What are possessive adjectives?
Possessive adjectives – my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their – modify the noun following it in order to show possession.
Examples:
- I’ll get my bag.
- Is this your luggage?
Possessive adjectives are often confused with possessive pronouns.
Examples:
- Your bike is blue. (your is an adjective which modifies bike)
- Mine is yellow. (mine is a pronoun which functions as the subject of the verb is)
Examples
| Subject Pronouns | I | you | he | she | it | we | you | they |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Possessive Adjectives | my | your | his | her | its | our | your | their |
Examples:
- Why didn’t you clean your room?
(your modifies the noun room) - Mary doesn’t like her dress.
(her modifies the noun dress) - The chameleon can change its color.
(its modifies the noun color)
Her hair is long.His hair is short
Things to remember:
1. Possessive adjectives are different from possessive pronouns.
- This is your (possessive adjective) book and this is mine (possessive pronoun).
2. its, their are possessive adjectives.
- Its color is beautiful.
- Their car is in their garage.
3. it’s, they’re and there are not possessive adjectives — its is a contraction of it is or it has; they’re is a contraction of they are; there is an adverb of place.
- It’s not my book = It is not my book.
- My house is big. It’s got five bedrooms = It has got five bedrooms.
- Nancy and Alan are from New York. They’re my friends = They are my friends.
- Please, put the chair there. (adverb)
Review:
| Personal pronouns | Possessive adjectives | Possessive pronouns | Reflexive pronouns | Object pronouns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | my | mine | myself | me |
| you | your | yours | yourself | you |
| he | his | his | himself | him |
| she | her | hers | herself | her |
| it | its | its | itself | it |
| we | our | ours | ourselves | us |
| you | your | yours | yourselves | you |
| they | their | theirs | themselves | them |