Possessive Adjective - Definition, Examples and Exercises

Definition

We can define it as, “Possessive adjectives refer to words which modify a noun by showing a form of possession or a sense of belonging to a particular person or thing”.

Explanation

Possessive adjectives are used in sentence to show the possession/ownership or are used to express a close relationship with someone or something as well as modify the noun.

They also imply definiteness. Examples of possessive adjectives are like my, your, her, his, our, your, its, their, whose (interrogative), etc.

For example:

I will get my
Is this your book?
Your bike is red.
Whose book is this?
My mother is there. (In this example, possessive adjective ‘my’ indicates the close relationship with noun ‘mother’.)
I really like your (In this sentence, possessive adjective ‘your’ shows who owns the noun “shoes”.)

List of Possessive Adjectives

Following is the list of possessive adjectives:

My
Your
His
Her
Its
Our
Your
Their

Examples and Use

Following are the examples showing the use of possessive adjectives in the sentence:

Why didn’t you clean your class? (in this sentences: ‘your’ is modifying the noun ‘class’.)
Mary doesn’t like her (in this sentences: ‘her’ modifies the noun ‘pen’.)
The chameleon can change its color whenever required. (In this sentences: ‘its’ modifies the noun ‘color’.)
His name is Prabhu.
Her name is Kohinoor.
Our cat is always looks cute.
We sold our old car yesterday.
The children thanked their.

What is the Difference between Possessive Adjectives and Possessive Pronouns?

Both, possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns are very confusing as they are closely related to each other; however, easy to differentiate them. We just need to remember that possessive pronouns are used in place of a noun whereas possessive adjectives modify and follow a noun.

For example:

Neha’s jacket is blue. Hers is brown. (It is the example of possessive pronoun.)
His name is Deva. (It is the example of possessive adjective.)

Possessive adjective is used to show ownership and comes before a noun. Possessive adjectives are not formed by adding an apostrophe and ‘s’ to the end such as my, your, his, her, its, our, and their words are possessive adjectives whereas your’s, our’s, it’s, etc are not possessive adjectives.

On the other hand, possessive pronouns show ownership but do not come before the noun or noun phrase as they can stand alone and used to replace the noun such as mine, yours, his, hers, its, etc.

Possessive pronouns are used to replace the noun whereas possessive adjectives are used to describe the noun. Some forms of both, possessive adjective and possessive pronoun are same such as his, its however they are used differently.

Forms of Possessive Adjectives

Following are different forms of the possessive adjectives:

1^st Person: my, our

They can be used for both male and female owners; however, ‘my’ is only for singular owners and ‘our’ is only for plural owners. Such as:

We sold our bicycle yesterday.
My pen is very nice.

2^nd Person: your

It can be used for both, male and female owners as well as for both, singular and plural owners. Such as:

Mohan doesn’t have your pen, Sana.
Kids, don’t forget to eat your

3^rd Person: her, his, its, their

Words like ‘her’, ‘his’, and ‘its’ are used with singular owner, whereas ‘their’ is used only with plural form owner. Moreover, ‘her’ is especially used with female owner and ‘his’ with male owners.

Such as:

His name is Rohit. (Rohit is a male person name.)
Her name is Seema. (Seema is a female person name.)
The children thanked their (The word ‘children” is plural form that’s why ‘their’ is used.)

Rules/Tips to be Followed

Following are some rules and tips which should be remembered while using possessive adjectives in the sentence:

It is necessary for possessive adjectives to agree with the possessor but not with the thing that is possessed. Such as:

My bag is very old.
Her boyfriend is very arrogant.
Our dog is white.
Their homework is kept on the class table.

‘S’ is not included to the end of adjectives when noun is in plural form, such as:

Our cars are cheap. (Correct)
Ours cars are cheap. (Incorrect)

When noun exist in singular form, verb should also be in singular form; whereas if noun is plural then verb should also be plural, such as:

My bag is black. (Singular)
My bags are black. (Plural)
Our girl is intelligent. (Singular)
Our girls are intelligent. (Plural)

Exercises for you

Possessive adjective exercises given below will help you in analyzing your knowledge about possessive adjective. Just go through all the details given above about the possessive adjective and check your skill by doing following exercises for possessive adjective.

We have used possessive adjectives in the following sentences; you need to check your skill by identifying possessive adjectives in each sentence:

My pen is on the table.
I think you forgot your lunch.
The dog buried its bone.
The girl missed her bus.
Joey left his pen in the class.
That’s our school.
My car is very new.
My mother is very kind.
How old is your father?
He’s broken his bat.
She’s washing her car.
I need to clean my shoes.
I want to go to my class.
I want to marry with my friend.
Your bat is there.
Your house is very far from school.
Who are your mother and father?
Who is my class teacher?
I finished my lunch.
I missed my class today.

Answers: 1 – my, 2 – your, 3 – its, 4 – her, 5 – his, 6 – our, 7 – My, 8 – My, 9 – your, 10 – his, 11 – her, 12 – my, 13 – my, 14 – my, 15 – your, 16 – your, 17 – your, 18 – my, 19 – my, 20 – my.