Fill the gaps in these sentences about Shakespeare with “its, it’s, their, they’re or there”.
This ESL EFL free worksheet contains exercises about possessive adjectives. The worksheet has an answer key.
Possessive Adjectives:
| Personal Pronoun | Possessive Adjective | Example Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| I | my | This is my book. |
| You | your | Is this your pencil? |
| He | his | That is his car. |
| She | her | This is her house. |
| It | its | The cat licked its paw. |
| We | our | Our school is big. |
| You (plural) | your | Are these your keys? |
| They | their | The children are playing with their toys. |
By using possessive adjectives, we can show ownership or possession in a sentence. These adjectives are used before nouns to indicate who something belongs to. Let’s see how they work with some examples:
- My: Used to show that something belongs to the speaker.
- Example: This is my book. (The book belongs to me.)
- Your: Used to show that something belongs to the person being addressed.
- Example: Is this your pencil? (The pencil belongs to you.)
- His: Used to show that something belongs to a male person or thing.
- Example: That is his car. (The car belongs to him.)
- Her: Used to show that something belongs to a female person or thing.
- Example: This is her house. (The house belongs to her.)
- Its: Used to show that something belongs to an animal, inanimate object, or concept.
- Example: The cat licked its paw. (The paw belongs to the cat.)
- Our: Used to show that something belongs to a group of people, including the speaker.
- Example: Our school is big. (The school belongs to us.)
- Your (plural): Used to show that something belongs to a group of people being addressed.
- Example: Are these your keys? (The keys belong to you all.)
- Their: Used to show that something belongs to a group of people or things.
- Example: The children are playing with their toys. (The toys belong to them.)
Possessive Adjectives and Apostrophe-S:
| Personal Pronoun | Possessive Adjective | Example Sentence (with Apostrophe-S) | Example Sentence (with Possessive Adjective) |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | my | This is my book. | This is my book. |
| You | your | Is this your pencil? | Is this your pencil? |
| He | his | That is his car. | That is his car. |
| She | her | This is her house. | This is her house. |
| It | its | The cat licked its paw. | The cat licked its paw. |
| We | our | Our school is big. | Our school is big. |
| You (plural) | your | Are these your keys? | Are these your keys? |
| They | their | The children are playing with their toys. | The children are playing with their toys. |
In addition to using possessive adjectives, we can also use the possessive apostrophe (‘s) to show possession. The apostrophe-S is added to the end of a noun to indicate that something belongs to someone or something else.
Here are some examples of using the possessive apostrophe (‘s) in sentences:
- John’s book is on the table. (The book belongs to John.)
- Sarah’s cat is sleeping. (The cat belongs to Sarah.)
- The car ‘s color is red. (The color belongs to the car.)
The possessive apostrophe (‘s) is commonly used with singular nouns to indicate possession. It’s a versatile tool for expressing ownership and is often used in everyday speech and writing.
