Possessive determiners are words that show ownership. They go in front of a noun to show who owns it. Possessive determiners are sometimes called possessive adjectives.
There are two main types of possessive determiners:
- Possessive determiners that show how much something is owned: my, your, his, her, its, our, their.
- Possessive determiners that show how something is owned: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs.
Examples:
- That book is mine. (I own that book.)
- I saw your car parked over there. (You own the car I saw.)
- Their house is the one with the red roof. (They own the house with the red roof.)
- Ours is the green one. (We own the green one.)
Possessive determiners are usually followed by a noun. For example:
- My book is on the table.
- I saw your car parked over there.
- Their house is the one with the red roof.
- Ours is the green one.
We can also use possessive determiners without a noun, but this is much less common. For example:
- That book is mine. (Without a noun: mine means the same as my book.)
- I saw your car. (Without a noun: your car means the same as your car.)
- Their house is the one with the red roof. (Without a noun: their house means the same as their house.)
- Ours is the green one. (Without a noun: ours means the same as our house.)
We use the same form of the possessive determiner for both singular and plural nouns. For example:
- This is my book. (singular)
- These are my books. (plural)
- That is your car. (singular)
- Those are your cars. (plural)
- His house is the one with the red roof. (singular)
- Their houses are the ones with the red roofs. (plural)
- Its tail is long. (singular)
- Their tails are long. (plural)
- Her cat is black. (singular)
- Their cats are black. (plural)
The one exception to this rule is the possessive determiner whose. We use whose with both singular and plural nouns, but the form of the noun changes. For example:
- Whose book is this? (singular)
- Whose books are these? (plural)
- Whose car is that? (singular)
- Whose cars are those? (plural)
- Whose house is the one with the red roof? (singular)
- Whose houses are the ones with the red roofs? (plural)
The possessive determiner whose can also be used without a noun. For example:
- This is whose book? (Without a noun: Whose book means the same as Whose book?)
- That is whose car? (Without a noun: Whose car means the same as Whose car?)
- The one with the red roof is whose house? (Without a noun: Whose house means the same as Whose house?)
We use of after a possessive determiner to make it clear which noun we are talking about. For example:
- I saw a photo of your car. (Without of, this could mean that you were in the car when I saw it, or that the car was in the photo.)
- Whose house is the one with the red roof? (Without of, this could mean that the house is on the roof.)
The following exercises will help you to practice using possessive determiners. Choose the correct possessive determiner in each sentence.
- This is car.
- That is car.
- The one with the red roof is house.
- The one with the green roof is house.
- This is book.
- That is book.
- The one with the green cover is book.
- The one with the red cover is book.
- This is cat.
- That is cat.
- The one with the white fur is cat.
- The one with the black fur is cat.
Answers:
- This is my car.
- That is your car.
- The one with the red roof is his house.
- The one with the green roof is their house.
- This is my book.
- That is your book.
- The one with the green cover is her book.
- The one with the red cover is their book.
- This is my cat.
- That is your cat.
- The one with the white fur is its cat.
- The one with the black fur is our cat.
