Some days ago, I posted
on my Facebook wall that it is wrong to say "This your child
is cute." without giving any reason to back up my claim. In this article,
I will be validating such claim with a reason. In English language, it is
an error when a demonstrative adjective and a possessive adjective/determiner
are used at the same time to modify a particular noun. To understand this, it
is important to explain, with examples, the meanings of possessive
adjective/determiner and demonstrative adjective.
A possessive
adjective/determiner is used to show ownership. Examples of possessive
adjectives/determiners are: my, your, their our, his, their, her, its. As an
adjective, it precedes (or comes before) a noun in a sentence.
Examples
1. Your phone
is nice.
2. My pen is
missing.
3. Their properties
have been seized.
In the examples above,
you can see the adjectives (in bold) coming before the nouns (phone, pen and properties).
Unlike possessive
adjectives, demonstrative adjectives are used to show whether the noun it
modifies is singular or plural and whether the position of the noun is near or
far from the person who is speaking. Examples of demonstrative adjectives
are: this, that, these and those.
"This" and "that" are used to modify singular nouns which
are near and far from the speaker respectively whereas "these" and
"those" are used to modify plural nouns which are near and far from
the speaker respectively.
Examples
1. This/That phone is
nice.
2. These/Those phones are
nice.
As earlier stated, it is
wrong to use a demonstrative adjective and a possessive adjective at the same
time to modify a particular noun in a sentence. Therefore, expressions such as the ones below
would be considered as wrong usages:
1. This your child
is cute.
2. That her bag
is fine.
3. These their watches
are expensive.
To correct these
expressions, one can use only the possessive adjective/determiner to show
ownership, or the demonstrative adjective to point at a particular noun, or use
the "of phrase" option to lay emphasis. In example one, the sentence
could read: “Your/This child is cute.” However, if there is the
need to lay emphasis, you would write: “This child of yours is
cute." In this sense, "of yours" is the "of phrase".
Having said that, let's
correct the other expressions:
1. That bag
is fine. (Demonstrative adjective).
2. That bag of
hers is fine. (The "of phrase").
3. Her bag
is fine. (Possessive adjective).
4. These watches
her expensive. (Demonstrative adjective).
5. These watches of
theirs are expensive. (The "of phrase").
6. Their watches
are expensive. (Possessive adjective).
In a nutshell, never use a possessive adjective and a demonstrative adjective at the same time to modify a particular noun in a sentence.
In a nutshell, never use a possessive adjective and a demonstrative adjective at the same time to modify a particular noun in a sentence.