Possessive Pronouns and Reflexive Pronouns Exercises (mine, yours, myself)
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Possessive pronouns and reflexive pronouns
A possessive pronoun (mine, yours) replaces my book or your book: This book is mine. A reflexive pronoun (myself, yourself) shows that the same person does and receives the action: I cut myself.
- Possessive pronouns:
- mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs. They take the place of a possessive + noun: That is my bag. That bag is mine.
- No noun after them:
- Say my book, but this book is mine. Do not say mine book or this is hers phone.
- Reflexive pronouns:
- myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. Singular ends in self. Plural ends in selves.
- When we use them:
- Use a reflexive pronoun when the subject and the object are the same person: I hurt myself. Compare: I hurt him means another person.
- Useful phrases:
- by myself means alone or without help: She did it by herself. Enjoy yourself! means have a good time. Help yourself means take what you want.
- Careful with its:
- Its is a possessive adjective: The dog has its bed. There is no pronoun its to use alone.
Examples
This is not my bag. It is yours.
Yours means your bag. We do not say the noun again.
Our house is old, but theirs is new.
Theirs means their house.
Is that coat hers? No, it is mine.
Hers means her coat. Mine means my coat.
I cut myself with a knife.
The subject and the object are the same person: I and myself.
We enjoyed ourselves at the party.
Enjoy takes a reflexive pronoun when we mean have a good time.
My brother made the cake by himself.
By himself means without help from anyone.
Practice exercises
Choose the Correct Pronoun
Choose the correct possessive or reflexive pronoun.
1.This is not your pen. It's ___.
2.That house is ___. We live there.
3.Our car is red. The neighbours' car is blue. ___ is blue.
4.I hurt ___ yesterday.
5.Careful with the knife, Ben! Don't cut ___.
6.We had a great party. We really enjoyed ___.
7.These are Anna's keys. They are ___.
Fill in the Blank
Type the correct pronoun.
Put the Words in Order
Click the words in the correct order to build the sentence.
14. Build the sentence:
15. Build the sentence:
16. Build the sentence:
17. Build the sentence:
True or False
Decide if each statement is true or false.
18.'This bag is mine' means 'This is my bag'.
19.'Mine book is on the table' is correct English.
20.'Tom hurt him' means Tom hurt himself.
21.The plural of 'yourself' is 'yourselfs'.
22.'She is eating by herself' means she is eating alone.
Mine, Yours and Myself: Pronouns for Owning and Doing
A possessive pronoun takes the place of a possessive adjective and a noun. Instead of saying that is my bag, you can say that bag is mine. The possessive pronouns are mine, yours, his, hers, ours and theirs. Use them when the noun is clear, so you do not say it again: our house is old, but theirs is new.
Do not put a noun after a possessive pronoun. Say my book, but this book is mine. The words my, your, her, our and their go before a noun. The words mine, yours, hers, ours and theirs stand alone. His is the same in both cases: his bag, the bag is his. It has no pronoun form: its only goes before a noun.
A reflexive pronoun shows that the same person does the action and receives it. The forms are myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves and themselves. I cut myself. She looked at herself. If the people are different, we do not use a reflexive pronoun: I hurt him.
Some phrases are very common. By myself means alone or without help: I made it by myself. Enjoy yourself! means have a good time. Help yourself means take what you want, for example food or drink.
The exercises above practice both groups. You choose between my and mine, between me and myself, and you build sentences with each pronoun. Remember the simple rule: possessive pronouns replace a noun, and reflexive pronouns point back to the subject.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between my and mine?
My goes before a noun: this is my bag. Mine takes the place of my + noun: this bag is mine. Never put a noun after mine.
Is there a pronoun for its?
Not in normal English. Its is only a possessive adjective: the dog has its bed. We do not say the bed is its.
When do I use myself, yourself and the other reflexive pronouns?
Use them when the subject and the object are the same person: I hurt myself, she looked at herself. If they are different people, use me, you, him, her: I hurt him.
What does by myself mean?
It means alone or without help. I live by myself means I live alone. She made the cake by herself means nobody helped her.
What is the plural of yourself?
Yourselves. Use it when you talk to more than one person: please help yourselves to some food. The other plurals are ourselves and themselves.
Answer key
1. This is not your pen. It's ___.
Answer: mine
There is no noun after the blank, so we use the pronoun mine.
2. That house is ___. We live there.
Answer: ours
There is no noun after the blank, so we use the pronoun ours.
3. Our car is red. The neighbours' car is blue. ___ is blue.
Answer: Theirs
Theirs means their car. We do not say the noun again.
4. I hurt ___ yesterday.
Answer: myself
I and the object are the same person, so we use the reflexive pronoun myself.
5. Careful with the knife, Ben! Don't cut ___.
Answer: yourself
The person who cuts and the person who is cut are the same, so we use yourself.
6. We had a great party. We really enjoyed ___.
Answer: ourselves
Enjoyed ourselves means we had a good time. The subject and the object are the same.
7. These are Anna's keys. They are ___.
Answer: hers
There is no noun after the blank, so we use the pronoun hers: they are her keys.
8. Is this your bag? No, it isn't ___. It's Sara's.
Answer: mine
The possessive pronoun of I is mine.
9. My pen is red. ___ is blue.
Answer: Yours
Yours means your pen. The possessive pronoun of you is yours.
10. She is tall. She can reach the shelf by ___.
Answer: herself
By herself means without help. The reflexive pronoun of she is herself.
11. Please help ___ to a cup of tea, Mrs Brown.
Answer: yourself
Help yourself means take what you want. Mrs Brown is one person, so we use yourself.
12. My brother and I made this film. It's ___.
Answer: ours
My brother and I means we. The possessive pronoun of we is ours.
13. Tom and Ben painted the room by ___.
Answer: themselves
Tom and Ben means they. By themselves means without help.
14. pen / yours / this / is / ?
Answer: Is this pen yours?
In a question, is comes first. Yours goes at the end, after the noun pen.
15. herself / swim / to / teaching / is / she / .
Answer: She is teaching herself to swim.
The reflexive pronoun herself comes after the verb, before to swim.
16. theirs / is / car / over / there / that / .
Answer: That car over there is theirs.
Theirs means their car, so we do not say the noun again.
17. himself / at / looked / he / .
Answer: He looked at himself.
The subject and the object are the same person, so we use himself.
18. 'This bag is mine' means 'This is my bag'.
Answer: True
Mine takes the place of my bag.
19. 'Mine book is on the table' is correct English.
Answer: False
Before a noun we use my: my book is on the table. We use mine alone: the book is mine.
20. 'Tom hurt him' means Tom hurt himself.
Answer: False
Him is another person. For the same person, we say Tom hurt himself.
21. The plural of 'yourself' is 'yourselfs'.
Answer: False
The plural is yourselves. The plural of self is selves.
22. 'She is eating by herself' means she is eating alone.
Answer: True
By herself means alone or without anyone else.