Possession: How and When to Use in English
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Possession
• To express possession, we need to understand the interrogative whose (of whom?), the genitive ('s in English), as well as possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns:
Whose office is this? Who does this office belong to?
- It's Polly's (office). It belongs to Polly. (genitive)
- It's her office. It's Polly's office. (possessive adjective)
- It's hers. It belongs to her. (possessive pronoun).
- It's Polly's (office). It belongs to Polly. (genitive)
- It's her office. It's Polly's office. (possessive adjective)
- It's hers. It belongs to her. (possessive pronoun).
Whose is this? Who does this belong to? (in this case 'Whose' is a pronoun)
- It's Bob's (briefcase). It's (the briefcase) of Bob.
- It's mine. It belongs to me.
- It's my briefcase. It (this briefcase) belongs to me.
- It's Bob's (briefcase). It's (the briefcase) of Bob.
- It's mine. It belongs to me.
- It's my briefcase. It (this briefcase) belongs to me.
• Possessive adjectives and pronouns:
my
mine
your
yours
his/her/its
his/hers/its
our
ours
your
yours
their
theirs
I left my cell phone at home. May I use yours? I left my cell phone at home. May I use your cell phone?
Polly does not own this car. It's not hers. It belongs to her father.
• One's is used for non-defined subjects, in an impersonal style:
to mind one's own business not to be concerned with the affairs of others (informal)
• A note on the genitive:
• When the 'possessor' is in the plural, the word is followed by an apostrophe:
My parents' car. The car belonging to my parents.
The executives' bathroom. The bathroom for the executives.
The women's locker room. The locker room belonging to the women. (irregular plural: apostrophe: 's')
• The genitive is usually only used when referring to people or animals:
The pig's ear. The ear of the pig.
The steering wheel of the car. or The car steering wheel.
The steering wheel of the car. or The car steering wheel.
• Sometimes the genitive can refer to objects such as house, shop, store (etc.), even if these have not been previously mentioned:
Luna is at the doctor's right now. Luna is at the doctor's surgery at the moment.
I bought this bag at Warbuckle's. I bought this bag at Warbuckle's shop.
We are having dinner at the Kennedys' tonight. We are having dinner at the Kennedys' house tonight.
• There are some expressions commonly used in adverts or shops where the apostrophe is omitted; sometimes the two words can even be joined:
Sports wear ( or Sportswear). Clothes worn for sport.
Salesman. A person who sells things.
Exercise 1
Luna: Hello Horatio. I found this pipe on the laboratory floor. I thought it might be .
Luna: Hello Horatio. I found this pipe on the laboratory floor. I thought it might be yours.
yours: 'Yours' is the possessive pronoun which replaces 'pipe'.
your: We must add an 's' to the end of the word, otherwise it is a possessive adjective and not a pronoun, which the sentence requires.
you: This choice does not make sense here. You is a personal pronoun, and the sentence requires a possessive pronoun to replace the 'pipe' (an object).
Exercise 2
Use the following words to fill in the blanks below. Be careful! Some words may be used more than once or not at all:
my | your| his | her | our | their
Philip: I just checked my computer, and I think there is a virus in the system!
Bob: Have you scanned machine for viruses?
Philip: I can't because PC won't start anymore!
Bob: How long has it been broken?
Philip: It crashed right after I sent an email to everyone in the Sales department.
Bob: Oh no...
Philip: Is that bad? Do you think I can use computer to check my messages? I have a date tonight...
my | your| his | her | our | their
Philip: I just checked my computer, and I think there is a virus in the system!
Bob: Have you scanned machine for viruses?
Philip: I can't because PC won't start anymore!
Bob: How long has it been broken?
Philip: It crashed right after I sent an email to everyone in the Sales department.
Bob: Oh no...
Philip: Is that bad? Do you think I can use computer to check my messages? I have a date tonight...
Use the following words to fill in the blanks below. Be careful! Some words may be used more than once or not at all:
my | your| his | her | our | their
Philip: I just checked my computer, and I think there is a virus in the system!
Bob: Have you scanned your 1 machine for viruses?
Philip: I can't because my 2 PC won't start anymore!
Bob: How long has it been broken?
Philip: It crashed right after I sent an email to everyone in the Sales department.
Bob: Oh no...
Philip: Is that bad? Do you think I can use your 3 computer to check my messages? I have a date tonight...
my | your| his | her | our | their
Philip: I just checked my computer, and I think there is a virus in the system!
Bob: Have you scanned your 1 machine for viruses?
Philip: I can't because my 2 PC won't start anymore!
Bob: How long has it been broken?
Philip: It crashed right after I sent an email to everyone in the Sales department.
Bob: Oh no...
