Possessive adjectives in English for children. Possessive pronouns in English. Gerund and possessive adjectives. Possessive adjectives in English

We use pronouns to replace nouns in a sentence. Look at the very word "pronoun", it contains the main function of this part of speech: " substitution", i.e " instead of a noun". Pronouns are used to diversify speech and not to repeat the same word from sentence to sentence.

In English there are several types of pronouns:, and possessive. We have paid special attention to each type of pronoun in a separate article.

Let's see how a native speaker Alex  talks about words that show that someone owns something.

When we want to say that something belongs to someone, we use possessive forms. As you can see Alex  highlighted two forms: Possessive adjectives  and Possessive Pronouns.

Possessive adjectives

We begin to consider possessive forms with possessive adjectives. Abroad, these words are called Possessive adjectives. Such words show a sign of an object, phenomenon or person, therefore they are referred to as adjectives, not pronouns:

• My book. - My book. (what book? - mine)
• His friend. - His friend. (what friend? - him)

In Russian textbooks on English grammar it is written that my (your, his  etc.) is a pronoun, but native English teachers insist that it is an adjective, because it stands before a noun and defines it. Let's look at the plate:

Personal pronoun	Possessive adjective	Transfer
I	My	My
You	Your	Your
He	His	His
She	Her	Her
It	Its	His her
We	Our	Our
You	Your	Your
They	Their	Them

My  cat likes to play with a ball. - My  the cat loves to play with the ball.

She wants to talk to your  manager. - She wants to talk with your  the manager.

The teacher found his  mistakes. - The teacher found his  mistakes.

I like her  dress. - I like her  dress.

Our family likes to rest in Crimea, we adore its  nature. - Our family likes to relax in the Crimea, we adore his  nature.

They look after our  children. - They look after our  children.

He is speaking with their  mother. - He's talking to them  mom.

Please note: in all examples after my (his, their) comes the noun.

In the Russian language there is a universal word “ours”, which we simply change in numbers and persons. In English, the words “own”, “own”, “own” must be translated as “mine”, “ours”, “his” / “her”, respectively.

She cut his  finger. - She cut her  finger.

I like his  mom. - I love my  mother.

Do his  work. - Do your  work.

Possessive pronouns

If you need to replace a noun in a sentence, you must use one of the possessive pronouns. Usually the noun is replaced so that the sentence does not have repetitions.

• This is not my pen, mine  is purple. - This is not my pen, my purple (replaced my pen  on mine).

Personal pronoun	Possessive pronoun	Transfer
I	Mine	My
You	Yours	Your
He	His	His
She	Hers	Her
It	Its	His her
We	Ours	Our
You	Yours	Your
They	Theirs	Them

Becky! That is mine! - It myBecky!

My task is easier than yours. - My task is easier than your.

This is not his car, his  is blue. - This is not his car, his  - blue.

This is a friend of hers. - It her  friend.

It is not their house, theirs  is bigger. - This is not their home, them  more.

The general pattern for all possessive pronouns is that after them you do not need to use a noun, and, as a rule, it is at the end of the sentence. And look at this pair: a friend of mine  and my friend. Both phrases mean the same thing - my friend, only after the preposition of  use possessive pronouns, not adjectives ( a friend of my).

They are of high quality, relative and possessive. The former express the qualities of the subject: high, thin, wide, large, slow, red, etc. The category of quality includes designating color, shape, character traits, physical and spatio-temporal attributes of the word being defined. As a rule, high-quality adjectives have several due to which they can be distinguished from other adjectives.

Russian textbooks on English also have some confusion about what to consider possessive adjectives (posessive adjectives), because they are traditionally studied in the subject of possessive pronouns, thus distinguishing between the relative and absolute form of pronouns. However, there is no such classification in British English, only possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives are listed in the table below.

Possessive adjectives		Possessive pronouns

Possessive adjectives of the English language, therefore, are often referred to as relative forms, however, in fact, this category does not exist. This is done for the convenience of studying English grammar, since in Russian these words are really pronouns.

