Determiners: possessive adjectives

This is my cat.
That is your cat.
Look at his cat.
Look at her cat.
Have you seen our cat?
Their cat is up the tree.
In all those sentences there are words that show who those various cats belong to: my cat, your cat, his cat,
and so on.
These words (all qualifying the noun cat) are adjectives. Because they show possession, we call them
possessive adjectives. Let’s collect them and arrange them like this:
Determiners: possessive adjectives
Singular Plural
1st person my our
nd
2 person your your
3rd person his, her, its their
When we use a possessive adjective with a noun, the noun does not have any other determiner (like a, an,
the, this, some).
Exercises
A In the blank spaces in the following, write first the possessive adjective and then the personal pronoun
(objective). The first one is done for you.
1. I have a book. This is my book. I have brought it with me.
2. You have a book. This is ____ book. You have brought it with _____.
3. He has a book. This is ____ book. He has brought it with ____.
4. She has a book. This is ____ book. She has brought it with ____.
5. It (the dog) has a bone. This is ____ bone. It has brought it with ____.
6. We have a book. This is ____ book. We have brought it with ____.
7. They have a book. This is ____ book. They have brought it with ____.
B Write these sentences with possessive adjectives instead of the words in italics.
Example: This is the key that belongs to me.
Answer: This is my key.
1. The mother told the mother’s little girl a story.
2. Tom rode Tom’s bicycle to school.
3. The little bird built the little bird’s nest in the tree.
4. Susan gave a present to Susan’s friend.
5. The teacher told Richard to bring Richard’s book to the desk.
6. I have lost the penknife that belongs to me.
7. Mr and Mrs Robinson have just gone into Mr and Mrs Robinson’s house.
8. We have sold the car that belonged to us.
9. The dog is in the basket that is the dog’s.
10. I want the book that belongs to me, not the book that belongs to you.

Page 1 of 8
Determiners: possessive adjectives 2
1 The singular forms my, your, his, her, its are used if the possessor is singular. It doesn’t matter whether
the thing that is possessed is singular or plural.
My sister is in the house.
My sisters are in the garden. (we use a plural noun with it.)
My pocket is full of apples.
Pockets are full of apples.
His book is on the table.
books are on the table.
Her friend is coming to tea.
friends are coming to tea.
Your window is broken.
windows are broken.
2 The plural forms our, your, there are used if the possessor is plural. It doesn’t matter whether the thing
possessed is singular or plural.
Our cat (singular) is in the basket.
Our cats (plural) are in their basket.

I have just been talking to your brother (singular).

I have just been talking to your brothers (plural).

They are walking with their son (singular).

They are walking with their sons (plural).
3 His is masculine, her is feminine. My, your, our, there are used for masculine or feminine. Its is used
for neutral gender singular, there is used for neutral gender plural.

If the possessor is male, the possessive adjective is masculine.

If the possessor is female, the possessive adjective is feminine.
It doesn’t matter which gender the thing possessed is. For example:
She is carrying her cat.
He is carrying his cat.
The tree is losing its leaves.
And here you can see all these uses of the possessive adjectives.
I have a name; my name is Tom.
You have a name; your name is Pauline.
She has a name; her name is Susan.
Page 2 of 8
 It has a name; its name is Jumbo the Elephant.
We have a name; our name is Brown.
You have a name; your name is Green.
They have a name; their name is Robinson.
Exercises
A Make sentences of your own, using my, your, his, her, its, our, their.
B Here is a short story. Rewrite it with possessive adjectives in the blank spaces and instead of the words
in italics.
Dr Swift and the boy
More than two hundred years ago, the writer Jonathan Swift lived near a rich old lady. The lady sometimes
sent a boy with a present for Swift. Swift took the lady’s presents gladly, but he never gave the boy anything
for _____ trouble. One day Swift was busy with _____ writing, when the boy rushed into Swift’s room,
knocked some books out of the books’ place, threw _____ parcel on the desk and said, ‘_____ mistress has
sent you two of _____ rabbits.’
Swift turned round and said, ‘That is not the way to deliver _____ parcel. Now, you sit in _____
chair and watch _____ way of doing it.
The boy sat down. Swift went out, knocked on Swift’s door and waited. The boy said, ‘Come in.’
Swift entered, walked to _____ desk and said, ‘If you please, sir, _____ mistress sends _____ kind regards
and hopes you will accept these rabbits which _____ son shot this morning in _____ fields.’
The boy answered, ‘Thank you, _____ boy. Give _____ mistress and _____ son Dr Swift’s thanks
for _____ kindness and here is sixpence for yourself.’
Swift laughed, and after that, he never forgot to give the boy _____ tip.

