§ 6. There are the following possessive pronouns in English:

	Singular	Plural
1 st person	my	our
2nd person	your	your
3d person	his ha- lts	their

Possessive pronouns serve to modify nouns in the sentence, i.e. they function as attributes, e.g. The doctor usually came to his office at three o'clock. Do you think you are losing your popularity? Prom my place I could watch the people eating their lunch. It should be noted that in English the possessive pronouns are often used instead of articles with nouns denoting relations, parts of the body, articles of clothing and various other personal be- longings.

e.g. Bob nodded at his wife as if he wanted to say "You see?" He bit his lips, but said nothing. He took off his jacket and loosened his tie. Amy put her cigarette back into her bag.

But there are certain idiomatic phrases where the definite ar-

ticle is used instead of a possessive pronoun, e.g. I have a cold in the head. He was shot through the heart.

He got red in the face.

He took me by the hand.

The ball struck him in the back.

He patted his wife on the shoulder.

§ 7. The possessive pronouns may also perform noun func- tions. Then they are used in their so-called absolute forms: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours and theirs.

e.g. She put her arm through mine.

They are not my gloves; I thought they were yours. Theirs is a very large family.

Incidentally, its is hardly ever used as an absolute form. Note. The form yours is commonly used as a conventional ending to letters, e.g. Yours sincerely (truly, faithfully). J. Smith

Sometimes we find absolute forms of possessive pronouns pre- ceded by the preposition of. This combination is called a double genitive.

e.g. He is a friend of mine.

It happened through no fault of his.

We had a slight accident and, luckily, that neighbour of yours came along or we would still be there.

Reflexive Pronouns

§ 8. The reflexive pronouns are formed by adding -self (in the plural selves) to the possessive pronouns in the 1st and 2nd persons and to the objective case of the personal pronouns in the 3d person.

	Singular	Plural
1st person	myself	ourselves
2nd person	yourself	yourselves
3d person	himself herself itself	themselves

There is one more reflexive pronoun which is formed from the indefinite pronoun one — oneself.

These pronouns are used as noun pronouns in the sentence. They are called reflexive pronouns because they show that the ac- tion performed by the person which is indicated by the subject of the sentence passes back again to the same person. In other words, the subject of the sentence and its object indicate the same person. In this case the reflexive pronouns are weakly stressed.

e.g. He wrapped himself in his blanket and fell off to sleep. She cooked herself a big meal.

I'm sure you both remember the day when you talked about yourselves and the past.

As is seen from the above examples, the reflexive pronouns may serve in the sentence as different kinds of objects — direct, indirect and prepositional.

Note 1. Note the following sentences where personal pronouns are preferred to reflexive pronouns.

e.g. He went in, closing the door behind him. She put the thought from her. He looked about him.

Note 2. Note that both personal and reflexive pronouns are found in sentences expressing comparison.

e.g. My brother is as tall as myself (me).

No one realizes it better than yourself (you).