Adjectives in this case are easy to distinguish, since they always require a noun after themselves (i.e. my pen, his coat), while pronouns are used in grammatical constructions like this pencil is mine, that coat is his (i.e. behind them should not be a noun). Possessive adjectives in both languages \u200b\u200bis a topic that has a lot of nuances that need to be taken into account, so it is better to study it thoroughly.

It would seem that there is nothing simpler than the pronouns: "I, you, he, she is a whole country together," "You are yours, and mine is mine." But how do you say this in English? In today's article, we will cover the basic rules for using personal and possessive pronouns in English.

Personal pronouns in English

In English, a personal pronoun (personal pronoun) is used instead of a noun that we know or has already mentioned. This avoids repetition in speech.

This is Jim. Jim  is a policeman. Jim  lives in New York. - It Jim. Jim  policeman. Jim  lives in New York.

Agree, too much Jim for the three sentences. This can be easily fixed if we combine the two sentences into one and replace the name Jim with the pronoun he (he).

This is Jim. He  is a policeman and lives in New York. - It Jim. is he  a policeman and lives in New York.

A personal pronoun can be:

1. Subject pronoun

   This pronoun is used in the sentence instead of the subject and indicates the one who performs the action. Subjective pronouns stand before the verb and answer the questions “who?” And “what?”.

2. Object pronoun

   The pronoun is used in the sentence instead of the complement, that is, the action is directed at it. Object pronouns appear after the verb and answer the questions “who? / What?”, “To whom? / What?”, “Whom? / What?”, “By whom? / What?”, “About whom? / about what?".

Personal pronouns instead of the subject

The table below shows personal pronouns that are used in English instead of the subject.

Now let's look at some features of these pronouns:

• Pronoun I

  I is always capitalized.

  I  am a dreamer. - I  dreamer.
    Mom says I  can do it. - Mom says that i  I can do it.

  If I in the sentence is next to another personal pronoun, then I is put in second place.

  She  and I  are best friends. - we  from her  best friends.
  He  and I  played tennis together. - we  from him  played tennis.

• Pronouns he, she and it

  The pronouns he and she are used in relation to people. And to denote inanimate objects, phenomena and animals, the pronoun it is used.

  You know Jane. She  is kind and modest. “You know Jane.” She  kind and modest.
    Did you see the new building yesterday? It  is big. “Did you see the new building yesterday?” It  great.

  And if you treat your pet as a member of the family, speaking about him, you can use not it, but he or she.

  Your dog doesn’t like me. It  barks at me.
    - My dog \u200b\u200bnever barks at people. He’S a good boy.
    “Your dog doesn't love me.” is he  barks at me.
    - My dog \u200b\u200bnever barks at people. is he  good boy.

  The pronoun it is also used in impersonal sentences (in which there is no character) to describe the weather, time, distance, etc.

  It’S a quarter to nine. “It's quarter to nine now.”
  It’S foggy outside. - It's foggy on the street.
  It’S three kilometers between the villages. - The distance between the villages is three kilometers.

• You pronoun

  You translate as “you,” “you,” or “you,” depending on context, but is consistent with the plural verb.

  You  look good in this dress. - You  You look good in this dress.
  You  all are beautiful. - You  all are beautiful.
    Mrs. Walmer, I think you  will be a good nurse. - Mrs. Walmer, I think You  be a good nurse.

Personal pronouns instead of complement

The table below shows personal pronouns that are used instead of additions and are in the sentence after the verb.

Personal pronouns
Singular	Plural
me (me, me, me, about me)	us (us, us, us, about us)
you (you, you, you, about you)	you (you, you, you, about you)
him, her, it (him / her, him / her, him / her, about him / her)	them (them, them, them, about them)

Let's look at some examples:

He will help me  tomorrow. - He will help to me  tomorrow.
  He told us  the story. - He told us  this story.

