What is it? a pronoun or an adjective?

[renzheng04]

I really don't know what it is , a pronoun or an adjective?

Thank a lot for any help.

"Question #: 2: I saw her friend yesterday. her here is a possessive pronoun
User's answer: False
Correct answer: True

[A.Russell]

It's a possesive pronoun. It answers the question "whose friend?" It does not describe the friend as in "an orange friend."

[Casiopea]

In addition, every word has a form (what it looks like) and a function (what it does in the sentence). In our example sentence below, her is possessive pronoun in form and it's an adjective in function. Adjectives modify nouns, and 'friend' is a noun.

EX: I saw her friend yesterday.

Here's a test you can try:

Adjective Test: ask the question, "What kind of?"
What kind of friend?
Her friend.

[Temico]

I saw her friend yesterday.

The cause of the confusion in the above sentence is the use of the noun "friend" which refers to a "person". "Her" also refers to a "person", so "her friend" refers to two persons.
In the sentence, if you change "friend" for...e.g. "book" ( I saw her book yesterday.), you would easily know that "her" is a possessive pronoun.

[Casiopea]

Nice addition, Temico.

[renzheng04]

Sory for taking your time,and thank a lot for your help.
But I have still got a problem:

I saw her book yesterday.

I bought a new book yesterday.

Do they have the same funtion?

Is it correct to say :

He saw mine book yesterday.
He saw her book yesterday.

[Temico]

I saw her book yesterday.

I bought a new book yesterday.

Do they have the same funtion?

"Possessive pronouns" function as adjectives.

He saw my book yesterday. (not mine )

You can say, "That book is mine" though.

[Casiopea]

Additionally, both 'her' and 'new' share the same function, yes, but they differ in form. 'her' is a possessive pronoun in form, whereas 'new' is an adjective in form.

her
Form: possessive pronoun (meaning: the book belongs to her)
Function: adjective

new
Form: adjective (meaning: the book is not old; it's new)
Function: adjective

A word carries its meaning in its form. That's why you sense a difference between "her book" and "new book".

As for the possessive pronoun "mine", it's related to the possessive pronoun "my". The difference is in their distribution. "my" requires a noun to modify, like 'book', whereas 'mine' doesn't require a noun. It sits alone. For example,

This is my book.
This is mine.

Other similar forms are: yours, hers, his, its, theirs, and ours.

This is your book.
This is yours.


Hope that helps.