POSSESSIVE DETERMINERS,

POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES, and

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

If you want to say something BELONGS TO someone, or something, you use a POSSESSIVE DETERMINER.

Sometimes possessive determiners are called possessive adjectives, although the sentence placement of possessive determiners does not always follow the same rules as adjectives.

A possessive determiner may also include possessive forms made from nouns and noun phrases, such as Jo’s, the family’s, everyone’s.

Sometimes possessive determiners are called possessive pronouns. But, not all possessive pronouns are determiners.

We’ve included a list below to help you use possessive determiners in a grammatically correct way. For most English language learners, that should be the main focus.

POSSESSIVE DETERMINERS

my ____

example:  This is my computer.

(This computer belongs to me.)

your ____

example:  Is this your coffee cup?

(The coffee cup belongs to you.)

his ____

example:  Maria didn’t remember his name.

(The name belongs to a man/boy.)

her ____

example:  Do you have her phone number?

(The phone number belongs to a woman/girl.)

its ____

example:  The dog licked its paws.

(The paws belong to the dog.)

Note:  The incorrect use of ITS is one of the most common mistakes in written English.

Free Lesson on IT’S vs ITS

their ____

example:  That is their house.

(The house belongs to more than one person, not including me.)

our ____

example:  This is our car.

(The car belongs to us.)

whose ____

example:  Whose car is that?

(To whom does that car belong? or Who owns that car?)

 

If you want more information on the differences between possessive adjectives, possessive determiners and possessive pronouns, Wikipedia has a detailed explanation.

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