We also use these pronouns after the prepositions about (о), on (на), in (в), with (с), for (for) and others.

Stay with us. - stay with us.
  I am doing this for her. - I'm doing it for her.

You can fix the topic and take the tests in our articles “Personal pronouns of the English language” and “”.

Possessive adjectives and pronouns in English

In the English language there are two possessive forms:

1. Possessive adjectives
2. Possessive pronouns

Both forms indicate that something belongs to someone and answer the question "whose? / Whose? / Whose? / Whose?"

Although this article focuses on pronouns, we will also consider adjectives so you don't confuse them.

Personal pronouns	Possessive adjectives	Possessive pronouns
I	my (mine)	mine (mine)
he	his	his
she	her (her)	hers (her)
it	its (him)	its (him)
we	our (ours)	ours (ours)
you	your (your / your)	yours (yours / yours)
they	their (them)	theirs

So what is the difference between possessive adjective and pronoun? The possessive adjective in English always stands before the noun and characterizes it.

This is my cup. - It my cup.
His phone  is on the table. - His phone  lies on the table.
Your music  is annoying. - Your music  annoying.

The possessive pronoun does not characterize the noun, but replaces the design "possessive adjective + noun." Most often, such pronouns are at the end of a sentence.

Are those shoes mine? - those shoes my?
  It’s their dog, and that is ours. - This is their dog, and this is - our.
  My dress is prettier than yours. - My dress is prettier your.
  Her cake was better than theirs. - Her cake was tastier than them.

We can also use the possessive pronoun after the noun with the preposition of.

This is Ross. He is a friend of me my mine. - This is Ross. is he my  friend.

Possessive adjectives and pronouns also have other characteristics that should be remembered:

• In English, there is no pronoun corresponding to Russian “one's own”. Therefore, we translate it according to the context using possessive adjectives or pronouns.

  I’ll take my  (possessive adjective) bag and you take yours  (possessive pronoun). - I will take his (my) a bag, and you take it his (your).

• Possessive adjective and possessive pronoun its are written without an apostrophe. If you meet it’s, then this is an abbreviated grammatical form: it’s \u003d it + is.

  The cat played with its  (possessive adjective) toy. - The cat played with his  a toy.

• Formally, its possessive pronoun exists, but its use is avoided. It is used only with the pronoun own - its own.

  Each district of the city has the charm of its own  (possessive pronoun). - Each district of the city has your own  Charm.

We have also put together for you personal and possessive pronouns of the English language in one scheme for clarity. You can use it as a cheat sheet.

We suggest you watch a funny video from the animated series Looney Tunes. In this episode, you will see how desperately drake Duffy Duck tries to get hunter Elmer Fudd to shoot the rabbit Bugs Bunny. But Duffy has one problem - he gets confused in pronouns.

Try to take a little test on the use of personal and possessive pronouns in English.

Test on the subject "Personal and possessive pronouns in English"

We hope that our article helped you understand the features of the correct use of personal and possessive pronouns in English. If you want to work out the learned rules on examples you understand, to one of.

Any student starting to learn English from scratch on his own or with a teacher, already in the first lesson will learn how to answer the question “ What’s your name?  ”(Rus. What is your name?).

Answering “ My name is ...  “(Rus. My name is ...), he does not even think that he already knows two possessive pronouns: my  (mine, mine, mine. mine) and your  (Russian, yours, yours, yours, yours), without which it is impossible to build communication in English.

We use the same possessive pronouns for everything, but do we own our lives or sisters or husbands in the same way we own our shoes? Do we own any of them at all?

We use possessive pronouns for everything, but do we really have our lives, sisters or husbands as well as we have our shoes? Do we own all this?

~ Samantha Harvey

May cause some confusion on the part of those who are just starting to learn English and for the first time encountered Possessive pronouns.

In English grammar, two varieties of possessive pronouns coexist peacefully: Possessive adjectives  (possessive adjectives) and Possessive Pronouns  (possessive pronouns). We will talk about them today in this article.

