Possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns (‘my/mine’)

Basic differences between 'my' and 'mine', etc.

   1)       My, your, his, her, its, one's, our, your and there are possessive adjectives. This means they must go in front of nouns: He's my son. It's your house. etc.

   2)       They refer to the possessor, not to the thing possessed:

John amused his daughter. (= his own) John amused her daughter. (= someone else's)

Jane amused her son. (= her own) Jane amused his son. (= someone else's)

Its refers to possession by an animal or thing: The cat drank its milk.

   3)       Mine, yours, his, hers, ours, yours, and theirs are possessive pronouns. This means they stand on their own: That book is mine. (Not 'That is mine book. ')

Write: Supply the missing possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns.

1 What a beautiful baby girl! What's ............ ................ name?

2 This is your towel: it's yellow. And that's your husband's. ..................................... is blue.

3 This car isn't...................................... My car has a different registration number.

4 'Shall we have ..................................... supper on a tray and watch TV?' my wife asked.

5 That umbrella doesn't belong to you. ..................................... is the one with the leather handle.

6 Their flat and our flat may seem to be the same, but ..................................... is different from ours.

7 One should put ..................................... own interests last.

8 John's son wants to be an actor and ..................................... daughter wants to be an actress.

9 Patricia's eldest daughter has just left school and ..................................... youngest has just begun.

10 Has the cat been given ..................................... milk yet?

The double genitive: 'He is a friend of mine'

   1)       We can say: He is your friend.

or: He is a friend of yours. (No apostrophe: not 'He is a friend of your's. ')

And note: He is a friend of mine. (Not 'He is a friend of me. ')

   2)       We can say: He is my father's friend.

We still use 's after of if we say: He is a friend of my father's. (Not *of my father')

   3)       We often use this and that with this construction, especially when we are criticizing:

That boy of yours is in trouble again. That motorbike of yours is very noisy.

Write: Rewrite these sentences using phrases with of, making any necessary changes.

1 Your brother is always in trouble. That ...brother of yours is always in trouble.

2 He's not my friend. He's no

..................................................................

3 We watched a play by Shakespeare. We watched

..................................................................

4 Now tell me about your problem. Now tell me about

..................................................................

5 We've known him for years. He's our friend. He's

..................................................................

6 Her loud music drives me crazy! That

..................................................................

7 My sister's friend phoned from New York. A

..................................................................

8 Their neighbours have been complaining again. Those

.................................................................

9 Your radio keeps us all awake! That

..................................................................

'The' in place of 'my', etc.: 'a pain in the neck'

We sometimes use the where we might expect my, your, etc., e.g. with parts of the body or with clothing after prepositions: He hit me in the face. She pulled me by the sleeve.

We use the to refer informally to members of the family: How are the children?

But avoid expressions like 'Meet the wife'.