Personal Pronouns — I / my / me / mine

Pronouns are words used in place of nouns, and personal pronouns refer to people. Depending on their role in a sentence, they have four forms: subjective, possessive adjective, objective, and possessive pronoun.

Basic Rules

Their forms change according to first, second, or third person and singular or plural number. When they are the subject of a sentence, use subjective forms (I, you, he, she, it, we, they). When they are used like adjectives to show possession, meaning “〜's,” use possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, its, our, their). When they are the object of a verb or preposition, use objective forms (me, you, him, her, it, us, them). When they are used alone to mean “〜's one,” use possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs).

Important Points

① Difference between possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns: Use a possessive adjective before a noun (my book, your pen). A possessive pronoun functions as a noun by itself (This is mine. = This is my one.). Understand “mine = my + a noun replaced.”
② Do not confuse its and it's: its is a possessive adjective, while it's is a contraction of it is / it has. Distinguish “The cat licks its paw.” from “It's raining.”
③ The apostrophe s showing possession in a noun phrase such as “my friend's car” is different. It is not needed with possessive pronouns (× my's, × his's).

Practice

1. Fill in the blank: He often calls ___ (me) on weekends.
2. Write “Is this your bag? — Yes, it is mine.” in English.
3. Correct the error: This is her's notebook.