Possessive Adjectives and Possessive Pronouns

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 pen.
• Is this your key?

•  its, their are possessive adjectives.
•  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.

Possessive Pronouns

A possessive pronoun is a part of speech that attributes ownership to someone or something. Like any other pronoun, it substitutes a noun phrase and can prevent its repetition. For example, in the phrase, “These sweets are mine, not yours“, the words “mine” and “yours” are possessive pronouns and stand for “my sweets” and “your sweets,” respectively.

Example:

This is our car. It’s ours.

This is my sister’s cycle. It’s hers.