Possessive adjectives in English
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Sign up for freePossessive adjectives, also known as possessive determiners, are used to show a possession or a relationship between the owner and the thing that is owned. They modify a noun by showing who possess it, therefore they are placed in front of the noun they modify. However, when other adjectives are also used to describe a given noun the possessive adjectives must be placed in front of the other adjective.
Warning: Possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns are similarly written, however, they are used for different things and are not interchangeable.
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Possessive adjectives | Possessive adjectives examples |
---|---|
My | It's my bag. |
Your | Is it your dog? |
His | His time is up. |
Her | Her package has arrived. |
Its | The turtle is eating its lettuce. |
Our | This is our house. |
Your | Your billboards are very beautiful. |
Their | Their plan has failed. |
Possessive adjectives list: my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their
Possessive pronouns indicate an ownership or a possession of the noun that is discussed in the sentence. Unlike possessive adjectives which modify the noun, they fully replace it in a sentence. Most commonly they can be found at the end of a sentence.
Possessive pronouns | Possessive pronouns example |
---|---|
Mine | It's mine. |
Yours | They are yours now. |
His | I don't think that his has arrived yet. |
Hers | She opened the company in 2010. It is hers. |
Its | The cat hurts its paw last night. |
Ours | I can't believe these are ours now. |
Yours | What do you think about yours? |
Theirs | The coffee machine is theirs. |
Possessive pronouns list: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs
The possessive adjective own is used when one wants to not only state a possession belongs to someone but to emphasize it belongs only to that person and nobody else.
Structure: Possessive adjective + own + noun