What are genitive determiners and how are they used?

Genitive determiners, also known as possessive determiners, are a type of determiner that indicate possession or ownership. They are used to show that something belongs to someone or something else. In English, the genitive determiners are "my," "your," "his," "her," "its," "our," and "their."

Genitive determiners are used before a noun to modify it and indicate possession. They answer the question "Whose?" For example, in the sentence "This is my book," the genitive determiner "my" shows that the book belongs to the speaker.

These determiners can also be used to show a relationship between two or more nouns. For example, in the sentence "John's car is blue," the genitive determiner "John's" indicates that the car belongs to John.

Genitive determiners can also be used with non-living things to show a sense of ownership or association. For example, in the sentence "The book's cover is torn," the genitive determiner "book's" indicates that the cover belongs to the book.

It is important to note that genitive determiners are different from genitive pronouns. While genitive determiners are used before a noun, genitive pronouns replace a noun. For example, in the sentence "This book is mine," the genitive pronoun "mine" replaces the noun "book."

In summary, genitive determiners are used to indicate possession or ownership. They modify nouns and answer the question "Whose?" They can be used with both living and non-living things, and they are different from genitive pronouns.