Page 409 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

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after possessives
We only use own after a possessive word. It cannot directly follow an article. It's nice ifa child can have his or her own room. (NOT ••• art 6r.tffl1'66m.) Car hire is expensive. It's cheaper to take one's own car. (NOT ••• the 6wn
eM:)
I'm my own boss.
a/some ... of one's own
This structure makes it possible to include alan, some or another detenniner in the phrase.
I'd like to have a car ofmy own.
It's time you found some friends ofyour own. He's got no ideas ofhis own.
own with no following noun
We cannot use mine, yours etc with own, but we can drop a noun after my own, your own etc if the meaning is clear.
Would you like to use my pen? -No, thanks. I can only write with my own. (NOT ••• mine 6wn:)
own and -self
The emphatic and reflexive pronouns myself, yourselfetc (see 493) do not have possessive forms. My own etc is used instead.
I'll do it myself, and I'll do it in my own way. (NOT ••• in myself's way.) She can wash herselfand brush her own hair now. (NOT •.• bntSh hersel/s
Jttti.r:)
on one's own
Note the two meanings of on one's own.
My mother lives on her own. (without company)
Don't help him. Let him do it on his own. (without help)
For by oneselfused in similar ways, see 493.6.
paragraphs
Written English text is usually divided into blocks called 'paragraphs', to make it easier to read. Paragraphs can vary in length, from several hundred words (for example in literary or academic writing), to a few sentences (for example in journalism or letters). A paragraph division is usually shown by starting the text on a new line and 'indenting' (leaving a space at the beginning of the line). The paragraph divisions break the material up into easily 'digestible' sections, providing places where the reader can pause and think for a moment if necessary. And good writers can show the structure of their texts by making paragraph divisions in suitable places, for example when they move to a new stage in a story, a new point in a discussion or a new part of a description.
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