Possessive Adjectives and Possessive Pronouns, Definition and Example Sentences

English Possessive Adjectives and Possessive Pronouns, Definition and Example Sentences

Possessive Adjectives and Possessive Pronouns Comparison

Possessive adjectives are used to indicate who owns an object in the sentence, that is, possessive adjectives report belonging in the sentence. In addition, possessive adjectives must be used before a noun, otherwise, if it is not used before the noun, it cannot be understood in the sentence what the object of ownership is.

Note: Its and It’s are among the most confused words when used in English. When we make a sentence in English, we need to know the meaning of these two words and understand the difference.  The difference of these two words is; It’s is an abbreviated form of it is, and Its is a possessive adjective.

For Example;

• It is my car.
• Its colour is blue.

Topics confused in English are possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns. These two topics are different from each other, but can often be confused. In possessive pronouns, it is indicated who owns something or an object, that is, declares ownership.  No noun is used after possessive pronouns, because possessive pronouns are words that are substituted for a noun.

The main difference between possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns

Although possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives are very confused, they actually have a fundamental difference.  Noun is used after possessive adjectives and noun is used after possessive pronouns.

Some sample sentences about these two structures:

• Your rabbit is faster than mine.
• My car is very expensive, what about yours?
• Their children are very smart but yours are not smart.
• Their cat is very pretty.
• My dinner is dessert, but yours is hot.
• My pencil is short, but yours is tall.
• You see across that house? That’s mine!
• It is my big house, what about your house?
• Our school is on vacation today, is yours?
• You are wearing my shoes, where are yours?

Subject Pronouns
I	I play basketball.
You	You are a student.
He	He is very nice.
She	She is an engineer.
It	It is a cat.
We	We love Spanish.
You	You are smart students.
They	They are the smartest kids here.

Possessive Adjectives
My	This is my sister.
Your	Wash your hands.
His	This is his car.
Her	The pencil is her pencil.
Its	Its teeth are very sharp.
Our	We began our work at noon.
Your	Is that your wallet?
Their	Their house near the city.