Unit 9.1

Possessive Adjectives


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Introduction

Adjectives are determiners that can be placed in two different positions within a sentence to modify or describe a person or a thing.

Possessive adjectives are used to show that something belongs to someone.

Form

Possessive adjectives are used together with nouns and can be distinguished by number and gender. We do not use articles and other determiners before possessive adjectives.

Possessive adjectives are:

Subject Pronouns Possessive Adjetives
I My
You Your
He His
She Her
It Its
We Our
You Your
They Their

Example

  • My father and I are policemen.
  • Your dog is welcome in my house. 
  • His wife is pregnant. 
  • Is this her car?
  • This city is known for its university. 
  • Our cat doesn’t like fish.
  • It is not your fault. 
  • Their friends are amusing. 

Use

We use possessive adjectives to show that something belongs to someone (person or animal).

NOTE: Possessive adjectives are actually determiners, but in dictionaries or grammar books they are usually referred to as adjectives.

Summary

Possessive adjectives express that something belongs to a person or an animal. We distinguish them by number and gender.

They are: my, your, his, her, its, our, your and their.

For example:
— “It is not her sandwich, it’s my sandwich.” = Her and my describe another element in the sentence (they are possessive adjectives).
♦ “It is not her sandwich, it’s mine.” = Mine replaces another element in the sentence (it is a possessive pronoun).

NOTE: We don’t use determiners before possessive adjectives, because they are already a kind of determiners.

Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.

Exercises

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