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Possessive pronouns are words we use to replace nouns while showing ownership.

Possessive Pronouns Forms

Subject Pronouns	Object Pronouns	Possessive Pronoun
I	me	mine
you	you	yours
he	him	his
she	her	hers
it	it	*N/A
we	us	ours
you	you	yours
they	them	theirs

We do not use its as a possessive pronoun because it can only go before a noun (as a possessive determiner). It cannot stand alone. For example:

❌ – We visited Park Güell, and its fascinated us.
✅ – We visited Park Güell, and its architecture fascinated us.

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• Possessive Pronouns in Use

  • My partner’s cooking is better than mine.
    
    
  • “Immortality! Take it! It’s yours!” – Achilles [Troy, 2004]
    
    
  • This is my outfit and that is his.
    
    
  • Hers is the dog with the scruffy black fur.
    
    
  • Are these seats ours?
    
    
  • The final decision is theirs to make.

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  * Possessive Pronouns

Using Possessive Pronouns

Typically, we use possessive pronouns to express that someone owns or has something.

Possessive pronouns, like other pronouns, make our communication flow more smoothly because they enable us to cut down on noun repetition.

Consider the following:

• Person 1: My sandwich is egg cress. What is yours?
  Person 2: Mine is ham and cheese.

Here, the noun sandwich is introduced in the first sentence. In the subsequent sentences, instead of repeating the noun, Person 1 uses the possessive pronoun yours to ask about the other person’s sandwich, and Person 2 uses mine to describe his own sandwich. It is not necessary to repeat the noun sandwich once it has been introduced.

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In addition to showing ownership (as the example above demonstrated), possessive pronouns can also indicate more abstract connections or associations in which nothing is literally owned.

Example:

• Ultimately, the responsibility for the election thrashing was theirs and theirs alone. The party leadership needs to go back to the drawing board.

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Possessive pronouns do not require apostrophes like possessive nouns do. An apostrophe is required with nouns (e.g., the dog’s bone) but never with pronouns.

❌ – Is that pen your’s?
✅ – Is that pen yours?

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Pronouns have to reflect the properties of their antecedents, in terms of gender, number, and grammatical person. An antecedent is simply the noun or noun phrase that a pronoun refers back to and replaces.

Consider this example:

• The car parked in the driveway is his.

Here, the word his functions as a possessive pronoun referring back to the already-identified car owner. The pronoun agrees with its antecedent because the owner is a single individual (singular), is male (masculine), and is mentioned in the third person. This means the possessive pronoun his shows correct pronoun-antecedent agreement.

Possessive Pronouns vs. Possessive Determiners

Possessive determiners and possessive pronouns both signal possession, that is, they indicate ownership or association. Although they serve the same general purpose, they function differently within a sentence.

Possessive determiners (e.g., my, your, his, her, its, our, their) are placed before nouns and show ownership. They tell us who or what owns the noun.

Example:

		Possessive Determiner	Noun
That	is	your	phone.

Possessive pronouns (e.g., mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs), on the other hand, replace nouns or noun phrases. Essentially, they function as nouns themselves and stand independently within a sentence to signal ownership.

Example:

		Possessive Pronoun
That	is	yours.

The table below highlights the key differences between possessive pronouns and possessive determiners.

Possessive Pronouns vs. Possessive Determiners

	Possessive Pronoun	Possessive Determiner
Definition	Replaces a noun entirely.	Goes before a noun to show ownership.
Position in a Sentence	Fills the grammatical slot of the omitted noun phrase.	Always appears directly before a noun.
Function	Acts as the noun in the sentence.	Shows who or what owns the noun.
Examples	– This is mine. – Is that yours? – We prefer ours. – Theirs are the best in town.	– This is my jacket. – Is that your pen? – We prefer our method. – Their steaks are the best in town.

Remember: Possessive determiners go before nouns to show ownership, while possessive pronouns replace nouns entirely.

Practice Makes Perfect: Possessive Pronouns

Exercise 1: Identify the Possessive Pronoun

Identify the possessive pronoun(s) in each sentence.

