The specific way: using possessive determiners

1.192 You often want to indicate that a thing belongs to someone or that it is connected in some way with someone.

One way of doing this is to use a word like 'my', 'your', and 'their', which tells you who something belongs to. These words are a type of determiner called possessive determiners.

Are your children bilingual?

I remember his name now.

They would be welcome to our library.

I'd been waiting a long time to park my car.

1.193 There are seven possessive determiners in English, and each one is associated with a particular personal pronoun:

	singular	plural
1st person	my	our
2nd person	your
3rd person	his her its	their

Personal pronouns are explained in paragraphs 1.96 to 1.109.

1.194 You do not spell the possessive 'its' with an apostrophe. 'It's' is short for 'it is'.

1.195 Possessive determiners, like other determiners, come after a predeterminer, if there is one, and before any numbers, or adjectives.

...all his letters.

...their next message.

...my little finger.

...our two lifeboats.

See paragraph 1.236 for more information about predeterminers.

1.196 In English, you do not use more than one specific determiner before a noun. Therefore, possessive determiners must be used on their own. You cannot say 'I took off the my shoes'. You have to choose whether to say 'I look off my shoes', or 'I took off the shoes'.

1.197 You choose which possessive determiner to use according to the identity of the person or thing that owns something. For example, if you want to identify something as belonging or relating to a particular woman you always use 'her'. The following noun does not affect the choice.

I took off my shoes.

Her husband remained standing. He had his hands in his pockets.

She had to give up her job.

The group held its first meeting fast week.

The creature lifted its head.

...the two dark men, glasses in their hands, waiting silently.

...the car companies and their workers.

1.198 When you want to draw attention to the fact that something belongs or relates to a particular person or thing, you can use the word 'own' after the possessive determiner.

I helped him to some more whisky but left my own glass untouched.

Residents are allowed to bring their own furniture with them if they wish to do so.

Make your own decisions.

I heard it with my own ears.

She felt in charge of her own affairs.

If you use a number in this structure, you put the number after 'own'.

...their own three children

...the Doctor's own two rooms.

1.199 You use possessive determiners in front of nouns which refer to objects and things which can be owned. For example, 'our house' refers to the house which belongs to us.

You can also use possessive determiners in front of many other types of noun. This is because, in spite of their name, possessive determiners do not always indicate that what follows them is actually possessed (or owned) by someone. They can just mean that it is connected or associated with them in some way.

They then turned their attention to other things.

...the vitality of our music and our culture.

In summer, hay fever interfered with all her activities.

It's his brother who has the workshop.

1.200 You can use a possessive determiner in front of a noun which refers to an action in order to locate who or what is doing the action.

...long after our arrival.

...his criticism of the Government.

...their fight for survival.

I'm waiting for your explanation.

Most of their claims were worthy.

In the last example, 'their claims' refers to the claims which they have made.

1.201 You can also use a possessive determiner to indicate who or what is affected by an action.

He congratulated me on my appointment as editor of the Dispatch.

...the redistribution of wealth, rather than its creation.

They expressed their horror at her dismissal.

In the last example, 'her dismissal' probably refers to the fact that she was dismissed by someone or by some company.

In the first of the following examples, 'his supporters' means the people who support him.

...Birch and his supporters.

She returned the ring to its owner.

...a campaign against his critics.

USAGE NOTE 1.202 Sometimes in English the determiner 'the' is used where there is an obvious possessive meaning. In these cases the possession is already made clear by a preceding noun or pronoun. The following paragraphs explain the situations in which you use 'the' rather than a possessive determiner.

1.203 When you refer to a specific part of someone's body, you normally use a possessive determiner.

She has something on her feet and a bag in her hand.

Nancy suddenly took my arm.

They can't turn their heads.

She thanked him shyly and patted his arm.

I opened the cupboard and they tell on my head.

He shook his head.

However, when you are describing an action which someone does to a part of someone else's body, you often use the definite article, especially when the body part is the object of a preposition and when the object of the verb is a pronoun. For example, if you say 'She hit me on the head', 'head' is the object of the preposition 'on' and 'me' is the object of the verb 'hit'.

...so I encouraged him and I patted him on the head.

She hit him smartly and swiftly on the head.

He took her by the arm and began drawing her firmly but gently away.

You use the definite article because the 'owner' of the body part has already been identified, and you do not need to repeat this information.

Similarly, if the object of the verb is a reflexive pronoun such as 'myself', 'yourself', and so on, you use the definite article. This is because the reflexive pronoun already refers to you or to the person who is doing the action, so you do not need to repeat this information by using a possessive determiner.

Andrew laughed, hitting himself on the knee.

We can pat ourselves on the back for bringing up our children.

Uses of reflexive pronouns are explained in paragraphs 1.115 to 1.122.

1.204 If you want to describe something that you do to yourself or that someone else does to themselves, you normally use a possessive determiner.

She was brushing her hair.

'I'm going to brush my teeth,' he said.

She gritted her teeth and carried on.

He walked into the kitchen and shook his head.

1.205 You usually use possessive determiners when you refer to things that are alive, such as a person, a group of people, or an animal. You do not usually use them to refer to things that are not alive. It is, for example, more usual to say 'the door' or 'the door of the room' than 'its door'.

1.206 There are other ways of indicating that something is owned by or connected with someone or something else. For example, you can use 's (apostrophe s) or a prepositional phrase beginning with 'of'.

Mary's daughter is called Elizabeth.

Very often the person appointed has no knowledge of that company's end product.

...the house of a rich banker in Paris.

In the opinion of the team, what would they consider to be absolutely necessary?

For more information about the use of 's and 'of', see paragraphs 2.180 to 2.192.

1.207 Possessive determiners are also sometimes used in titles such as 'Your Majesty' and 'His Excellency'. This use is explained in paragraph 1.57.