correct possessive pronoun.
The answers will appear in five seconds.
1. The gloves belong to Mary. They are hers.
2. Their meals have arrived but we are waiting for ours.
3. Those aren't my keys. Mine are in my pocket.
4. This book is yours. It has your name on it.
5. The house belongs to Jack and Jill. It is theirs.
6. Ange and I have a new car. It is ours.
7. Is this Philips pen? No, it's not his.
8. It isn't my phone because mine is at home.
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