English Grammar | POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS, ADJECTIVES and DETERMINERS
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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