Personal pronouns

Possessive determiners Possessive pronouns

as subject as object
(nominative) (accusative and dative)

I me my mine

you you your yours

he him his his

she her her hers

it it its its

we us our ours

you you your yours

they them their theirs

1 2 3 4

We have some books. The books are for us. These are our books. The books are ours.

 "Go on, get inside the TARDIS. Oh, never given you a key? Keep that. Go on, that’s yours.
Quite a big moment really!"
(The Doctor to Donna in "The Poison Sky." Doctor Who, 2005)

 "She underlines passages in my Bible because she can't find hers."

(Ned in "The War of the Simpsons." The Simpsons, 1991)

 "Woman must have the fundamental freedom of choosing whether or not she will be a
mother and how many children she will have. Regardless of what man's attitude may be,
that problem is hers--and before it can be his, it is hers alone."
(Margaret Sanger)

 "Those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained."

(William Blake)

 "The possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, etc.) are like possessive determiners, except
that they constitute a whole noun phrase.
 1. The house will be hers you see when they are properly divorced.

2. Writers have produced extraordinary work in conditions more oppressive than mine.

Possessive pronouns are typically used when the head noun can be found in the preceding context;
thus in 1, hers means 'her house,' and in 2, mine means ' my conditions.' Here the possessive
pronoun is parallel to the elliptic use of the genitive."
(D. Biber, S. Conrad, and G. Leech, Longman Student Grammar of Student and Written English.
Pearson, 2002)

 "[The] construction with the possessive pronoun [e.g. a friend of mine] differs from the
alternative of possessive determiner + noun (e.g. my friend) mainly in that it is more
indefinite. The sentences in (30) below illustrates this point.

(30) a. You know John? A friend of his told me that the food served at that restaurant is awful.

(30) b. You know John? His friend told me that the food served at that restaurant is awful.

The construction with the possessive pronoun, in (30a), can be used if the speaker hasn't specified
and doesn't need to specify the identity of the friend. In contrast, the construction with the
possessive determiner, in (30b), implies that the speaker and listener both know what friend is
intended."
(Ron Cowan, The Teacher's Grammar of English: A Course Book and Reference Guide. Cambridge
Univ. Press, 2008)

 I saw her book on your table.

 His hair is longer than hers.

 My dog is better than their dog.

 The kids are yours, mine, and ours.

 Whose book is on our desk?

 One’s treasure is special.

 The house is theirs and its paint is flaking.

 Review:

Subject Possessive Possessive Reflexive Object

Pronouns Adjectives Pronouns Pronouns Pronouns

I my mine myself me

you your yours yourself you

he his his himself him

she her hers herself her

it its its itself it

we our ours ourselves us

you your yours yourselves you

they their theirs themselves them

 Personal Pronouns & Possessive Adjectives

SUBJECT OBJECT POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES + POSSESSIVE

PRONOUNS PRONOUNS NOUN PRONOUNS

I ME MY ears MINE

HE HIM HIS ears HIS

SHE HER HER ears HERS

IT IT ITS ears ITS

WE US OUR ears OURS

YOU YOU YOUR ears YOURS

THEY THEM THEIR ears THEIRS