Possessive pronouns in English (with examples)

 

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The possessive pronoun is used to replace a noun that is preceded by a possessive adjective (my, your sound…) :

List of English possessive pronouns :

⚠️ Be careful not to confuse possessive pronouns with complementary personal pronouns or possessive adjectives (my, your, his…)!

• mine
• your / yours
• his / hers / its
• our / ours
• your / yours
• their / theirs

Possessive pronouns are used after a name to avoid repeating it:

• Is that Tom’s car ?  No, it’s my car. → No, it’s mine. / No, this car is mine.
• Whose chair is this? Is it your chair ? → Is it yours ? / Is that chair yours ?
• Her coat is black, my coat is brown. → Her coat is black, mine is brown.
• My hair is blond. Hers are black.
• The kids are eating their sandwiches.
• The sandwiches are theirs.

⚠️ We use its (and not it’s) for animals and things. ‘It’s’ is the contraction of ‘it is’. ‘Its’ is the possessive pronoun.

• The dog is showing its teeth.
• The horse has something on its back.

⚠️ A common error in English: people put apostrophes with possessive pronouns. It’s wrong!

•  it’s, her’s, our’s, their’s, your’s  ❌
•  its, hers, ours, theirs, yours  ✅

⚠️ Possessive pronouns can be used in English after ‘of’:

You can say:

• Nathan is one of my friend OR Nathan is a friend of mine.

You can’t say:

• Nathan is a friend of me.

You can say:

• I am one of Karen’s friends OR I am a friend of Karen’s.

You can’t say:

• I am a friend of Karen.

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Tags: Grammar