[General] Possessive Adjective and Other Questions

[leslieking]

Hello,
My name is Zoltan. I am from Hungary.
I have a statement:

She is reading her book.

She = Subject Pronoun
is = The verb be in the present tense
reading = read (main verb) + ing
her = Possessive adjective
book = noun

QUESTION: Did I identify the parts in the statement correctly?

Now I have another statement:

Their book is green

QUESTION: Why do we use "is" instead of "are"? I ask this because Their belongs to the 3rd person plural family.

1st plural | We - Our
2nd plural | You - Your
3rd plural | They - Their

I know "book" is singular but this is what makes me confused.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you!

Zoltan

 

[Raymott]

Hello,
My name is Zoltan. I am from Hungary.
I have a statement:

She is reading her book.

She = Subject Pronoun
is = The verb be in the present tense
reading = read (main verb) + ing
her = Possessive adjective
book = noun

QUESTION: Did I identify the parts in the statement correctly?

Now I have another statement:

Their book is green

QUESTION: Why do we use "is" instead of "are"? I ask this because Their belongs to the 3rd person plural family.

1st plural | We - Our
2nd plural | You - Your
3rd plural | They - Their

I know "book" is singular but this is what makes me confused.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you!

Zoltan

1. Yes
2. Book is the singular subject, so it takes 'is'. It doesn't matter how many people own the book; it's still only one book.

 

[leslieking]

1. Yes
2. Book is the singular subject, so it takes 'is'. It doesn't matters how many people own the book; it's still only one book.

Is "book" a subject in this case or a noun? or both?

 

[Raymott]

Thank you. Is "book" a subject in this case or a noun? or both?

It's both a noun and a subject.

You don't need to thank me. Click on 'Like' rather than posting a new post.

 

[emsr2d2]

Zoltan, how many of these questions do you have to do for your homework?

 

[panglossa]

Hello,
My name is Zoltan. I am from Hungary.
I have a statement:

She is reading her book.

She = Subject Pronoun
is = The verb be in the present tense
reading = read (main verb) + ing
her = Possessive adjective
book = noun

QUESTION: Did I identify the parts in the statement correctly?

Basically yes, BUT:

1. The term 'main verb' is often applied to the whole finite verb phrase (thus 'is reading' rather than simply 'reading', which is merely a present participle).
2. Some more traditional grammarians prefer to term 'her' a possessive pronoun (though, personally, I find either 'possessive adjective', or - even more commonly nowadays, 'possessive determiner' - to be a more useful label.)

I hope that helps!