Purpose
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to correctly form and use possessive adjectives and possessive nouns to show ownership.
Lesson Explanation
Possessive adjectives show who owns something, and correspond directly to the personal pronouns from Part 1, Lesson 5:
I → my we → our you → your they → their he → his she → her it → its
Example: This is my book., That is her car.
To show possession for a specific noun (not a pronoun), add an apostrophe plus -s to a singular noun: Sarah’s book, the dog’s toy. For a plural noun already ending in -s, just add the apostrophe without an extra s: the students’ books (belonging to multiple students).
A genuinely common mistake: confusing its (possessive, meaning “belonging to it”) with it’s (a contraction of “it is”). These look similar but mean completely different things.
Practice Questions
1. What is the possessive form of “I”?
View Answer
my
2. What is the possessive form of “she”?
View Answer
her
3. What is the possessive form of “they”?
View Answer
their
4. Write the possessive form for “the book belonging to Sarah.”
View Answer
Sarah’s book
5. Write the possessive form for “the toys belonging to multiple students” (plural noun already ending in -s).
View Answer
students’ toys
6. What is the possessive form of “he”?
View Answer
his
7. What is the difference between “its” and “it is” (contracted)?
View Answer
“its” means belonging to it; the contraction means “it is.”
8. Complete: “This is ___ car.” (belonging to me)
View Answer
my
9. Complete: “That is ___ house.” (belonging to them)
View Answer
their
10. What is the possessive form of “we”?
View Answer
our
11. Write the possessive form for “the toy belonging to the dog.”
View Answer
the dog’s toy
12. Complete: “The cat licked ___ paw.” (belonging to the cat, using “its”)
View Answer
its