LESON 1.

2 POSSESSIVES

There are two types of possessives which are determined by their function in the sentence.

Possessive Determiners Example

my This is my house.
your This is your book.
his This is his bicycle.
her This is her dress.
its The dog doesn’t like to be on its own.
our These are our suitcases.
your These are your seats.
their These are their books.

Possessive Pronouns Example

mine This book is mine.
yours Is this book yours?
his This bicycle is his.
hers The dress is hers.
its The house is its [the cat’s].
ours The suitcases are ours.
yours These seats are yours.
theirs This pencil is theirs.

Possessive determiners and pronouns vary according to the possessor and not to whether the object is in
singular or plural, as in some other languages such as Spanish.

my book, his book, my books, his books…

Function

1. The possessive as determiner

These pronouns function as the determinative article of the noun that they accompany and therefore precede
the object.

Examples:

 My car is blue.
 His house is big.

2. The possessive as pronoun

In this case, the possessive pronoun acts as a direct complement.

Examples:

 The blue car is mine.

 The big house is his.

Note: These examples respond to the question, “Whose is this?”.

 Possessive Pronouns vs. the Genitive Case

The “-’s” termination which indicates the genitive is not to be confused with the possessive determiners. As
such, we can say:

Her dress…
or:
Andrea’s dress…
In both cases we are expressing a possession and a possessor; in this case, the dress. In the first sentence,
the possessive determiner “her” indicates that both the speaker and the listener know who is being referred to;
whereas in the second sentence, the speaker wants to acknowledge the name of the possessor.

 Grammatical Rules

1. We always use the genitive to refer to people.

Examples:

 Paul’s house…
 Mary’s bike…

2. When we want to make reference to places or things we use the preposition “of”:

 The wheel of the bike…

 Washington is the capital of the United States.

3. We can also use the genitive at the end of a sentence when it is used in response to a prior question. In this
case, we do not need to use the noun.

Examples:

Question: Where is your sister?

Answer: She is at my parents’.

Question: Whose house is this?

Answer: It is Michael’s.

4. When there is more than one possessor, the apostrophe comes after the “s”.

Examples:

 The girls’ toys….

 The students’ exams…

WARNING!
When the name of the possessor ends in “s”, we do not add the genitive “-’s” termination, but only the
apostrophe after the “s” of the possessor’s name.
 Luis’ house…
 EXERCISES

1. Choose the correct answer.

Q1 of 6 Q4 of 6
This car is ____ car. This car is his. This is your bike. This bike is ____.
 he  you
 her  your
 his  yous
 hers  yours
Q2 of 6 Q5 of 6
This house is our house. This house is ____. This is ____ dog. This dog is hers.
 our  her
 ours  his
 we  hers
 its  she
Q3 of 6 Q6 of 6
This hat is my hat. This hat is ____. These are ____ children. These children are theirs.
 I  theirs
 me  them
 mine  they
 its  their

2. Write the words in the correct order.

Sample:
book / this / hers / is This book is hers.

Q1 of 5
cat / this / my / is _____________________________

Q2 of 5
are / papers / yours / these _____________________________

Q3 of 5
our / house / is / this _____________________________

Q4 of 5
his / this / is / jacket _____________________________

Q5 of 5
her / them / phone / I / number / gave_____________________________

3. Replace the personal determiners by the right possessive adjectives:

Sample:
0. (You) ___Your__ name is Edwin.

1. Where is (I)______book?
2. Here is (we)_______teacher.
3. She goes to school with (she)________brother.
4. (They)_______father works in a car factory.
5. (You) __________laptop is very expensive.
6. (He)________favorite hobby is tennis.
 7. (I)_______husband and I want to go to Paris.
8. We want to see (it)______historical monuments.
9. Leila likes (she)______dog !
10. (It)______name is Bobby.

4. Fill in the blanks with the right possessive determiner:

Sample:
0. Lisa is a great student. ___Her__ favourite subject is Math.

