Definition and Examples of Possessive Determiners

Definition and Examples of Possessive Determiners In English grammar, a possessive determiner is a type of function word  used in front of a noun to express possession or belonging (as in my phone).   The possessive determiners in English are my, your, his, her, its, our, and their. As  Lobeck and Denham point out, theres some overlap between possessive determiners and possessive pronouns. The basic difference, they say, is that pronouns replace full noun phrases. Possessive determiners, on the other hand, have to occur with a noun (Navigating English Grammar, 2014). Possessive determiners are sometimes called possessive adjectives, weak possessive pronouns, genitive pronouns, possessive determiner pronouns,  or simply possessives. Determiner and Grammar Rules CaseDeterminerGenitiveFirst-Person PronounsGenitiveModificationPersonal PronounPossessive CasePossessive PronounQuantifierSecond-Person PronounsSentence Completion Exercise: Personal Pronouns and Possessive DeterminersThird-Person PronounsUsing the Different Forms of Pronouns Examples and Observations One man, I remember, used to take off his hat and set fire to his hair every now and then, but I do not remember what it proved, if it proved anything at all, except that he was a very interesting man.(Dylan Thomas, Quite Early One Morning, 1954)Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers.(Mignon McLaughlin, The Complete Neurotics Notebook. Castle Books, 1981Id like to be alone with my sandwich for a moment.(Bart Simpson, The Simpsons)He drifted off into sleep and Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place.(Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.(Henry David Thoreau, Walden You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward.(James Thurber, The Bear Who Let It AloneThe sextant was old. I found it stacked up with a collection of gramophones and ladies workboxes in a junk shop. Its brass frame was mottled green-and-black, the silvering on its mirrors had started to blister and peel off.(Jonathan Raban, Sea-Room. For Love Money: Writing, Reading, Travelling, 1969-1987. Collins Harvill, 1987 Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.(Oscar WildeMy hovercraft is full of eels.(John Cleese as the Hungarian in The Hungarian Phrasebook Sketch. Monty Pythons Flying Circus, Dec. 15, 1970Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.(Albert EinsteinAll happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.(Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina Possessive Adjective or Determiner? The title   possessive adjective is actually more often used than possessive determiner but the latter is a more accurate description. Admittedly, in his car, the word his goes before the noun car and to that extent behaves as an adjective, but in *the his car (compare the old car) it shows itself not to be an adjective; it certainly doesnt describe the car itself. (Tony Penston, A Concise Grammar for English Language Teachers. TP Publications, 2005) Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Determiners Most  possessive determiners are  similar to their corresponding possessive pronouns: her is a possessive determiner, while hers is a possessive pronoun. The possessive determiners his and its are identical to their corresponding possessive pronouns. The function in the sentence determines the part of speech. In The red Toyota is his car, his is a determiner because its introducing the noun phrase car. In The red Toyota is his, his is a pronoun because its functioning as a noun phrase. In The company made this pen, this is a determiner. In The company made this, its a pronoun because it stands in place of a noun phrase.   (June Casagrande,  It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences. Ten Speed Press, 2010) [The] construction with the possessive pronoun [e.g. a friend of mine] differs from the alternative of possessive determiner noun (e.g. my friend) mainly in that it is more indefinite. The sentences in (30) below illustrates this point: (30) a. You know John? A friend of his told me that the food served at that restaurant is awful.(30) b. You know John? His friend told me that the food served at that restaurant is awful. The construction with the possessive pronoun, in (30a), can be used if the speaker hasnt specified and doesnt need to specify the identity of the friend. In contrast, the construction with the possessive determiner, in (30b), implies that the speaker and listener both know what friend is intended. (Ron Cowan, The Teachers Grammar of English: A Course Book and Reference Guide. Cambridge University Press, 2008)