Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns for Class 3 English

Possessive pronouns are used to indicate possession or ownership in a sentence or in a conversation. This concept includes the possessive pronoun definition and examples. Students are also warned about the possible common mistakes and exceptions that could occur while using pronouns.

The class 3 students will also learn to:

• Form possessive pronouns sentences.
• List of these pronouns with examples.
• Explain the types of possessive pronouns with examples and the difference between them.

This concept for class 3 has been presented using mind maps, illustrations and colourful tables. Along with grade-specific information, students also have access to two free printable possessive pronouns worksheet PDF provided at the end of the page. The possessive pronoun exercises will aid in testing their understanding of the topic. Once they have attempted, the answers to those questions can be verified with the pronouns worksheet with answers provided in the PDF format.

Definition:

• Possessive nouns denote who owns something. Possessive pronouns are used instead of nouns. For instance, my, mine, your, yours, etc.
• Possessive pronouns can be used as a subject of a sentence.

Examples:

1. Look at those cars. Mine is the blue one. (subject = My car)
2. Your house is spacious. Ours is congested. (subject = Our house)
• Possessive pronouns can also be used as an object of a sentence.

Examples:

1. Jia found her belongings, but Maria couldn’t find hers. (object = her belongings)
2. I like your drawing. Do you like mine? (object = my drawing)

How to Use Possessive Pronouns in a Sentence?

1. Possessive pronouns are used when what is ‘hers’, ‘yours’, ours’, ‘theirs’, ‘his’, ‘its’ understood in the text. Usually, what is owned is mentioned previously. Thereafter, the possessive pronoun is then to refer to whom the object belongs.

Examples:

These shoes are mine, not yours.

The words ‘yours’ and ‘mine’ are possessive pronouns and stand for “my shoes” and “your shoes,” respectively.


2. Possessive pronouns can also be used to denote a relationship or origin.

Examples:

Origin: Hyderabad is her home, and ours is Telangana.
(‘Ours’ in the sentence replaces ‘our home’. This sentence reveals that we come from Telangana.)
Relationship: I brought my parents to the party, and Sini brought hers.
(Hers replaces “her parents.” Sini doesn’t “possess” her parents, but she is related to them.)

List of Possessive Pronouns:

Examples:

1. Who’s doll is it? – It is hers.
2. Who’s car is that? - It’s theirs.
3. This is not your ladder, it’s ours.

Types of Possessive Pronouns

• Singular possessive pronouns refer to only one person or thing.
• Plural possessive pronoun refers to more than one person or thing.

Singular Possessive Pronouns	Plural Possessive Pronouns
mine	ours
yours	yours
hers	theirs
its
his

Common Mistakes

1. Possessive pronouns must agree with the nouns that they are replaced with. A singular noun must use a singular pronoun and a plural noun must use a plural pronoun.

Examples:

1. Reyansh forgot which pen was his.
   (The pronoun his refers to a pen that belongs to Reyansh. Reyansh is a singular noun so the singular pronoun his is used in the sentence.)
2. I looked for my pen, but forgot which pen was ours.
   (I am looking for a pen that belongs to me. The word me is singular so it should use the singular pronoun mine and not ours which is a plural pronoun.)
2. its vs. it’s

Putting an apostrophe in the possessive adjective is a common mistake. Remember, possessive adjectives don’t have apostrophes.

• The possessive form of the pronoun ‘it’ is its which means belonging to it.

  Examples:

  My dog lives in its kennel.
  
• It’s is a contraction of the words it is.

Examples:

It’s a beautiful dress.

Exceptions:

1. The word ‘his’ can be used as a possessive adjective or a pronoun in a sentence depending on how it is used. If it is used as an object or a subject, it is a pronoun. If it is used to change a noun, it is used an adjective.

Examples:

Possessive pronoun: I put on my jacket, and Vivek put on his. (Here ‘his’ word is used as an object. ‘His’ is a pronoun.)

Possessive adjective: I think this is his pen. (His here is changing the noun hat. His is an adjective in this sentence.)

Look at the mind map below to understand possessive pronouns easily.