THE POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES


What Is A Possessive Adjective?

Possessive adjectives are used to show ownership or possession.

Possessive adjectives are my, your, his, her, its, our, their. Possessive adjectives occur before a noun (her hair) or a / an + adjective + noun (her new hair).

Possessive adjectives have no singular or plural. They are used with both singular and plural nouns (his ball, his balls).

Here is a list of subject pronouns and their possessive adjectives:

I – my

You – your

He – his

She – her

It – its

We – our

They – their

Let’s take a look at some of these being used in a sentence.

This is my ball.

Her house is larger than your house.

Will you be going to his birthday party?

Have you seen our new website?

You can see in the above examples, which the possessive adjectives show who each noun belongs to.

List of Subject Pronouns and their Possessive Adjectives

Each of the possessive adjectives corresponds to to its own personal pronoun, as follows:

SUBJECT PRONOUNS

POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES

I

MY

YOU

YOUR

HE

HIS

SHE

HER

THEY

THEIR

IT

ITS

WE

OUR

WHO / WHOSE

It may come as a surprise to learn that the possessive adjectives can also function as a pronoun, this is because they are able to replace a pronoun in a sentence and still carry the same meaning, let’s take a look at an example of this.

Is this Sally’s jacket?

No, it’s her coat.

You can see that the pronoun Sally has been replaced with the possessive adjective her which can also serve as a pronoun.

Possessive Adjective Examples

It is my pen.

Your house is really beautiful.

Her temper hasn’t improved with age!

Never judge something by its looks.

This is our website.

Their living room is equipped with all kinds of modern appliances.

Rules of possessive adjectives

As with any area of grammar within the English language, there are certain rules which must be followed when using the possessive adjective. However, these are easy to understand and we are now going to look at these in a little more detail.

Use of apostrophes

It is a common mistake to use an apostrophe with the possessive adjective ‘its’ when it is not required. We use an apostrophe with the word its when it is being shortened from it has or it is, since a possessive adjective does not fall into the category, it NEVER needs an apostrophe.

YOUR / YOU’RE

Similarly to the above, many people confuse the use of your and you’re. When using a possessive adjective, you should always use ‘your.’ The word ‘you’re’ is a shortened form of ‘you are’ and is not appropriate for use as a possessive adjective.

THEIR / THEY’RE / THERE

One of the most common gripes of English grammar and spelling enthusiasts is the confusion between the three forms of the sound ‘their, they’re and there ‘When using this as a possessive adjective, you should always use the spelling ‘their’ as the two others mean completely different thing. (There refers to location and they’re is a shortened version of they are.)

WHOSE / WHO’S

Finally, people might often mistake the possessive adjective whose for the word who’s, however this is not the correct spelling and is a shortened form of ‘who is.’

USE OF HIS / HER / ITS

When talking about people in general in English, there is not a gender specific word, however there is the possessive adjective ‘its’ which is commonly used when ‘their’ should be used. Let’s take a look at an example.

Each parent is in charge of his or her own child.

Whilst this sentence is correct, it is somewhat wordy and so many people might use its instead. But this is not correct.

Each parent is responsible for its own child.

The following sentence is what should be used.

Each parent is in charge of their own child.

Difference between Subject Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives

Subject pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we, they. Subject pronouns usually occur before a verb.

For example:

He is an English teacher.

They want to learn Chinese.

Possessive adjectives are my, your, his, her, its, our, their. Possessive adjectives occur before a noun (her hair) or a / an + adjective + noun (her new hair).

Possessive adjectives have no singular or plural. They are used with both singular and plural nouns (his ball, his balls).

Subject pronouns + verb

For example:

I study…

We go…

You stay…

He sits…

She writes…

It rains…

They travel…

Possessive adjectives + (adjectives) + noun

My beautiful daughter…

Our big house…

Your pretty name…

His clever son…

Her warm smile…

Its long tail…

Their naughty children…