Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns for Class 5 English

Possessive pronouns are used to express possession. Simultaneously they avert repetition in a sentence. In this chapter students will know possessive pronoun definition and common mistakes that could happen while using them.
In this learning concept students will learn:

• Types of possessive pronouns with definition and examples.
• Usage of these words in sentences.

All the learning concepts covered for Class 5 have illustrations, mind maps, and examples. After going through this concept, students can check their understanding by solving the two printable PDF possessive pronouns worksheet. The solutions to these possessive pronouns exercises are also available in PDF format.

Possessive Pronoun Definition:

• A pronoun that indicates ownership or possession of someone or something is called a possessive pronoun.
• Possessive pronouns can replace a noun or noun phrase or possessive adjective and it also prevents repetition of the nouns in the sentence.
• A possessive pronoun isn’t followed by a noun. It stands alone in a sentence.
• The words yours, mine, his, hers, ours, theirs are possessive pronouns.

Example:

• In the first sentence, we used the noun ‘cup’ three times. In the second sentence, we replaced the noun ‘cup’ and pronoun ‘my’ & ‘your’ with the possessive pronoun ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ to avoid repetition.
• ‘Mine’ and ‘yours’ are not followed by a noun. They are standing alone in a sentence.

Types of Possessive Pronouns

The usage of possessive pronouns is better understood when we look at the types of possessive pronouns. It can be divided into two types: Singular possessive pronouns and plural possessive pronouns.

a) Singular Possessive Pronouns:

When a possessive pronoun refers to only one person or thing, it is called a singular possessive pronoun. The list of singular possessive pronouns is –

• mine
• yours
• his
• hers

Examples:

In both sentences, we replaced the nouns ‘house’ and ‘umbrella’ with the singular possessive pronoun ‘yours’ and ‘hers’ to refer to one person.

b) Plural Possessive Pronouns:

When a possessive pronoun refers to more than one person or thing, it is called a plural possessive pronoun. The list of plural possessive pronouns is –

• ours
• yours
• theirs

Examples:

Instead of mentioning the nouns ‘class’ and ‘team’ repetitively, we used plural possessive pronouns ‘ours’ and ‘theirs’ to refer to more than one person.

Every personal pronoun has a possessive pronoun corresponding to it.

Common Mistakes:

1. Don’t make mistakes between possessive pronoun and possessive adjective.

• A possessive pronoun is not followed by a noun.

Examples: The book is mine.

• A possessive adjective comes before a noun.

Examples: This is my book.

2. We can’t change the form of a possessive pronoun into plural. It doesn’t matter whether a possessive pronoun refers to one or more than one object. The form remains the same.

Examples:

This crayon is mine.

These crayons are my.