Explanations, Examples, Exercises
Possessives
Watch the video and learn how to use these correctly.
Possessives take many forms in English.
Pronouns in the possessive case can be used as adjectives to modify nouns or stand alone as subjects, objects or complements.
For example,
| My book is on the table. | (used to modify a noun) |
| Mine is on the table. | (used as a subject) |
| I put mine in the refrigerator. | (used as an object) |
| The red one is mine. | (used as a complement) |
See the table below:
| Pronouns as adjectives | Pronouns as subjects, objects and complements |
| my | mine |
| his | his |
| her | hers |
| its | its (not common) |
| your | yours |
| our | ours |
| their | theirs |
The possessive is formed by adding ‘s to singular nouns and plural nouns not ending in s. Such possessives can be used as modifiers, or they can stand alone.
- It is John’s bicycle.
- Those are the children’s toys.
- Jack’s is the white one.
- I’m going to Joe’s.
With plural nouns ending in ‘s, only an apostrophe (‘) is used to form the possessive.
- The girls’ bicycles are in the repair shop.
- All the students’ books were stolen.
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