Possessive Pronouns 

Look at the sentences given below: 

• Natalie is happy about Natalie’s academic performance. 
• Joseph is sad about Joseph’s plight. 
• Rosie and Rick are very protective of Rosie and Rick’s sisters. 

If you look at the sentences, you can see that the proper nouns with which the sentences begin are repeated again in the sentences. 

Now, look at the following sentences: 

• Natalie is happy about her academic performance. 
• Joseph is sad about his plight. 
• Rosie and Rick are very protective of their sisters. 

Here, we have replaced names like Natalie and Joseph with words like her and his respectively. Each of the sentences has words like her, his, or their following their subject at a later stage. 

The changes made in the sentences are the result of years of your exposure to the English language. That is, you know that this is how sentences like these have to be altered, but you may or may not know why it is done that way.  

In this session, we will have a detailed look at the concept of possessive pronouns in grammar. 

Let us learn more about possessive pronouns. 

Possessive Pronouns

Read the sentence: 

Natalie is happy about her academic performance. 

In the given sentence, we have the subject Natalie, who is happy about her academic performance. The main concern of the given sentence is, of course, the subject Natalie. 

But the action of her being happy has a reason, that isheracademic performance.  

Let’s say that the word her is used to avoid the repetition of the word Natalie’s, which would have otherwise had us reading the sentence as Natalie is happy about Natalie’s academic performance. 

 Since the word her replaces the noun Natalie here, we know that it can be called a pronoun. But here our main object of concern is Natalie’s academic performance. 

There is an element of some possession that is being talked about, i.e., the academic performance about which Natalie is happy, is something that she possesses/something that belongs to her. Thus, we can conclude that the pronoun her, that suggests us something about someone’s possession can be called a possessive pronoun.  

Now, let us define what a possessive pronoun is: 

Possessive pronouns are the ones that show ownership. They tell us about something, be it a person, place, or a thing, that belongs to someone. To put it simply, they demonstrate ownership.The possessive pronouns used in English are my, our, your, his, her, its, and their. 

Examples: 

• My friend is visiting me today. 
• His flight will take off in an hour. 
• Do not judge a book by its cover. 
• I am at your doorsteps.  
• Their kid is a mischievous one. 

There is an independent form for each of the possessive pronouns mentioned above. They are also called absolute possessive pronouns. The absolute possessive pronouns are mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its, and theirs. They mostly appear at the end of clauses or phrases. 

Example: 

• He is a friend of mine. 
• This house is theirs. 
• The plan is hers. 
• My phone isn’t working. Can I please use yours?