1. That’s not my jacket. Mine has a zip.
   
   
2. Are these seats ours?
   
   
3. I forgot my umbrella, so Ella lent me hers.
   
   
4. The final decision is theirs to make.
   
   
5. Is this pen yours? I’ve been using it all day.
   
   
6. This is my outfit and that is his.
   
   
7. Your guess is as good as mine.
   
   
8. I think this parcel is yours. It got delivered to our address by mistake.
   
   
9. She grabbed my bag by accident. To be fair, hers is identical to mine.
   
   
10. I like your garden. Ours is still a work in progress.

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Exercise 1: Answers [Click]

1. Mine
2. ours
3. hers
4. theirs
5. yours
6. his
7. mine
8. yours
9. hers / mine
10. Ours

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Exercise 2: Choose the Correct Possessive Pronoun

Choose the correct word to complete each sentence.

1. This bag isn’t mine. Is it ____________? (your / yours)
   
   
2. Our garden is nice, but ____________ is much nicer. (their / theirs)
   
   
3. I’ve got my ticket. Have you got ____________? (your / yours)
   
   
4. We’ve handed in our project. Have they handed in ____________? (their / theirs)
   
   
5. I packed my suitcase last night. He still hasn’t packed ____________. (his / him)

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Exercise 2: Answers [Click]

1. yours
2. theirs
3. yours
4. theirs
5. his

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Exercise 3: Replace the Noun Phrase with a Possessive Pronoun

Rewrite each sentence by replacing the underlined words with the correct possessive pronoun.

1. I ate my lunch, but she barely touched her lunch.
   
   
2. Our house has three bedrooms. Their house has four.
   
   
3. I’ve finished my homework. Have you finished your homework?
   
   
4. This is my coffee. Your coffee is on the counter.
   
   
5. The dog chewed up my slippers again. He never touches Ella’s slippers.

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Exercise 3: Answers [Click]

1. I ate my lunch, but she barely touched hers.
2. Our house has three bedrooms. Theirs has four.
3. I’ve finished my homework. Have you finished yours?
4. This is my coffee. Yours is on the counter.
5. The dog chewed up my slippers again. He never touches hers.

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Exercise 4: Possessive Pronoun or Possessive Determiner?

Determine whether the underlined word is a possessive pronoun or a possessive determiner.

1. Is that your phone?
   
   
2. That phone is yours.
   
   
3. Hers is the one on the left.
   
   
4. Her jacket is on the chair.
   
   
5. We prefer our method.
   
   
6. We tried both, but ours worked better.
   
   
7. Their steaks are the best in town.
   
   
8. We’ve tried them all, and theirs are the best in town.

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Exercise 4: Answers [Click]

1. Possessive determiner
2. Possessive pronoun
3. Possessive pronoun
4. Possessive determiner
5. Possessive determiner
6. Possessive pronoun
7. Possessive determiner
8. Possessive pronoun

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Exercise 5: Possessive Pronouns in Context

Fill in the blanks using the correct possessive pronoun from the word bank below.

Word Bank: a) mine | b) yours | c) his | d) hers | e) ours | f) theirs

We did Secret Santa at work last week. Ella opened (1) ____________ first and got a scented candle. Steve opened (2) ____________ next and got a mug that said ‘World’s Okayest Employee.’ He’s oddly proud of it. Jenny from reception opened (3) ____________ and got a gift card, aka the best Secret Santa gift you can get. I opened (4) ____________ last. To everyone’s amusement, it was a pair of socks with my face on them. Even worse, the photo was of me half asleep in a work meeting. I still don’t know who took it.

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Exercise 5: Answers [Click]

1. d) hers
2. c) his
3. d) hers
4. a) mine

Full Text: We did Secret Santa at work last week. Ella opened hers first and got a scented candle. Steve opened his next and got a mug that said ‘World’s Okayest Employee.’ He’s oddly proud of it. Jenny from reception opened hers and got a gift card, aka the best Secret Santa gift you can get. I opened mine last. To everyone’s amusement, it was a pair of socks with my face on them. Even worse, the photo was of me half asleep in a work meeting. I still don’t know who took it.

Unused: b) yours, e) ours, f) theirs.

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