Possession: determiners, pronouns, apostrophe + s

 

Possession tells us who owns what. We can use determiners, possessive pronouns and apostrophe + s to show possession.

 

Determiners show who owns a noun:

• This is my book.
• That’s your problem.
• Cindy is visiting her mother.
• Tom is cleaning his room.

 

We use possessive pronouns after a verb:

• This is my pencil → This pencil is mine.
• That is her dress → That dress is hers.
• These are our coats → These coats are ours.

 

Determiners and possessive pronouns have different forms:

 

Subject pronoun	Determiners	Possessive pronoun
I You He She It We You Them	My Your His Her Its Our Your Their	Mine Yours His Hers Its Ours Yours Theirs

 

We can add apostrophe + s to a noun to show possession. We put the other noun after:

• Nick’s house looks clean.
• Selena’s books are on the floor.
• It’s nobody’s fault.