Pronouns: reflexive
Let’s look in those pronouns again and see if there are any more pronouns. Yes, there are three or four
more kinds. Let’s look at these first, the –self, -selves kind.

Herself Oneself Ourselves

Itself Themselves
Myself
Yourselves
Himself Yourself

These pronouns always end in –self (or –selves for the plural): myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself,
oneself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

Page 3 of 8
The –self pronouns usually stand for the same person or thing as the subject of the sentences. Let us see
some of them at work.
I saw myself in the mirror.
Be careful or you will hurt yourself.
Richard helped himself to the cakes.
Mary dressed herself carefully.
One must be allowed to please oneself.
The kitten can now feed itself.
We taught ourselves to swim.
The boys hurt themselves getting over the wall.
There is, of course, a difference in meaning between these two sentences:
Tom hit him.
Tom hit himself.
The action doesn’t go from one person or thing to another. It comes back again – like the refection in a
mirror – to the doer of the action. These –self pronouns are called reflexive pronouns.
Emphasizing
But this is not the only work that the –self pronouns do. Look at these sentences.
Jeremy washed himself. I know he did, I saw him, myself. You, yourself, said he looked clean and
Jeremy, himself, said he had had a wash.
The first himself is quite plainly a reflexive pronoun; the subject Jeremy and the pronoun himself both
stand for the same boy. But the others are different. They could be missed out and sentences would still
make sense. They are put there to make what is said stronger, to make it more emphatic. This is the
emphatic use of the reflexive pronouns.
In their emphatic use, the reflexive pronouns sometimes have the meaning ‘alone’, in which case they
often have by with them.
I went there by myself.
This is an engine that goes by itself.
George made that model aeroplane all by himself.
Here are the –self pronouns arranged in a table.
Singular Plural
1st person myself ourselves
2nd person yourself yourselves
himself
herself
3rd person itself themselves
oneself

Page 4 of 8
Exercises
A Put reflexive pronouns into the blank spaces in these sentences.
Example: John hurt _____ when he fell.
Answer: John hurt himself when he fell.
1. Father cut _____ when he was shaving.
2. Mary saw _____ in the mirror.
3. We saw _____ in the mirror.
4. I taught _____ to play the piano.
5. The kitten tried to bite me, and bit _____ by mistake.
6. The poor woman threw _____ under the train.
7. The boys helped _____ to the cakes.
8. There are plenty of cakes here, Richard. Help _____.
B Put reflexive pronouns in their emphatic use into the blank spaces.
1. He did the work all by _____.
2. I saw the accident _____.
3. Mary sewed those dresses _____.
4. One can’t saw a tree like that by _____.
5. You children must tidy this room _____. I am not going to help you.
6. The children tidied the room by _____.
7. Do you think, John, that you can cook the dinner by _____ today?
8. We cooked the dinner entirely by _____.
9. This machine works by _____.
10. You and Richard can do that job _____.

Pronouns: possessive, interrogative and demonstrative

Possessive pronouns
Now let us have a look at the possessive pronouns. You will remember that we had adjectives that showed
possession: my book, your cat, his bicycle, her car, our house, their garden.
But in the following sentences there are some other words that show possession.
That seat isn’t yours; it’s mine.
Lend me your bicycle; hers is no good.
He’s wearing a hat that isn’t his.
That cat is ours.
We spent the day with the Browns. Theirs was the best party I have been to.

Page 5 of 8
The words yours, mine, ours, etc., don’t qualify nouns. They show possession, and here they are standing
instead of nouns; yours means, in that sentence, ‘your seat’, hers means ‘her bicycle’. They are possessive
pronouns.
You will quite often find the possessive pronouns used with of, like this:
He is a friend of mine. (Not a friend of me as you might expect.)
That dog of yours has been fighting again.
There’s John and that friend of his, going to play tennis.
Here is a table, so that you can compare the possessive pronouns and the possessive adjectives.
Possessive adjectives Possessive pronouns
This is my book. This book is mine.
This is your book. This book is yours.
This is his book. This book is his.
This is her book. This book is hers.
This is our book. This book is ours.
This is their book. This book is theirs.
Pronouns that show possession are possessive pronouns.

