Use Possessive Pronouns to Talk about Friends, Family
2022-10-14
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1Imagine that you want to talk about your family or your friends.
2Perhaps you want to describe your parents or classmates.
3What kinds of structures should you use?
4In today's report, we will explore a point of connection between grammar and relationships: possessive pronouns.
5You will learn the importance of these pronouns when talking about family, friends, and more.
6We divide pronouns into different groups: subject pronouns, object pronouns and possessive pronouns.
7When we describe relationships, we often use possessive pronouns.
8Possessive pronouns take several forms and go by different names in English grammar books.
9You might see terms such as dependent possessive pronoun, possessive determiner or possessive adjective.*
10The terms suggest the same basic idea.
11They act like determiners, appear before nouns and suggest relationships or belonging.
12Possessive pronouns take different forms depending on if they are used in the first, second, or third person.
13In the first person we have the singular form "my" and the plural form "our."
14So, a boy describing his father might say:
15My father is very kind.
16Or a person speaking on behalf of a family might say:
17Our father is very kind.
18In the second person, someone describing another person's mother might say:
19Your mother is very kind.
20In the third person, we have singular forms: "his" and "her," as in:
21His mother is very kind.
22Her mother is very kind.
23We also have the plural form "their," as in:
24Their mother is very kind.
25We can put possessive pronouns with the nouns that are important for describing relationships - friend, brother, sister, cousin, boss and so on.
26So, you could say "My friend...," "your cousin...," "our boss..." and so on.
27There are other kinds of pronouns that show possession and do not appear before nouns,
28but we will have to leave those for another program.
29Let's take some time to work with these ideas.
30Use the first person singular along with the following terms to make a complete sentence.
31...brother is older than me
32Pause the audio while considering your answer.
33Here is one possible answer:
34My brother is older than me.
35Now use the third person singular to describe a friend.
36...friend is very funny
37Pause the audio while considering your answer.
38Here are two possible answers:
39Her friend is very funny.
40Or:
41His friend is very funny.
42Now use the second person singular to describe a boss.
43.... boss is friendly.
44Pause the audio while considering your answer.
45Here is one possible answer:
46Your boss is friendly.
47It takes time getting used to first, second, and third person pronouns.
48But when you develop a strong sense of how to use them, you will find it very easy to describe all kinds of relationships.
49Unlike some vocabulary words and verb forms, possessive pronouns appear all the time in everyday speaking and in writing.
50I'm John Russell.
1Imagine that you want to talk about your family or your friends. Perhaps you want to describe your parents or classmates. What kinds of structures should you use? 2In today's report, we will explore a point of connection between grammar and relationships: possessive pronouns. You will learn the importance of these pronouns when talking about family, friends, and more. 3Terms 4We divide pronouns into different groups: subject pronouns, object pronouns and possessive pronouns. 5When we describe relationships, we often use possessive pronouns. Possessive pronouns take several forms and go by different names in English grammar books. 6You might see terms such as dependent possessive pronoun, possessive determiner or possessive adjective.* 7The terms suggest the same basic idea. They act like determiners, appear before nouns and suggest relationships or belonging. 8Forms 9Possessive pronouns take different forms depending on if they are used in the first, second, or third person. 10In the first person we have the singular form "my" and the plural form "our." 11So, a boy describing his father might say: 12My father is very kind. 13Or a person speaking on behalf of a family might say: 14Our father is very kind. 15In the second person, someone describing another person's mother might say: 16Your mother is very kind. 17In the third person, we have singular forms: "his" and "her," as in: 18His mother is very kind. 19Her mother is very kind. 20We also have the plural form "their," as in: 21Their mother is very kind. 22We can put possessive pronouns with the nouns that are important for describing relationships - friend, brother, sister, cousin, boss and so on. 23So, you could say "My friend...," "your cousin...," "our boss..." and so on. 24There are other kinds of pronouns that show possession and do not appear before nouns, but we will have to leave those for another program. 25Practice 26Let's take some time to work with these ideas. Use the first person singular along with the following terms to make a complete sentence. 27...brother is older than me 28Pause the audio while considering your answer. 29Here is one possible answer: 30My brother is older than me. 31Now use the third person singular to describe a friend. 32...friend is very funny 33Pause the audio while considering your answer. 34Here are two possible answers: 35Her friend is very funny. 36Or: 37His friend is very funny. 38Now use the second person singular to describe a boss. 39.... boss is friendly. 40Pause the audio while considering your answer. 41Here is one possible answer: 42Your boss is friendly. 43Closing thoughts 44It takes time getting used to first, second, and third person pronouns. But when you develop a strong sense of how to use them, you will find it very easy to describe all kinds of relationships. Unlike some vocabulary words and verb forms, possessive pronouns appear all the time in everyday speaking and in writing. 45I'm John Russell. 46John Russell wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 47*The term possessive adjective is slightly misleading because possessive pronouns (my, his, their, etc.) function as determiners. They are function words, not content words. 48_______________________________________________________________________ 49Words in This Story 50possessive pronoun - n. a pronoun that suggests possession and relationships 51determiner - n. a word (such as an article, possessive, or quantifier) that makes specific the meaning of a noun phrase 52on behalf of - phrase as a representative of, in the interest of 53vocabulary -n. all the words known and used by a person