Pronouns are words that take the place of a common noun or a proper noun. A possessive pronoun replaces a possessive adjective. The possessive pronouns are mine, his, hers, yours, hers, theirs, ours, and its. They are used to interchange nouns to show possession or ownership.
Although possessive pronouns and possessive determiners look very similar, they are used differently. Since the function of possessive pronouns is to replace possessive noun phrases, they always stand on their own. We often use possessive pronouns to avoid unnecessary repetition in a sentence.
Examples:
- His boat is faster than mine. (mine substitutes that word boat and shows that it belongs to me)
- This is my car, and that is yours. (yours replaces the word car and shows that it belongs to you)
Possessive has two forms:
- mine/my
- yours/your
- his/his
- theirs/their
- ours/ our
The forms my, your, their, his, and our are called possessive adjectives. They are employed to modify nouns.
- That is my Lorry.
- Her Father bought him a charming necklace.
- She went to their house yesterday.
The forms his, mine, yours, ours, and theirs are described possessive pronouns. They can be the subject or complement of a verb.
Example Possessive Pronouns:
- The white bags are mine.
- The pink balls are yours.
- The black shirts are hers.
- The seat next to the door is his. (Notice you can replace the noun: “His” is next to the window.)
- The farm on the corner is ours. (Ours is on the corner.)
- I think the chocolate cookies at the party were hers. (Hers were at the party).
- The phone that is ringing is yours. (Yours is ringing.)
- The zebra-stripped bookbag is mine. (Mine is the zebra-stripped bookbag.)
- The while balls are his.
- The red bat is theirs.
- James found his sandal, but Obama couldn’t find his. (object = her sandal)
- Here is your bike. Ours is over there, where we parked it. (subject = Our bike)
- Your photos are good. Hers is terrible. (subject = her photos)
- Each couple’s books are colour-coded. Yours are red. (subject = Your books)
- I don’t like this family’s garden, but I like yours. (object = your garden)
- These aren’t John and Mary’s children. Theirs have black hair. (subject = Their children)
- The blue bat is ours.
- Is this your book? That one is mine.
- Here is my book. Where’s yours?
- I left my bag here, and he left his.
- We got our fruits. What about theirs?
- They got their meals. What about ours?
- Can I borrow your pen? I lost mine.
- Why are you using my phone? Where is yours?
- I can’t find my bag. Can I take hers?
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