KerriF Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 "Theirs is a big dog". Ds is supposed to decide if the pronouns is just a pronoun and not a possessive pronoun acting as an adjective. He marked "theirs" as a Possessive adjective and the book says it is just a pronoun but I can't figure out why. We've done all the others and gotten them right. Doesn't "theirs" answer the question "whose dog"? This is probably really obvious and I'm just missing it. Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Theirs is a big dog. I'd vote for pronoun. It's the subject of the sentence and therefore not a possessive adjective. It's a possessive pronoun. THe possessive adjective would be "their" as in "He is their dog." In that case, their would be modifying the noun dog and would be a possessive adjective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 A big dog is whose ? A big dog is theirs. (recasting of "Theirs is a big dog.") My vote is complete subject: a big dog complete predicate: is theirs "Theirs" is a possessive pronoun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 "Theirs is a big dog". Ds is supposed to decide if the pronouns is just a pronoun and not a possessive pronoun acting as an adjective. He marked "theirs" as a Possessive adjective and the book says it is just a pronoun but I can't figure out why. We've done all the others and gotten them right. Doesn't "theirs" answer the question "whose dog"? This is probably really obvious and I'm just missing it. Thanks for your help. skeleton... Theirs/is No, "theirs" does not answer "whose dog" b/c "the big dog" is not the subject in this case, but the modifier to "is" "a big dog" describes "is" Ask, is what? Answer...a big dog Theirs is a Subject pronoun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 I concede the field. I enjoyed relearning this ! (and looked up everything before typing the following) Theirs is a big dog. Nominative possessive pronoun (and subject of the sentence) -- verb -- indefinite article -- adjective -- noun skeleton... Theirs/is No, "theirs" does not answer "whose dog" b/c "the big dog" is not the subject in this case, but the modifier to "is" "a big dog" describes "is" Ask, is what? Answer...a big dog Theirs is a Subject pronoun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KerriF Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 Thanks for your help everyone. I guess my lesson learned is locate the subject and the verb first and then figure the rest of it out. :) I appreciate the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Yes, that's what I tell my boys. MCT really emphasizes that the noun-verb/subject-predicate is the meat of the sentence....everything else is in supporting roles so I have my boys locate those first! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekarl2 Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Here's one way to look at it. It can't be a possessive pronoun (otherwise known as an adjective) without having a noun to modify! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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