Possessive pronouns

1. Possessive pronouns have the same distinctions of person, number, and gender as personal pronouns.

2. Possessive pronouns have two forms, namely the dependent (or conjoint) form and the independent (or absolute) form.

Conjoint forms of possessive pronouns

	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
SINGULAR:	my	your1	his, her, its
PLURAL:	our	your	their

¹ The archaic pronouns of the second person singular are: thy (conjoint), thine (absolute).

Absolute forms of possessive pronouns

SINGULAR:	mine		his, hers2
PLURAL:	ours	yours	theirs

² No absolute form of the third person neuter pronoun exists.

The conjoint form is used when the possessive pronoun comes before the noun it modifies. The conjoint form of the possessive pronoun is used as an attribute.

In his turn old Jolyon looked back at his son. (Galsworthy)

The absolute form is used when the possessive pronoun does not modify any noun.

The absolute form of the possessive pronoun may be used as subject, predicative or object. The group ‘preposition + absolute form’ may be used as an attribute.

“ Yours (sum of money) won’t come short of a hundred thousand, my

boy,” said old Jolyon. (Galsworthy) (SUBJECT)

When he turned round again he saw Fleur standing near the door holding a

handkerchief which the boy had evidently just handed to her. “F.F.”, he heard

her say. “Fleur Forsyte — it’s mine all right. Thank you ever so.”

(Galsworthy) (PREDICATIVE)

...he realized that she was making an effort to talk his talk, and he resolved to

get away from it and talk hers. (London) (OBJECT)

...and while she rattled on, he strove to follow her, marveling at all the

knowledge that was stowed away in that pretty head of hers... (London)

(ATTRIBUTE)

3. Possessive pronouns are often used before the names of the parts of the body, clothing, things belonging to a person, etc. In that case they are not translated into Russian.

Young Jolyon rose and held out his hand to help his father up.

Молодой Джолион поднялся и протянул руку, чтобы помочь отцу встать.

The girl dropped her handkerchief and he picked it up. (Galsworthy)

Девушка уронила платок, а он поднял его.