Possessive pronouns replace a possessive adjective + noun to avoid repetition. They stand alone, with no noun after them: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs.
Exercises:
Exercise 1 (Easy): Choose the correct possessive pronoun
mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs: they stand alone, no noun follows
!Full reference table
Subject
Possessive adjective
Possessive pronoun
Example
I
my
mine
It's mine.
you
your
yours
Is this yours?
he
his
his
That one is his.
she
her
hers
The red bag is hers.
it
its
none
(not used as a standalone pronoun)
we
our
ours
The house is ours.
they
their
theirs
The idea was theirs.
Key difference
Possessive ADJECTIVE: before a noun
This is my book.
Is this your phone?
She lost her keys.
Possessive PRONOUN: stands alone
This book is mine.
Is this phone yours?
Those keys are hers.
Formula
Noun phrase+is / are+possessive pronoun
or use the possessive pronoun alone in response to a question
Examples
✅
This is mine.
❌
This is my.
✅
This is her book.
❌
This is hers book.
No apostrophe! Possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe, so write yours, not your's, and theirs, not their's. One more thing: “a friend of mine” ✅. After the preposition of, always use the possessive pronoun rather than the adjective.