Possessive English pronouns

Possessive pronouns help us to understand that someone or something owns something. Signature on trinkets: I am yours (Rus. I am yours), And you are mine (Rus. And you are mine)

Let us first recall what a possessive pronoun is.

Possessive pronouns  (mine, yours, ours, and others) indicate a sign of belonging to a particular person and answer the question whose?  In Russian, they are consistent with a noun in number, gender and case.

And what about the English possessive pronouns? In English, there are two forms of possessive pronouns ( Possessive adjectives and Possessive pronouns), which vary in spelling and how they are used in the sentence.

Let us consider in more detail both forms of possessive pronouns in the English language.

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive English pronouns, reminiscent of an adjective in its role in a sentence, and which are always used with a noun, are called Possessive adjectives  (Russian possessive adjective).

The table below shows the formation of possessive pronouns in English and their comparison with personal pronouns.

Possessive pronouns dependent form (table 1)

Possessive pronouns dependent form (table 2)

When we want to indicate ownership, we cannot use!

Sentence He name was Carl  (Rus. His name was Karl) sounds strange and wrong both in English and in Russian. He  Is a personal pronoun. Replace it with a suitable possessive adjective his  and get the grammatically and logically correct sentence: His name was carl (Rus. His name was Carl)

Sometimes this form of possessive pronouns or Possessive adjectives  are called dependent  since it cannot be used on its own, without a noun.

Remember!

Possessive adjectives (Possessive Adjectives)  in English are used only in conjunction with a noun and always stand in front of it.

Since in their functionality dependent possessive pronouns resemble adjectives, they also serve as a definition in a sentence.

Sample sentences with possessive adjectives in English

Often beginners learn English confused possessive adjectives with abbreviated forms of the verb to be:

your  and you’re (\u003d you are)

its  and it’s (\u003d it is)

Compare the use of possessive pronouns and the abbreviated form of the verb:

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive English pronouns that can be used in a sentence without a noun are called Possessive Pronouns  (Russian possessive pronoun).

Possessive Pronouns  also called absolute or independent form of possessive pronouns. In this form, after possessive pronouns, nouns are never put, because these pronouns are used instead of nouns.

Remember!

Absolute possessive pronouns ( Possessive Pronounss) in English are used without a noun and perform in the sentence the function of the subject, addition or noun of the predicate.

The table below shows the formation of absolute possessive pronouns in English and their comparison with personal pronouns.

Possessive pronouns in English absolute form (table 1)

Possessive pronouns in English absolute form (table 2)

Absolute English possessive pronouns replace possessive adjective ( Possessive adjective) with a noun in order to avoid the repetition of information, since without it everything is clear. For example:

This book is my book, not your book  (Russian. This book is my book, not your book)

This book is mine, not yours  (Russian. This book is mine, not yours)

As you noticed in both Russian and English, the second sentence sounds more natural. Let's look at how possessive pronouns are used in a sentence.

Sample sentences with possessive pronouns in English

Sentence with a possessive pronoun	Russian translation
What "s mine is yours, my friend.	What is mine is yours, my friend.
I have broken my pencil. Please give me yours.	I broke my pencil. Please give me yours.
Are those gloves hers?	Those gloves are hers?
All the essays were good but his was the best.	All compositions were good, but his was the best.
The world is mine.	The world is mine.
Your photos are good. Ours are terrible.	Your photos are great, and ours are terrible.
These aren "t John and Mary" s children. Theirs have black hair.	These are not the children of John and Mary. They are black-haired.
John found his passport but Mary couldn "t find hers.	John found his passport, but Mary could not find her.
Is that chair yours?	Is this chair yours?
I know this drink is yours but I need to drink something.	I know that this drink is yours, but I need to drink something.

Possessive pronoun its  in absolute form it is used extremely rarely, only in conjunction with the word own:

The cottage seems asleep yet, but it may have a life of its own  (Russian. It seemed that the cottage was still sleeping, but perhaps he lived his life).

