Also, one would never confuse a possessive pronoun 
with a possessive adjective: no one would imagine phrases like "yours 
book" or "mine power drill".

Historically, this wasn't always the case.  The choice between my and mine depended on the following sound just as with the articles a and an, my preceding consonant sounds and mine preceding vowel sounds.  Witness a late survival in the song verse "mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."  
 
Best,
Clint
 
Clinton Atchley, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English
Director, Master of Liberal Arts Program
Box 7652
Henderson State University
Arkadelphia, AR  71999
Phone:  870.230.5276
Email:  [log in to unmask] 
URL:  http://www.hsu.edu/atchlec 

________________________________

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Johanna Rubba
Sent: Sun 10/7/2007 2:02 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Part of speech query



These pronominal forms are actually what linguists call 
"determiners", along with such traditional classes as articles. They 
have particular restrictions; for instance, only one can appear per 
noun phrase. One can have multiple adjectives in a noun phrase ("my 
brand-new, big, red balloon") but only one determiner ("my the 
balloon" is impossible).

In any case, they are not pronouns; they cannot stand in place of a 
noun phrase. The possessive pronouns are the forms "mine, ours, 
yours, his, hers", which _can_ take the place of noun phrases.

For instance:

A: My car has broken down.
B: Take mine. (Take _my car_.)

A: You have a power drill; use it.
B: But yours has better torque. (But _your power drill_)

"Possessive adjectives" was the better traditional term, as these do 
occupy a slot in which they modify a noun. But by modern linguistic 
definitions, they are not adjectives. I don't know why anyone ever 
called them possessive pronouns. It's odd that any formal grammarian 
would, since, even though they resemble the actual possessive 
pronouns, they behave quite differently. (I mean "formal" here in the 
sense of a traditional grammarian who is punctilious about such 
distinctions.) Also, one would never confuse a possessive pronoun 
with a possessive adjective: no one would imagine phrases like "yours 
book" or "mine power drill".

Dr. Johanna Rubba, Ph. D.
Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Dept.
Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Ofc. tel. : 805-756-2184
Dept. tel.: 805-756-2596
Dept. fax: 805-756-6374
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba

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