Possessive Pronouns

Here are the possessive pronouns in English:


1st person, singular—mine
3rd person, singular—his, hers, its
1st person, plural—ours
2nd person, sing./pl.—yours
3rd person, plural—theirs


In English, the gender and number of the possessor determines the form of the possessive pronoun:

–I have a bicycle. It's mine.
–They have some bread. It's theirs.


NOTE: Often the subject of the verb is not the person who owns the noun. Be careful about this. You must know the gender and number of the owner to be able to use possessive pronouns correctly:

–Are you driving his car or hers?
–We're driving hers.

Possessives

To indicate possession in English, you will use either the preposition of or the -'s form. The latter is used much more frequently in informal English.


–This is the office of the attorney.
–>This is the attorney's office.


–Here is the desk of Mr. Young.
–>Here is Mr. Young's desk.


–I know the family of Mrs. Jones.
–>I know Mrs. Jones's family.


Note the change in word order when the -'s form is used. The owner is listed first, followed by the thing owned.

Possessive Adjectives

Here are the possessive adjectives in English:


1st person, singular—my
3rd person, singular—his, her, its
1st person, plural—our
2nd person, sing./pl.—your
3rd person, plural—their


In English, the gender and number of the possessor determines the form of the possessive adjective:


–I have a credit card. It's my credit card.
–She has some money. It's her money.


NOTE: Often the subject of the verb is not the person who owns the noun. Be careful about this. You must know the gender and number of the owner to be able to use possessive adjectives correctly:


–Are you buying his ticket or her ticket?
–I'm buying his ticket.