My or mine? Possessive pronoun or adjective?

On the poster there is an inscription with a vivid example of the use of possessive pronouns in a dependent and absolute form: “Because my body is mine (belongs to me!)”

As already mentioned, we use possessive adjectives and pronouns when we need to express belonging. Both forms are translated into Russian equally.

Possessive adjective ( Possessive adjective) is always used with the following noun:

This is my pen  (Rus. This is my pen), where my  - possessive adjective, pen - subsequent noun.

Possessive pronouns ( Possessive Pronouns) are always used independently, without an accompanying word:

This pen is mine  (Russian. This pen is mine), where mine  - possessive pronoun, after which we DO NOT NEED a noun.

Comparative table of possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns.

The semantic load does not change in these two sentences. However, when we need to focus on someone or something, it is better to use the absolute form.

Translation of English possessive pronouns

There is no difference in the meaning of possessive adjectives and pronouns in English and in their translation into Russian.

English possessive pronouns in dependent and absolute form are translated into Russian the same way, but there are several points that you need to know about.

Translation of your possessive pronoun into English

In the English language there is no special possessive pronoun corresponding to the Russian possessive pronoun "own."

Russian pronoun "" your "" is translated into English  relevant possessive pronouns.

Examples of sentences in English with the translation of your pronoun

  English possessive pronouns  usually not translated into Russian, when they are combined with nouns denoting body parts or clothing, but must be present in front of the noun.

In Russian with similar nouns, possessive pronouns are usually not used. Compare English sentences with possessive sentences with translation:

Special cases of possessive pronouns

Using structure of yours

Very often (especially in American English) you can hear the following construction: a friend / some friends of + mine, yours, etc:

I saw a friend of yours last night  (Russian. Last night I saw one of your friends) \u003d I saw one of your friends last night.

Here are some friends of mine  (Russian. And here are my friends) \u003d Here are my friends.

suggestions I saw one of your friends last night and I saw a friend of yours last night  will be translated the same way "Last night I saw one of your friends." However, there is a slight semantic difference.

Consider the word combinations “My friend”  and “A friend of mine”.

“My friend” will say about a close friend. If you call a person “My friend”, then you have a warm and trusting relationship with him. But, each of us has people with whom we just have a good relationship. It’s just our friends and acquaintances. That's just what we need here is an expression “A friend of mine”.

The indefinite article itself indicates to us that “one of” friends, someone indefinite:

This is my friend Jessica.  ("My friend" is before the name)

This is Jessica, a friend of mine.  ("A friend of mine" - after the name)

With the phrase "A friend of mine"  one funny fact is associated. In English culture there is a concept "Urban myth"  (BrE) or "Urban legend"  (AmE). This is a story, as a rule, with an unexpected, humorous or instructive ending, which the narrator gives out as an event that really happened.

We have such stories called "Tales"  or "Fiction". These incidents allegedly happen to some acquaintance of the storyteller, and the name of the acquaintance is never specified.

Most of these stories (or "stories") begin with the words: This happened to a friend of mine ... (This happened to one of my friends ...).

When to use Yours faithfully and Yours sincerely

You've probably already met phrases Yours faithfully  or Yours sincerely  at the end of an official letter, for example:

Yours sincerely, Mary Wilkinson  (Rus. Sincerely, Mary Wilkinson).

In business correspondence, these are irreplaceable phrases that need to be written at the end of the letter. Read more about the features of business English.

Examples of using the phrases “Yours faithfully” and “Yours sincerely”

Use of the English Noun in the Genitive

Possessive nouns can be used as possessive pronouns when it is necessary to say about belonging to someone in particular.

As a rule, the use of nouns in the possessive case does not affect the form of possessive pronouns, for example:

Whose cell phone is that? - It "s John" s.  (Russian. Whose phone is this? - John.)

Who do these computers belong to? - They are "re our parents".  (Russian. Who owns these computers? - Our parents.)

