1. FOUNDATIONS OF
GRAMMAR
Podcast 10:
What are possessive adjectives?
What are possessive pronouns?

2. What is a possessive adjective?
• A possessive adjective is a word that describes a noun by
showing who possesses that noun.
• Whose house is this? It’s my house.
My shows who possesses the noun house. The possessor is “me”. The
object possessed is house.

3. What is a possessive adjective?
The English possessive adjectives are:
My
Your
His
Her
Its
Our
Your
Their
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4. What is a possessive adjective?
• A possessive adjective changes according to the possessor,
regardless of the noun possessed.
• Is that John’s house? Yes, it is his house.
• Is that Mary’s house? Yes, it is her house.
• Although the object possessed is the same (house), different
possessive adjectives (his and her) are used because the
possessors are different (John and Mary)
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5. What is a possessive pronoun?
Possessive pronouns are pronouns which indicate possession.
That is, we use them to show ownership of things and people.
Whose house is that? It’s mine.
Mine replaces the noun house, the object possessed, and shows who
possesses it, “me”.

6. What is a possessive pronoun?
The English possessive pronouns are:
Mine
Yours (used for both the 2nd person singular and 2nd person plural
possessive pronouns)
His/Hers/Its (NB: NEVER EVER include an apostrophe in an
“its” used to denote possession: “it’s” is a contraction of “it is”)
Ours
Theirs

7. What is a possessive pronoun?
Possessive pronouns are similar but not identical to the possessive
adjectives “my”, “our”, “her”, “your” etc. Remember, possessive
pronouns are pronouns: you must use them in place of a noun or
other pronoun:
That car is my car (“my” is a possessive adjective which modifies “car”)
VS
That car is mine (“mine” clearly functions as a pronoun: it replaces the
noun “car”)

8. What is a possessive pronoun?

9. What is a possessive pronoun?
In English, possessive pronouns only refer to the possessor,
not to the object possessed.
My car is red; what colour is John’s? His is blue.
“his” – 3rd person masculine singular
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10. What is a possessive pronoun?
EXAMPLES USING POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS:
The burden is his to carry
The responsibility is ours to share
Don’t touch that book, it’s mine
I received my results yesterday; my sister told me that hers will
arrive this afternoon
Theirs is the car on the opposite side of the street

11. Thank You
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