POSSESSIVE PRONOUN

views updated May 09 2018

POSSESSIVE PRONOUN. A PRONOUN which expresses possession. Strictly applied, the term covers eight items used independently, as in The house is ours: mine, thine (archaic), yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs. More loosely, it includes eight items used attributively, as in This is our house: my, thy (archaic), your, his, her, its, our, and their (a set also labelled possessive determiners and possessive adjectives). The distinction between the two groups is the same as with any pronouns and DETERMINERS. Possessive determiners never take apostrophes: its is the determiner, while it's is short for it is or it has.

possessive pronoun

views updated May 29 2018

pos·ses·sive pro·noun • n. Gram. a pronoun indicating possession, for example mine, yours, hers, theirs.