Korean Job Discussion Forums

[raewon]

This might seem like a stupid question, but is it wrong to say that "its" is
a possessive pronoun?

Wikipedia states "its" is the possessive pronoun and possessive adjective of the pronoun it (as due many Internet sites). Wikipedia notes that "its" is almost always used as a possessive adjective.

However, grammar references I checked only call it a "possessive determiner" and note that it's often referred to as a possessive adjective.

Thanks if you can clarify the terminology.

[nathanrutledge]

Let's consult the ol' Oxfords Practical English Usage, shall we?

441 possessives (3): my, your, etc

1. What kind of words are they?
My, your, his, her its, our and their are determiners (see 154), and are used as the beginning of noun phrases.

my younger brother your phone number their plans

They are also pronouns, because they stand for possessive noun phrases: my younger brother means 'the speaker's younger brother'; their plans means, for example, 'those people's plans' or 'the children's plans'.
They are not adjectives (although they are sometimes called 'possessive adjectives' in older grammars and dictionaries).

154 determiners: the, my, some, several etc

1. What are determiners?
Determiners are words like the, a, my, this, some, either, every, enough, several. Determiners come at the beginning of noun phrases but they are not adjectives.

[raewon]

Thanks for your reply.

I just found the following in The Teacher's Grammar of English (Ron Cowan / Cambridge):

The possessive pronouns are as follows:
mine ours
yours his, her, its
theirs

But how can we use [its] in a correct sentence and not follow it by a noun as in

It's my book. = It's mine.

[Reise-ohne-Ende]

possessive adjectives = my, your, his, her, its, our, their

e.g. That's my book. That's its food.

possessive pronouns = mine, yours, his, hers, its*, ours, theirs

e.g. That book is mine.

'its' as a possessive pronoun is not widely accepted as natural. I can't imagine a situation where I'd use it. For example, "That food is its," sounds really awkward to me, and the textbook I use (Side-by-Side) didn't even list it as one of the possessive pronouns.

Hope this helps ^^

[some waygug-in]

[nathanrutledge]

[raewon]

Thanks for all the replies.

Of course I agree that "The dog's had its." sounds odd and wouldn't be used. And I can't think of or find a sentence in which that usage would sound even "OK". But why does the reference state:

"Its is not normally used without a following noun." instead of
"Its can not be used without a following noun." ?

Thanks.

[nathanrutledge]

Well, if we refer back to 154 as cited in my first post, it continues on...

154 determiners: the, my, some, several etc
2 Group A determiners: the, my, this, ...
....
possessivesmy, your, his, her, its, our, your, their, one's, whose (see 441, 626)
....
10 determiners without nouns; I haven't read any[/i}
....
....
....
[i]Its and one's are not used without nouns. (See 442)

IMO, it says "not normally" because its is a special case. Its main role is a determiner. There may be special circumstances where it can be used alone, but those would be the very rare exception, not the rule.

[Reise-ohne-Ende]