Page 449 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

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one's and whose
One's (see 396.5) and whose (see 496; 626) are also possessive determinersI pronouns.
It's easy to lose one's temper when one is criticised. An orphan is a child whose parents are dead.
Whose bicycle is that?
not used with other determiners
My, your etc are not used with other detenniners like the, alan or this. She's lost her keys. (NOT ••• the her keys.)
If we want to use alan or this, that etc with a possessive, we use the '... of mine' structure (see 443).
A friend of mine has just invited me to Italy. (NOT A myfrientl . ..) How's that brother o/yours? (NOT ..• ffld!ytJltr bFBther?)
distributive use: She told them to open their books, etc
After a plural possessive, we do not nonnally use a singular noun in the sense of 'one each'. (For details, see 530.)
The teacher told the children to open their books. (NOT ••• their b66k) articles instead of possessives
We sometimes use articles instead of my, your etc. This happens in prepositional phrases which refer to the subject or object, mostly when we are talking about blows, pains and other things that often happen to parts of people's bodies.
The ball hit him on the head.
She's got a pain in the stomach.
In other cases we do not nonnally use articles instead of possessives.
She's got a parrot on her shoulder. (NOT She's gf't d I'd"""! 61'1 the M6ltltler.) Katy broke her arm mountain climbing. (NOT Katy breke the drnl ..•)
He stood there, his eyes closed and his hands in his pocksts, looking half
asleep. (NOT ••• the eyes eI8setl df!a the htt,tth if! the I'6ekets ...) spelling: its, whose
The possessives its and whose have no apostrophes. It's and who's are not possessives, but contractions (see 143): they mean 'it is' or 'it has'; 'who is' or 'who has'. Compare:
The dog's in a good mood. It's just had its breakfast.
Whose little girl is that? '" You mean the one who's making all that noise?
For structures like Do you mind my smoking? see 295.3. For my OWI/, YOllr own etc, see 405.
For the older English form thy, see 392.
For southern ArnE you all's. see 429.8.
possessives (4): mine, yours etc
Mine, yours, his, hers, ours and theirs are similar to my, your etc, but they are
3
4
5
6
not determiners, and are used without following nouns.
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possessives (4): mine, yours etc 442
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