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Possessive adjectives and
possessive
pronouns
in
English
are often confusing--because most
of them are very similar
in
form and one has exactly the same
form for both
the
adjective and the pronoun.
In addition to the personal
pronouns that are normally
used in English , there is
also a "general" (or impersonal)
pronoun: one.
One is very often used as a subject,
but it also
has a
possessive form: one's.
One
and one's are used in very formal
writing.
Examples:
One cannot always do what
one
wants.
( = 'A person cannot always
do what he or
she
wants.' / 'People cannot always do
what
they want.')
We believe that one must always
try to do one's best.
( = 'We believe that a person
must always try
to
do his or her best.' /
'We believe that
people.
must always try to do their
best.')
__________________________________________
Special Notes:
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In conversational language,
you*, we*,
or
people are normally used instead of one:
You can't always do what you
want.
We
can't always do what we want.
People can't always do
what they want.
We believe that you must always
try
to
do your best.
We believe that we must always
try
to
do our best.
We believe that people must
always try
to
do their best.
Important: You and
we
are general.
They
do not refer to
specific people.
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| 2. |
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One also has a reflexive
("self")
form: oneself. This form does not use
an
apostrophe:
wrong: One must
sometimes help
one's
self.
right: One must
sometimes help
oneself.
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