Mark: Why have you brought your work home? We're going out.
Sarah: /'// do it later. Let's go now. Shall we take my car?
Mark: Well, I'd rather not take mine. I think there's something wrong with it.
My, mine, your, etc express possession and similar meanings. My car means the car belonging to me; your work means the work you are doing. My comes before a noun, e.g. my car. We use mine on its own.
MY, YOUR, ETC MINE, YOURS, ETC
First person singular: It's my car. It's mine.
Second person singular: Here's your coat. Here's yours.
Third person singular: That's his room. That's his.
It's her money. It's hers.
The dog's got its food.
First person plural: That's our table. That's ours.
Second person plural: Are these your tickets? Are these yours?
Third person plural: It's their camera. It's theirs.
B Its and it's
We use its before a noun to express the idea of belonging.
The street is around here somewhere, but I've forgotten its name.
It's is a short form of it is or it has.
I think it's time to go. (= it is) It's got a lot colder today, hasn't it? (= it has)
C My, your with parts of the body and clothes
We normally use my, your, etc with parts of the body and with someone's clothes.
Emma shook her head sadly, not Emma-shook-the-head sadly.
Someone came up behind me and grabbed my arm.
You must take off your shoes before you enter a mosque. But we usually use the in the following structure with a prepositional phrase.
VERB PERSON PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
Someone grabbed me by the arm.
The stone hit Mike on the head.
D Own
We use own after my, your, etc to say that something belongs to us and to no one else. Rachel has got her own calculator. She doesn't borrow mine, not an-own calkulator I don't share any more. I've got a flat of my own. not of mine own
E A friend of mine
Look at these examples.
Tom is a friend of mine. (= one of my friends) not a friend of me
Rachel came to the party with a cousin of hers. (= one of her cousins)
I borrowed some magazines of yours. (= some of your magazines) Note also 's in this example: Rita is a friend of Melanie's.
92 Exercises
1 My, your, etc and mine, yours, etc (A)
Complete the conversation. Put in the missing words.
Laura: Did you and (►) your friends have a nice holiday?
Emma: Yes, it was wonderful. We had the best holiday of (1) lives.
It didn't start very well, though. Daniel forgot to bring (2) . passport.
Laura: Oh, dear. So what happened? Emma: Well, luckily he doesn't live far from the airport. He rang (3) parents,
and they brought the passport over in (4) car, just in time.
Laura: You remembered (5) , I hope.
Emma: Yes, I had (6) .. , even though I'm usually the one who forgets things.
Actually Rachel thought for a minute that she'd lost (7)
Luckily it was in (8) ... suitcase. Anyway, in the end we had a marvellous time.
2 Its and it's (B)
Put in the correct form.
? Unfortunately, the town has lost its only cinema.
? The meeting won't last long. I'll see you when it's over.
1 You should return the book to owner immediately.
2 We'd like to go out for a walk, but raining.
3 I'm not buying this tablecloth because .. got a hole in it.
4 The board has decided that Zedco needs to improve .. image.
3 Parts of the body and clothes (C)
Put in my, your, etc or the.
? I was doing keep-fit exercises when I fell down and hurt my leg.
? Matthew served, and the ball hit Daniel on the knee.
1 A wasp stung me on .. neck. It really hurt.
2 The mother put both .......... arms around the child.
3 Aunt Joan kissed Emma on . cheek.
4 The fans were all shouting at the top of. . voices.
5 Don't just stand there with ..hands in . pockets.