LoginPossessive Determiners
In this lesson, master possessive determiners, which show ownership and provide detailed information about nouns. Clear explanations and practice exercises to help you learn.
What Are Possessive Determiners?
Possessive determiners (also called possessive adjectives in traditional grammar) are words that come before nouns and show possession and ownership.
Placement
Possessive determiners come at the beginning of a noun or a noun phrase, so if the noun phrase has one or more adjectives(s), they come after the determiner. Look at these examples:
He's my brother, Ryan.
Welcome to our house!
You're wearing my blue denim jacket.
I have a car. | This is my car. |
You have a car. | This is your car. |
He has a car. | This is his car. |
She has a car. | This is her car. |
We have a car. | This is our car. |
They have a car. | This is their car. |
Homophones
Pay attention to these three possessive determiners and contracted forms. They are homophones, which means they sound the same but have different meanings and spelling.
possessive determiner | contraction |
|---|---|
your | you're |
its | it's |
their | they're |
It's their kid who's making all the noise!
They're making all the noise! → They are making all the noise!
It's complicated!
'It's' is the contracted form of 'it is'.
My cat has broken its leg.
Here, 'its' is a possessive determiner.
Whose
Whose is a pronoun, but it can also be used as a determiner, especially when we are asking a question about ownership of something. For example:
Whose car is this?
Whose jacket needs to be washed?
Review
All you have learned so far is to use possessive determiners to tell someone owns something. To ask for the owner of something use the term whose.
Possessive determiners are followed by a 'noun'. But the interrogative word 'whose' is not necessarily followed by a 'noun'. To make the interrogative sentences wh-word 'whose' is followed by a yes/no question.
Look at the possessive determiners for each person and how to question them.
persons | possessive determiners | examples | interrogative sentences |
|---|---|---|---|
first person singular | my | My stuff were in Bonny's house. | Whose stuff were in Bonny's house |
second person singular | your | Is this your dog? | Whose dog is this? |
third person singular (female) | her | Her car was parked at the corner of the street. | Whose car was parked at the corner of the street? |
third person singular (male) | his | His dog's name was Betty. | Whose name was Betty? |
third person singular (neuter) | its | They injected in to its hand. | Whose hand did they inject? |
first person plural | our | They wanted to break in to our house. | Whose house did they want to break in to? |
second person plural | your | Your mothers are waiting for you to come. | Whose mothers are waiting? |
third person (neuter) | their | Their policy was to stay fair-minded. | Whose policy was to stay fair-minded? |
Quiz:
Which sentence correctly uses a possessive determiner?
That book is mine favorite.
She found her keys under the table.
This is theirs house.
I'm looking for you jacket.
Sort the words to form a correct sentence.
Match each subject with the correct possessive determiner.
Complete each sentence with the correct possessive determiner.
I forgot to bring
notebook to class today.
The children couldn't find
shoes after recess.
Is this
jacket on the chair?
The dog wagged
tail when it saw its owner.
My siblings and I love spending weekends at
grandparents' cottage.
Which question correctly uses the interrogative possessive determiner?
Who's books are on the table?
Whose is that pencil case?
Whose backpack was left in the gym?
Who is bag is this?
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