1. Two students didn't do________ mathematics homework.

2. I have a car. _______color is black.
3. We have a dog. _______name is Pancho.
4. Nancy is from England. ________husband is from Australia.
5. Ann and Nadia go to a high school. _________little brother goes to primary school.
6. Alan has a van. ________van is very old.
7. We go to a high school. __________high school is fantastic.
8. I like singing. ________ mother sings with me.
9. François and Alain are French. _________family are from France.
10. Mary likes ________grandmother. She often visits her.

5. Fill in my, your, his, her, its, our, their.

1. I don't know the time because I can't find________watch.

2. What's the boy's name? _______name is Ben Scott.
3. Debbie has got a dog. ________dog is very lively.
4. The dog is very lively. ________name is Ben.
5. We are at school. ________school is very nice.
6. I have a new laptop. ________laptop is white.
7. I'm from Seattle. Most of ________friends are from Seattle, too.
8. The rabbit is white. ________cage is in the garden.
9. Sandra and Jenny are friends. ________school is in the city centre.
10. The Millers have a new car. ________car is blue.
11. Emma Peel has got a brother. ________name is Paul.
12. Nick Baker has a sister. ________name is Debbie.
13. Yes, we have a dog. ________dog is very old.
14. The boys have got a tortoise. ________name is Trundle.
15. Suddenly the children see an old man. It's ________grandfather.
16. Aunt Mary is sitting at the table. Peter fills ________glass with juice.
17. We take the guitars and start to play. ________music is great.
18. Captain Clark drives a yellow sports car. It's ________car.
19. Tom and Robert like to eat fish and chips. It's ________favourite food.
20. We cannot come on Saturday. It's ________father's birthday.

6. Select the correct option for each sentence.

01). My sister is old. _______ is 09). I am studying English. 17). Do _______ see the
eighty-one. _______ is not difficult. animals?
a. He a. It a. her
b. It b. She b. ours
c. She c. They c. them
d. You d. We d. you
02).I am wearing a hat. ____ is 10). Bob is building a barn. 18). My teacher has a question
blue. _______ needs tools. for ________.
a. Hers a. He a. he
b. It b. Him b. me
 c. She c. They c. theirs
d. They d. You d. we
03). This book is ________. 11). Is the big office ________? 19). Did you think the medicine
a. him a. it was ________?
b. mine b. them a. me
c. they c. you b. they
d. us d. yours c. you
d. yours
04). They will phone ________ 12). Donna and Lynn are going to 20). They made ________ a nice
tomorrow. buy ________ a present. dress.
a. he a. she a. her
b. she b. theirs b. hers
c. they c. them c. mine
d. you d. we d. we
05). That cute baby is ________. 13). ________ are the tallest girl 21). We knew the old blanket was
a. hers in the class. ________.
b. I a. Mine a. hers
c. us b. She b. him
d. you c. Us c. I
d. You d. them
06). The beautiful house is 14). ________ know my son is 22). I like your cat. Do ________
________. very smart. feed it fish?
a. me a. Her a. me
b. she b. I b. us
c. theirs c. Me c. you
d. them d. Mine d. yours
07). The shirt is mine. I will iron 15). Sara told ________ the store 23). Our business is terrible.
________. was open. ________ lose money every day.
a. it a. his a. It
b. ours b. ours b. Them
c. we c. she c. Us
d. you d. us d. We
08). The largest boat is ________. 16). The expensive watch is 24). The banker will help ____
a. I ________. open a new account.
b. ours a. him his
c. us b. his she
d. you c. I them
d. she yours
25) Judy never drinks tea. 26). Are they going to study with 27). She didn't know the
________ likes coffee. ________? groceries were ________.
a. Hers a. he a. hers
b. It b. his b. it
c. She c. us c. them
d. You d. we d. we

28).The man will help ________ 29). James saw the doctor. He told 30). My family always goes to the
paint the chairs. ________about the pain in his mountains. ________ ski in the
a. he stomach. winter.
b. ours a. her a. He
c. them b. hers b. Them
d. they c. it c. Us
d. we d. We