Interrogative pronouns
There are some pronouns that we use when we ask questions.
For example,
Who are you?
What have you done today?
Which of these books do you want?
Pronouns that are used to ask questions are interrogative pronouns.

Demonstrative Pronouns
Here are four pronouns whose work is to point out things.
This is a book. These are my books.
That is a star. Those are stars.
Pronouns that ‘point out’ are called demonstrative pronouns.
We’ve learnt that this and that, these and those, what and which are adjectives. But now we say they are
pronouns according to the rule that what part of speech a word is by the work it is doing.

Page 6 of 8
Now look at these sentences:
A B
Which book do you want? Which of these books do you want?
What exercises have you done today? What have you done today?
This book is a good one. This is a good book.
That star is called Mars. That is a very bright star.
These books belong to the teacher. These are the teacher’s books.
Those stars are millions of miles away. Those are very distant stars.
In column A, which, what, this, that, these, those are adjectives because they qualify nouns. In column B,
they are pronouns because they stand instead of nouns.
Exercises
A Put possessive pronouns in the blank spaces.
Example: We own that cat. That cat is _____.
Answer: We own that cat. That cat is ours.
1. I own that cat. That cat is _____.
2. You own that cat. That cat is _____.
3. He owns that cat. That cat is _____.
4. She owns that cat. That cat is _____.
5. They own that cat. That cat is _____.
B In the following sentences use the verb be instead of the verb belong. Make any other necessary changes.
Example: That house belongs to me.
Answer: That house is mine.
1. Those books belong to her.
2. That new house belongs to him.
3. These gloves belong to you.
4. That picture belongs to me.
5. That car belongs to us.
6. Those flowers belong to them.
7. Does that cat belong to you?
8. Do those toys belong to her?
9. Do these chocolates belong to us?
10. Did those chocolates belong to them?
C Put in the missing possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns.
Example: John has done _____ homework, and he’s helping me with _____.
Answer: John has done his homework, and he’s helping me with mine.
1. I’ve eaten all _____ sandwiches. Can I have one of _____?
2. Tell Richard not to forget _____ book. And you mustn’t forget _____.
3. George has lost _____ pen. Ask Mary if she will lend him _____.
Page 7 of 8
 4. We’ve had _____ dinner; have they had _____?
5. Richard has a dog and so have I. _____ dog and _____ had a fight.
6. Have you heard from that friend of _____ who went to Hong Kong?
7. The teacher wants you to return that book of _____ that he lent you.
8. Margaret wants to know if you’ve seen a pair of gloves of _____.
9. Mr and Mrs Green and a friend of _____ are coming to see us.
10. We are going to Kingston to stay with a Jamaican friend of _____.
11. Dinner has been ready a long time. I have had _____ and Mary has had _____; come and have _____
now.
D In this exercise you are going to make examples of pronouns and adjectives at work in sentences. We
give you one example, and you make two more examples – different ones.
1. Make two sentences with which as an interrogative pronoun. (Here are two cakes. Which do you
want?)
2. Make two sentences with which as an interrogative adjective. (It’s raining. Which umbrella will
you take?)
3. Make two sentences with that as a demonstrative adjective. (That bus goes to Phakant. Let’s get
on it.)
4. Make two sentences with that as a demonstrative pronoun. (That’s our bus. Run!)
5. Make two sentences with what as an interrogative pronoun. (What do you want for supper?)
6. Make two sentences with what as an interrogative adjective. (What time is it?)
E

This is a story about a well-known American millionaire, John D. Rockefeller.

A friend of his told the story. This friend said that though Rockefeller gave away
millions to help other people, he never liked to spend money on himself.
One day he went to stay at a hotel in New York and asked for the cheapest
room they had.
‘What is the price of the room?’ he asked. The manager told him.
‘Is that the lowest priced room you have? I am staying here by myself and
only need a small room.’
The manager said, ‘That room is the smallest and cheapest we have,’ and
added, ‘But why do you choose a poor room like that? When your son stays here,
he always has our most expensive room; yours is our cheapest.’
‘Yes,’ said Rockefeller, ‘but his father is a wealthy man; mine isn’t.’

Note the words in italics. Say which are adjectives and which are pronouns, and give the kind in each case.
Here is the first one as an example:
Example: This – pronoun, demonstrative
Page 8 of 8