The relation of belonging or involvement of one subject to another can also be indicated using the possessive case ( The possessive case) what we will talk about in our next article.

Possessive English pronouns: video

To finally consolidate the knowledge gained, we recommend that you watch a video about possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns.

English Grammar Lessons - Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns

Finally:

In this article, we tried to explain as simply as possible the use of possessive pronouns in English and how to correctly answer the question “whose” in English.

We hope that after reading our article, you will no longer have questions on this topic and you will be able to correctly use this grammar in your speech and writing.

Stay on our site and you will discover a lot from the world of English grammar!

Exercises for possessive pronouns

Now we suggest that you test your knowledge of possessive pronouns in English by performing the following test.

Choose the correct option (insert either a possessive adjective or a possessive pronoun):

Jane has already eaten her lunch, but I "m saving hers / her / my / mine until later.

She has broken hers / her / his leg.

My mobile needs to be fixed, but mine / his / our / their is working.

You / Yours / Mine / My computer is a Mac, but you / your / yours / my is a PC.

We gave them ours / mine / our / yours telephone number, and they gave us their / theirs / ours / mine.

Mine / My / Yours / Your pencil is broken. Can I borrow you / yours / him / its?

Ours / Our / Your / My car is cheap, but you / your / yours / my is expensive.

You can "t have any chocolate! It" s all mine / my / our / yours!

In contact with

Every personal pronoun in the English language corresponds to a certain possessive pronoun - Possesive Pronoun. Which answers the Whose question? / Whose? English possessive pronouns have no gender and number, this means that their form is unchanged and does not depend on the noun or other part of speech to which this pronoun refers:

• my dog \u200b\u200bis my dog;
• my dogs are my dogs.

The possessive pronoun my does not respond to a change in the number of a noun.

• my granny is my grandmother;
• my father is my dad.

The possessive pronoun my does not respond to a change in the gender of a noun. All other possessive pronouns behave in a similar manner.

In English there is two types of possessive pronouns.

• Dependent form - Сonjoint form.

The dependent form of possessive pronouns is always used only before nouns. You can not use it separately! Such pronouns replace the article.

• Absolute Form - Absolute

The absolute form of possessive pronouns is always used without a subsequent noun - independently.

The absolute form of possessive pronouns in English is usually used as a part of-constructions:

A sister of his  - his sister

In this case, the use of the pronoun is performed as a replacement for a definable noun in order to avoid tautology.

This is his hat and this is mine. - This is his hat, and this is mine.

Possessive pronouns used in absolute form in English perform one of the following functions in a sentence:

1) Act as the subject:
Our  cat  is  black  and  theirs  is  white. “Our cat is black, and theirs is white.”

2) They are the nominal part of the predicate:
This  chair  will  be  mine, and  that  chair  will  be  hers. “This chair will be mine, and that one will be hers.”

3) Or plays the role of additions:
Give  me  your  pen  and  I"ll  give  you  mine. “Give me your pen, and I will give you mine.”

4) It can also serve as a definition.. if supplemented by the preposition of:
Notis  a  brother  of  theirs. - He is their brother.

The dependent form of possessive pronouns

The translation of the Russian possessive pronoun “own” is given in English by the possessive pronoun or is replaced by a phrase with the word own. The phrase with own is intended to emphasize the meaning of the word “own”.

It should be noted that in this phrase the use of the preposition of is required if the construction is after the noun:

My own car - a car of my own

The translation into English of the pronoun “one's own” is sometimes confused - it can refer to any of the three persons, both singular and plural. The correct translation of the possessive pronoun in English depends on the person subject in the sentence.

I cleaned my shoes.  - I have cleaned my shoes.

She brushed her shoes.  - She has cleaned her shoes.

The dependent form of possessive pronouns in English is often used, especially when the names of body parts, occupations, elements of clothing, etc. follow. Such a possessive pronoun is not translated into Russian.

Put  your  hands  on  the  table!   - Drop your hands on the table!