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Possessive Case of Pronouns

The possessive case of nouns is formed with an apostrophe: Keesha's costume, the wolf's fangs. But personal pronouns and the relative pronoun who change form to indicate possession.

  • My house is bigger than your house.

  • His anger evaporated in the face of her explanation.

  • The bulldog bared its teeth at us.

  • Our decision affected their plans.

  • The economist, whose book had received good reviews, agreed to speak.

  • No mother tried harder to help than hers.

  • Your plans are more definite than ours.

Remember that possessive-case nouns and pronouns are different; possessive pronouns do not have apostrophes. You have to distinguish between its, it's, and whose, who's. The possessive of it is its, not it's; the possessive of who is whose, not who's. It's and who's are contractions (it's = it is; who's = who is).

  • The cat lost its whiskers. ( not it's whiskers)

  • It's ( It is) Friday!

  • The boy whose mother ( not who's mother) called left the meeting.

  • Who's ( Who is) the author of the book?

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