Philip: Is that bad? Do you think I can use your 3 computer to check my messages? I have a date tonight...
1 your: 'Your computer' is the best choice here because Bob Carter is asking about Philip's computer.
2 my: 'My PC' is the best choice here because Philip is talking about his own computer.
3 your: 'Your computer' is the best choice. Because Philip's computer is broken, we can assume he wants to use Bob's computer to check his email.
Exercise 3
Horatio: Yes Luna. That pipe is indeed . But what were you doing in laboratory? Hmm?
Luna: Well, I was sitting in Polly's office yesterday, and I just felt like office had a lot of negative energy, so I decided to take a walk.
Horatio: stories are always fascinating, but where did you find this pipe?
Luna: Well, I was sitting in Polly's office yesterday, and I just felt like office had a lot of negative energy, so I decided to take a walk.
Horatio: stories are always fascinating, but where did you find this pipe?
Horatio: Yes Luna. That pipe is indeed mine 1. But what were you doing in my 2 laboratory? Hmm?
Luna: Well, I was sitting in Polly's office yesterday, and I just felt like her 3 office had a lot of negative energy, so I decided to take a walk.
Horatio: Your 4 stories are always fascinating, but where did you find this pipe?
Luna: Well, I was sitting in Polly's office yesterday, and I just felt like her 3 office had a lot of negative energy, so I decided to take a walk.
Horatio: Your 4 stories are always fascinating, but where did you find this pipe?
1 mine: 'Mine' is the best choice here, because Horatio is referring to his own pipe.
1 my: 'My' describes an object. It is a possessive adjective, and must precede a noun.
2 my: 'My' describes an object. It is a possessive adjective, and must precede a noun.
2 mine: 'Mine' is a possessive pronoun, and replaces a noun. Because we see the noun 'laboratory', we cannot use 'mine' here.
2 me: The personal pronoun 'me' doesn't make sense here.
3 her: 'Her' is the best choice here, because Luna is talking about Polly's office, and we can see that the word precedes a noun.
3 hers: 'Hers' is a possessive pronoun, and replaces a noun. Because we see the noun 'office', we cannot use 'hers' here.
3 she: The personal pronoun 'she' doesn't make sense here.
3 she's: 'She's' is actually a contraction for 'she is'. We cannot use it here.
4 Your: 'Your' is the best choice here, because Horatio is talking to Luna, about Luna's stories, we can see that the word precedes a noun.
4 Yours: 'Yours' is a possessive pronoun, and replaces a noun. Because we see the noun 'stories', we cannot use 'yours' here.
4 You're: 'You're' is actually a contraction for 'you are'. We cannot use it here.
4 You: The personal pronoun 'you' doesn't make sense here.
Exercise 4
Johnny: Is this Ms. DeLune's stereo?
Petey: Yes, it's . But if you want it, I'll sell it to you.
Petey: Yes, it's . But if you want it, I'll sell it to you.
Johnny: Is this Ms. DeLune's stereo?
Petey: Yes, it's hers. But if you want it, I'll sell it to you.
Petey: Yes, it's hers. But if you want it, I'll sell it to you.
hers: 'Hers' is the possessive pronoun used to refer to the possession of a female. As Ms. DeLune is a woman, 'her stereo' can be replaced by the pronoun 'hers'. Example: -Does this dog belong to your family? -Yes, it's ours.
his: 'His' is the wrong gender for Luna DeLune, who is a woman.
her: 'Her' is a personal pronoun. 'Her' describes 'to whom the stereo belongs', but it cannot replace the object 'the stereo'.
theirs: 'Theirs' is incorrect. 'Theirs' represents more than one person, while Luna is just one woman.
Exercise 5
Jean: pipe is this?
Bob: That must be Horatio's.
Jean: Oh, I didn't know it was .
Bob: That must be Horatio's.
Jean: Oh, I didn't know it was .
Jean: Whose 1 pipe is this?
Bob: That must be Horatio's.
Jean: Oh, I didn't know it was his 2.
Bob: That must be Horatio's.
Jean: Oh, I didn't know it was his 2.
1 Whose: We use 'whose?' to ask a question about possession. This is the best choice here.
1 Who: We cannot use 'who' here because the question is about possession, and not about identity.
1 His: 'His' is grammatically incorrect here, because we are asking a question, and so we must use an interrogative term to begin the construction.
2 his: We use 'his' here because we are talking about Horatio's pipe, and Horatio is a male. The possessive pronoun must agree with the gender of the person or subject in question.
2 hers: We cannot use 'hers' here because the pronoun must agree with the subject Horatio, who is a male.
2 its: We cannot use 'its' here because the pronoun must be agree with the subject Horatio, who is a male.
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