Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns show ownership. They tell the reader that something
belongs to somebody or something.

These are the possessive pronouns and the subjects they represent:

Subject Possessive Pronoun

I Mine
You (singular) Yours
He His
She Hers
It Its
We Ours
You (plural) Yours
They Theirs
Who Whose

1. Mine

The possessive pronoun mine shows ownership of the subject I.

Examples:

 The blond boy is mine.

(I am the blond boy's mother.)

 The dog you found is mine.

(I own that dog.)

 The blue toothbrush is mine.

(I own the blue toothbrush.)

2. Yours (singular and plural)

The possessive pronoun yours shows ownership of the subject you.

The subject you can represent a singular or plural subject.

Singular Examples:
  The pink toothbrush is yours.

(You own the pink toothbrush.)

 Nick, I think that dog is yours.

(Nick, you own the dog.)

 The blue present is yours.

(You get the blue present.)

Plural Examples:

 Tom and Sandy, is this house yours?

(Do you both own the house?)

 These presents are yours.

(The presents belong to all of you.)

 These band uniforms are yours this year.

(The uniforms belong to the band members.)

3. His

The possessive pronoun his shows ownership of the subject he.

Examples:

 The old car is his.

(He owns the old car.)

 The book is his.

(He owns the book.)

 I think that bike is his.

(He owns the bike.)

4. Hers

The possessive pronoun hers shows ownership of the subject she.

Examples:
  The children are hers.

(She is the mother of the children.)

 The blue house is hers.

(She owns the blue house.)

 The coat I found is hers.

(She owns the coat.)

5. Its

The possessive pronoun its shows ownership of the subject it.

Examples:

 The blue doghouse is its.

(The blue doghouse belongs to it.)

 Its is the green one.

(The green one belongs to it.)

 Those game pieces are its.

(The pieces belong with the game.)

These examples may sound strange, but they are grammatically correct.

In American English, it is more common to use the possessive adjectiveform

of its, which is explained at the end of this lesson.

A possessive adjective always comes before a noun.

For Example:

We could say,

"Its doghouse is blue."

or

"Those are its game pieces."

Special note about its vs. it's:

Its and it's are not the same word.

Its = ownership

It's = a contraction meaning it is.

 Incorrect:

The bird is in it's nest.

(The bird is in it is nest).

 Correct:

The bird is in its nest.

 Incorrect:

I think its nine o'clock.

 Correct:

I think it's nine o'clock.

(I think it is nine o'clock.)

6. Ours

The possessive pronoun ours shows ownership of the subject we.

Examples:

 The swimming pool is ours.

(We own the swimming pool.)

 Those horses in the barn are ours.

(We own the horses in the barn.)

  Ours is the green car.

(We own the green car.)

7. Theirs

The possessive pronoun theirs shows ownership of the subject they.

Examples:

 The three bikes are theirs.

(They own the bikes.)

 The sleeping bags are theirs.

(They own the sleeping bags.)

 Those children are theirs.

(They are the parents of the children.)

Possessive Adjectives
Don't confuse possessive pronouns with possessive adjectives.
Possessive adjectives show ownership, but they always come before a noun.
They modify the noun.

The possessive adjectives are:

 my
 your (singular and plural)
 his
 her
 its
 our
 their

Examples:

possessive adjective + noun

 My house is green.

(The green house belongs to me. or I own the green house.)

 Is that your dog?

(The dog belongs to you.)

 That is his bicycle.

(He owns the bicycle.)

 Her mom is tall.

(The girl's mom is tall.)

 The horse broke its leg.

(The horse has a broken leg.)

 Do you want to come over to our house?

(The house belongs to us.)

 Their car broke down.

(The car that broke down belongs to them.)

 I wonder whose bike is parked there?

(The bike belongs to someone.)

Worksheet for Enrichment

Bobby, Angela, and Cindy were so happy to get tickets to the ball game. (1)
They had been looking forward to seeing a game for a long time. (2) “I hope the
Tigers win today’s game,” Cindy said. (3) “They have lost four games in a row, so I
hope they win (4) it for (5) me.”

(6) “I hope they win this one for (7) US!” said Angela, before (8) she jumped
up to cheer for the players as (9) they took the field.

The kids watched the pitcher for the Broncos warm up on the mound. (10)
They agreed that (11) he was looking good as the first of the Tigers’ batters stepped
up to the plate.

The first pitch was right over the plate. (12) It was a perfect pitch. “Strike one!”
shouted the umpire, adding a big wave of (13) his hand for emphasis. The next pitch
– and the one after that – were two more perfect strikes. The Tiger batter dragged
(14) his feet as he returned to the dugout.

Two more Tigers batters stepped to the plate and both of (15) them faced the
same fate as the first batter – two more strikeouts. (16) “I’m not sure this is going to
be the game I want (17) it to be,” said Bobby. (18) His two friends nodded in
agreement. (19) They saw the writing on the wall: unless the Tigers quickly turned
things around, (20) they faced a continuation of their losing streak. That would be five
losses in a row!

Bobby, Angela, and Cindy knew the team had (21) their work cut out for them,
but (22) they refused to leave. They stayed until the final out was made in what
ended up being a 5-4 loss for (23) their team.

1. They refers to ____________________________

2. I refers to ____________________________
3. They refers to ____________________________
4. it refers to ____________________________
5. me refers to ____________________________
6. I refers to ____________________________
7. us refers to ____________________________
8. she refers to ____________________________
9. they refers to ____________________________
10. They refers to ____________________________
11. he refers to ____________________________
12. It refers to ____________________________
13. his refers to ____________________________
14. his refers to ____________________________
15. them refers to ____________________________
16. I’m refers to ____________________________
17. it refers to the ____________________________
18. His refers to ____________________________
19. They refers to ____________________________
20. they refers to ____________________________
21. their refers to ____________________________
22. they refers to ____________________________
23. their refers to ____________________________