What is a Pronoun?
Pronouns can be used as a ‘placeholder’ for a noun; we can use pronouns instead of nouns.
What is a Possessive Pronoun?
A possessive pronoun shows that something belongs to someone – it shows ownership. Possessive pronouns simplify constructions that show possession of a noun.
It’s used to replace the subject of a sentence. It avoids repetition in a sentence and makes the sentences more concise.
For example, instead of saying, ‘Sarah said that the computer was Sarah’s,’ you would say, ‘Sarah said that the computer was hers.’
It sounds more natural and means you don’t have to repeat the name of the person or thing referred to in the sentence while conveying the same meaning.
In total, there are 13 different possessive pronouns. Basic possessive pronouns include my, our, his, her, its, and their. There are also independent possessive pronouns. For example, they have mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its, and theirs in their independent form. Independent possessive pronouns (also called absolute possessive pronouns) must be used without a noun.
Examples of Possessive Pronouns: Sentences
Mine, Ours, Hers, His, Theirs, and Yours.
These are all examples of possessive pronouns. They show possession for themselves and other people.
Take a look at these examples of using possessive pronouns in sentences.
- ‘Tom is a good friend of mine.’
- ‘The dress is beautiful, but it’s hers.’
- ‘What’s mine is yours.’
- ‘Do you like crisps? I’m personally not a fan of them.’
Common Possessive Pronouns Mistakes
A standard error while using possessive pronouns is using an apostrophe.
Possessive pronouns will never have an apostrophe.
For example, ‘it’s’ and ‘its’ are often mixed up when writing. We might think that ‘it’s’ is correct because the apostrophe tends to be used for possession, but in this case, it’s not.
‘It’s’ is an abbreviation of ‘It is.
- It’s raining outside = It is raining outside
- ‘Its’ is the possessive of ‘it.’
The camera is brand new. Its lens is so clean. We use ‘its’ because the lens belongs to the camera.
For ‘ours,’ ‘yours,’ ‘hers,’ and ‘theirs,’ we must remember that we never use an apostrophe for these possessive pronouns. For example:
- Incorrect: She’s taking her’s home.
- Correct: She’s taking hers home.
It can be confusing because ‘she’s’ does use the apostrophe. But remember that words such as ‘she’s’ are contractions of ‘she is – and there is no ‘her is’!
