Difference Between Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives

Possessive Pronouns vs Possessive Adjectives

When it comes to the possessive case, knowing the difference between possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives is a must. In the English language, we use possessive adjectives and pronouns to speak of ownership or possession of things or even people. Of the two types, possessive adjectives areadjectivesthat are used to highlight ownership, while possessive pronouns arepronounsthat deal with ownership. So the key difference between the two types mainly stem from the fact that while one is used as an adjective in front ofnouns, the other replaces nouns and is used when there arises a necessity to emphasize ownership. The purpose of this article is to explain what possessive adjectives and pronouns are, and highlight the difference between possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives.

What are Possessive Adjectives?

In simple language, possessive adjectives are a type of adjectives that are used when we want to highlight ownership. These stem from the basic pronouns of the language under 1st person, 2nd person and 3rd person.These can be presented through a table as follows.

1stPerson	Singular	My
	Plural	Our
2ndPerson	Singular	Your
	Plural	Your
3rdPerson	Singular	His/Her/Its
	Plural	Their

Now, let us use look at an example.

• I met Clara’s mother at the supermarket yesterday.

• I met her mother at the supermarket yesterday.

As you can see in the sentence above the word Clara’s has been replaced with the possessive adjective her.
When using the possessive adjective in the interrogative form, we use “whose”.

• Whose book is that?

Once again even though it is the interrogative form, the function of the possessive adjective is to show ownership.

What are Possessive Pronouns?

Possessive pronouns are also used to indicate ownership. However, since these are pronouns they replace the noun of a sentence with the possessive pronoun unlike an adjective that is placed in front of a noun to describe it. These also come from the basic pronouns of the language under 1st person, 2nd person and 3rd person and can be presented through a table as follows.

1stPerson	Singular	Mine
	Plural	Ours
2ndPerson	Singular	Yours
	Plural	Yours
3rdPerson	Singular	His/ Hers
	Plural	Theirs

Now, let us look at an example.

• 我的绘画是丑陋的,但你看起来很漂亮。

In the example ‘yours’ is a possessive pronoun which refers to the person’s painting.

• Is this your pen or is it mine?

Once again, the example above shows how the possessive pronoun can be used in order to avoid repetition by replacing the words ‘my pen’ with the usage of ‘mine’.

In the interrogative form the possessive pronoun is ‘whose’ just as in possessive adjectives.

What is the difference between Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives?

Now that we have understood the nature of possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives along with their usage in the English language, it is clear that these are two different concepts.

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