Pronoun, Possessive Adjective & Possessive Pronoun

What is Pronoun?

• Pronouns are words that substitute nouns. 
• We use a pronoun often to avoid repeating the noun that has already been mentioned or that is already known.  
• Example: 
• Ali is a kind boy. Often, Ali helps people in need.
• Example with pronoun:
• Ali is a kind boy. Often, he helps people in need.
• 'He' is used to replace Ali in the second sentence.
• A different pronoun is used depending the function that noun has in the sentence. 
• At its most basic level, there are 2 types of pronoun:

• Subject pronoun 
• I, you, he, she, it, we, they
• subject pronoun are pronouns that perform the action (verb) in a sentence
• Example: 
• Ali is a kind boy. Often, he helps people in need.
• In the second sentence, 'he' is the actor performing the 'help' action

• Object pronoun
• me, you, him, her, it, us, the
• object pronoun are pronouns that receive the action in a sentence
• Example:
• Abu is hurt because Nick kicks him.
• In this sentence, 'him' is the noun receiving the 'kick' action.

What is Possessive Adjective?

• my, your, his, her, its, our, their
• Possessive adjectives don't replace a noun as pronouns do.
• They function as adjectives, so they come before the noun they modify to show possession/ownership of that noun.
• Example:
• Maria is washing her hair.
• In the sentence above, the possessive adjective 'her' shows who owns the noun 'hair'.

What is Possessive Pronoun?

• mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs
• Possessive pronouns show possession/ownership of a noun in the sentence.
• They don't come before a noun but can be used to replace a noun.
• Example:
• This bag is mine.
• In this sentence, the possessive pronoun 'mine' tells who owns/possesses the noun 'bag'.

This document includes some exercises on this topic. You can download it here.