Unit 3

Possessive pronouns 

They answer questions with Whose and clarify answers to questions with Which.

A: Whose coat is that?

B: It's mine. ( It's my coat.)

A: Which is her cup?

B: This one is hers.

Subject pronouns

I

You

He

She 

We 

They

Theirs

Possesive adjectives

My

Your 

His

Her

Our 

Their

Possesive Pronouns

Mine

Yours

His

Hers 

Ours

Theirs

Example

That's my jacket. / It's mine

Your dinner was great. / Yours was great.

Are these his keys? / Are these his?

She drives her car to work. / She drives hers to work.

These are our shoes. / These are ours

They finished their assignment. / They finished.

Be careful!

* Don't use a possessive adjective in place of a possessive pronoun. Is this yours? NOT Is this your?

* Don't use a noun after a possessive pronoun.

*These shoes are mine. NOT These are mine shoes.

Practice

Replace the noun phrases with possessive pronouns.

Possessive's Use & Form

The possessive form is used with nouns referring to people, groups of people, countries, and animals. It shows a relationship of belonging between one thing and another. To form the possessive, add apostrophe + s to the noun. If the noun is plural, or already ends in s, just add an apostrophe after the s.

Examples

*the car of John = John's car

*the room of the girls = the girls' room

*clothes for men = men's *clothes the boat of the sailors = the sailors' boat

For names ending in s, you can either add an apostrophe + s, or just an apostrophe. The first option is more common. When pronouncing a possessive name, we add the sound /z/ to the end of the name.

Examples

*Thomas's book (or Thomas' book)

*James's shop (or James' shop)

*The Smiths's house (or the Smiths' house)

Functions of the possessive

'Belonging to' or 'ownership' is the most common relationship the possessive expresses.

Examples

*John owns a car. = It is John's car.

*America has some gold reserves. = They are America's gold reserves.

The possessive can also express where someone works, studies or spends time

Examples

*John goes to this school. = This is John's school.

*John sleeps in this room. = This is John's room.

The possessive can express a relationship between people.

Examples

*John's mother is running late.

*Mrs Brown's colleague will not be coming to the meeting.

The possessive can express intangible things as well.

Examples

*John's patience is running out.

*The politician's hypocrisy was deeply shocking.

Fixed expressions

There are also some fixed expressions where the possessive form is used.

Examples with time

*A day's work

*A month's pay

*Today's newspaper

*In a year's time

Link exercises