LONGMAN ENGLISH GRAMMAR PRACTICE

4 Pronouns

4.4

4.4A

Study:

И

Possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns ('my/mine')

Basic differences between 'my' and 'mine', etc. [> LEG 4.19-21]

1 My, your, his, her, its, one's, our, your and their are possessive adjectives. This means they

must go in front of nouns: He's my son. It's your house, etc.

2 They refer to the possessor, not to the thing possessed:

John amused his daughter. (= his own) John amused her daughter. (= someone else's)

Jane amused her son. (= her own) Jane amused his son. (= someone else's)

Its refers to possession by an animal or thing: The cat drank its milk. [> 2.7A]

3 Mine, yours, his, hers, ours, yours, and theirs are possessive pronouns. This means they

stand on their own: That book is mine. (Not *That is mine book. *)

We cannot use possessives with the. (Not *That's the my car./That car's the mine. *)

Write: Supply the missing possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns.

1 What a beautiful baby girl! What's АШГ. name?

2 This is your towel: it's yellow. And that's your husband's is blue.

3 This car isn't My car has a different registration number.

4 'Shall we have supper on a tray and watch TV?' my wife asked.

5 That umbrella doesn't belong to you is the one with the leather handle.

6 Their flat and our flat may seem to be the same, but is different from ours.

7 One should put own interests last.

8 John's son wants to be an actor and daughter wants to be an actress.

9 Patricia's eldest daughter has just left school and youngest has just begun.

10 Has the cat been given milk yet?

4.4B

Study:

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Write:

The double genitive: 'He is a friend of mine' [> LEG 2 .52]

1 We can say: He is your friend.

or: He is a friend of yours. (No apostrophe: not *He is a friend ofyour's. *)

And note: He is a friend of mine. (Not *He is a friend of me. *)

2 We can say: He is my father's friend. [> 2.8A]

We still use's after of if we say: He is a friend of my father's. (Not *of my father*)

3 We often use this and that with this construction, especially when we are criticizing:

That boy of yours is in trouble again. That motorbike of yours is very noisy. (I

•t

Rewrite these sentences using phrases with of, making any necessary changes.

1 Your brother is always in trouble. That..,çf...ymri..M..

2 He's not my friend. He's no

3 We watched a play by Shakespeare. We watched

4 Now tell me about your problem. Now tell me about

5 We've known him for years. He's our friend. He's

6 Her loud music drives me crazy! That

7 My sister's friend phoned from New York. A

8 Their neighbours have been complaining again. Those

9 Your radio keeps us all awake! That