Possessive Pronouns

What are possessive pronouns? In essence, they are words that indicate to whom or what something belongs. For example, in the sentence “The cat is mine,” the word “mine” is a possessive pronoun. There are seven possessive pronouns in English: my, your, his, her, its, our, and their. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at each one of them. We will also provide possessive pronouns examples so that you can better understand how they are used. Let’s get started!

What is a possessive pronoun?

 A possessive pronoun is a word that shows ownership. It eliminates the need to use a noun following the pronoun. For example, “That book is mine.” Here, “mine” is a possessive pronoun that takes the place of “my book.”

Possessive pronouns can stand alone or be used as part of a noun phrase. When they are used as part of a noun phrase, the possessive pronoun is followed by the thing it is owning. For example: “The cat’s toys are in the toy box.” Here, “cat’s” is a possessive pronoun that takes the place of “the cat’s toys.”

How Many Possessive Pronouns are there?

There are seven possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs. Possessive pronouns examples in sentences

Mine: This Pronoun is used to indicate that something is owned by the speaker. “That bike is mine.”

Yours: This pronoun is used when the speaker is talking to someone else and the item in question belongs to that person. “That bike is yours.”

His: This pronoun is used when the subject is a male and he owns the item in question. “That bike is his.”

Hers: This pronoun is used when the subject is a female and she owns the item in question. “That bike is hers.”

Its: This pronoun is used when the subject is an animal or thing and it owns the item in question. “That bike is its.”

Ours: This pronoun is used when the speaker is talking to someone else and the item in question belongs to both of them. “That bike is ours.”

Theirs: This pronoun is used when the subject is someone else and they own the item in question. “That bike is theirs.”

Singular Possessive Pronoun:

There are three singular possessive pronouns: my, yours, his, her and its. These replace the nouns that belong to the speaker or writer (my book,

My = belonging to me

Your = belonging to you

His = belonging to him

Her = belonging to her

Plural Possessive Pronoun:

There are two types of plural possessive pronouns: those ending in -s, like “ours,” and those not ending in -s, like “theirs.” The type you use depends on whether the noun being modified is a plural noun ending in -s. If it is, use the possessive pronoun without an -s. If the noun being modified is a plural noun not ending in -s, use the possessive pronoun with an -s.

For example:

The cats’ toys were spread out all over the room. (plural noun ending in -s)

We went out on a date with theirs. (plural noun not ending in -s).

Errors related to possessive pronoun:

Usually, students make errors with possessive pronouns because they do not understand the concept very well. There are a few things you need to know about possessive pronouns errors. Here are they:

-Subject and possessive pronoun must agree in number. If the subject is singular, then the possessive pronoun must also be singular. For example, “The book is mine.” Here, the subject is “book” which is singular so the possessive pronoun must also be singular which is “mine.”

-Possessive pronoun must be used to show how something is owned. For example, “The cat scratched me.” Here, the possessive pronoun “me” is used to show that the speaker is owned by the cat.

-Possessive pronoun must agree with the object of the preposition. For example, “The gift is for her.” Here, the possessive pronoun “her” agrees with the object of the preposition which is “gift.”

-Possessive pronoun must be used to show joint ownership. For example, “John and his friends are going out.” Here, the possessive pronoun “his” is used to show that John and his friends jointly own something.

Conclusion 

Possessive pronouns are the pronouns that show ownership. They can be bit confusing to use. This is because there are many rules associated with their usage. However, by understanding the different uses of possessive pronouns, students will be able to use them correctly in their own writing.