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Understanding English Possessives

The document discusses different forms of possessives in English including the Saxon genitive, possessive adjectives, and possessive pronouns. It provides examples of how each is used and the differences between possessive adjectives and pronouns.

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Jhoselin Adriana Condori Tapia
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13 views8 pages

Understanding English Possessives

The document discusses different forms of possessives in English including the Saxon genitive, possessive adjectives, and possessive pronouns. It provides examples of how each is used and the differences between possessive adjectives and pronouns.

Uploaded by

Jhoselin Adriana Condori Tapia
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

English Lesson

COLEGIO EVANGÉLICO "WILLIAM BOOTH"


POSSESSIVES
Possessives are forms that we use to talk about
possessions and relationships between things and
people. They take different forms depending on
how they are used.

The Saxon Genitive is one of the main forms we use to express possession in English. It’s used
mainly to refer to things owned by people, but it can also be used with animals, organizations
and even some time expressions.
When we use the Saxon genitive with a plural noun,
To create the saxon genitive we add ‘s to a name such as ‘parents’, we just add an apostrophe ‘.
We don’t normally use the Saxon genitive with objects. In this case, we
prefer ‘of’. For example:
The door of the house. (NOT ‘The house’s door’.)
The lid of the pen. (NOT ‘The pen’s lid’.)
The end of the road. (NOT ‘The road’s end’.)
A possessive adjective is an adjective that modifies a noun by identifying who has
ownership or possession of it. Possessive adjectives – like other adjectives – are used to
describe a noun in a sentence. Most importantly – they describe who something belongs
to. When using them, they should always go before the noun.

Another important
point to note is that
adjectives do not have
singular and plural
versions – you use the
same for both!
Possessive pronouns can look very similar at first glance to adjectives – but they have a different
meaning, and are used in a different way!
While they also show ownership, they can be used in place of a noun, to avoid repeating it in a
sentence.
Possessive pronouns are used after the noun, unlike adjectives – and they cannot be used before the
noun at all.
As both forms are used to describe ownership, you can choose whether or not to use an
adjective or a pronoun in a sentence, but you must be careful to make sure you have the
right construction!
While they do look similar, possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives must not be
mixed up, as this will not be correct. For example, if you say:
“The car is mine” – this is correct. But you cannot say “This is mine car”. Instead, you
would say, “this is my car.”

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