Is "its" as a possessive pronoun still used? and if so give me examples.

[abo.omar]

Is "its" as a possessive pronoun still used? and if so give me examples.

 

[jutfrank]

Why don't you go ahead and find some examples of your own? You can post them here.

 

[abo.omar]

Yes, of course it's still used.

Why don't you go ahead and find some examples of your own? You can post them here.

I tried , but I failed. I couldn't find anything on the websites.

 

[Barque]

I couldn't find anything on the websites.

Just google "its imports" or "its capital", to use two examples at random. Use the quotation marks.

 

[jutfrank]

• The dog hurt its paw.
• The school celebrated its tenth anniversary.
• There is a general sense that the United States and its allies have limited leverage.
• Columbia University seems to have forgotten its core values.
• Most of its funding comes from federal grants with very little oversight.

Welcome to Google!

 

[Barque]

I found an example here you might find familiar: https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/when-do-you-use-is-before-you.284807/#post-1659177

 

[dunchee]

Is "its" as a possessive pronoun still used? and if so give me examples.View attachment 5052

Here are two examples from A COMPREHENSIVE GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE by Quirk et al.:

6.29 Determinative and independent possessives
Note [a] Independent its may occasionally be found in parallel constructions, such as:

History has its lessons and fiction has its(*1).​

She Knew the accident was either her husband's fault or the car's: it turned out to be not his but its(*1).​

(*1) Your source calls them "possessive pronouns." Quirk's book calls them "The second, 'strong' set of possessive pronouns" and "the 'strong' set has an independent function as a noun phrase." "Independent its" for short.

Note: I changed the original ĬTS, ÌTS and HĬS (which represent different stresses) to its, its and his to simplify things.

 

[5jj]

• The dog hurt its paw.
• The school celebrated its tenth anniversary.
• There is a general sense that the United States and its allies have limited leverage.
• Columbia University seems to have forgotten its core values.
• Most of its funding comes from federal grants with very little oversight

i'd have those as possessive adjectives. Note the form of the possessive pronouns in that list.

I'd say the possessive pronoun its is not used.

 

[probus]

Don't judge a book by its cover. I guess that's an adjective there.

 

[jutfrank]

i'd have those as possessive adjectives. Note the form of the possessive pronouns in that list.

I'd say the possessive pronoun its is not used.

Ah, thank you, yes. I made a mistake. Barque too, apparently.

Sorry for any confusion caused.

 

[Barque]

Yes, looks like I misunderstood too.

A: The cat's dinner is ready. So's the dog's.
B: What about the monkey's?
A: Its isn't here yet. It will be, any minute now.

Does this work?

 

[probus]

Very nice and natural example @Barque.

 

[PaulMatthews]

Is "its" as a possessive pronoun still used? and if so give me examples.View attachment 5052

Yes is the answer, though it is rare. I don't know where you got that chart from; the items in the last column have none of the properties of adjectives and hence are best classified as pronouns. For example, the dependent forms "my" and "our" are just as much pronouns as the independent forms "mine" and "ours" are.

While the independent forms other than "its" occur freely, "its" is only very occasionally found in attested examples like these that I found in one of my textbooks:

The Guardian seems to respect its readers more than the Sun respects its.
The council appears to be guilty of the illegal sale of houses that were not its to sell in the first place.

 

[Barque]

I'm not sure I agree with the part where you said "the items in the last column have none of the properties of adjectives".

 

[5jj]

I don't know where you got that chart from; the items in the last column have none of the properties of adjectives and hence are best classified as pronouns. For example, the dependent forms "my" and "our" are just as much pronouns as the independent forms "mine" and "ours" are.

That chart could have appeared in any one of many books published for secondary schools in the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s in the UK. The thought that by and our could be pronouns would have been laughed out of the classroom in those days.

 

[tzfujimino]

That chart could have appeared in any one of many books published for secondary schools in the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s in the UK. The thought that my and our could be pronouns would have been laughed out of the classroom in those days.

.

 

[PaulMatthews]

I don’t see any compelling reasons for classifying words like “my” and “our” as adjectives.

Consider this example: He did it without my or the doctor’s approval.

Here, “my” is coordinated with a genitive (possessive) noun phrase. I don’t think anyone would want to say that “my” is an adjective here. It’s a noun phrase functioning as a determiner.


And this example: No one objected to my joining the party.

An adjective analysis here makes no sense at all. “My” is functioning as subject of a clause, not a modifier in noun phrase structure. Note also that “my” can be replaced by a genitive noun phrase such as “Ed’s”.

 

[5jj]

I don’t see any compelling reasons for classifying words like “my” and “our” as adjectives.

But people used to.

And this example: No one objected to my joining the party.

An adjective analysis here makes no sense at all. “My” is functioning as subject of a clause, not a modifier in noun phrase structure. Note also that “my” can be replaced by a genitive noun phrase such as “Ed’s”.

It used to be felt that 'joining' was a gerund, effectively a noun. What preceded it was the possessive form of a noun or a possessive adjective. Some of the word classes favoured today will probably look just as ridiculous in sixty years' time.