Possessives, Pronouns and Quantifiers Test — English Grammar Exercises
My sister's car, a colleague of mine, none of the information is accurate — 30 mixed questions across 8 grammar points.
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My ___ car is parked outside.
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sister's
One sister owns the car → 's. 'Sister's' = belonging to one sister. 'Sisters'' would mean several sisters.
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The ___ meeting lasted two hours.
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board of directors'
For compound nouns, 's goes on the last word. 'Board of directors' is a group → 'board of directors'' (plural possessive).
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Tom and Sarah's flat is near the station. ___ flat is on the third floor.
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Their
Joint possession: 'Tom and Sarah's flat' = one flat they share. We refer to it with 'their'.
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Is that your jacket? — No, ___ is the blue one.
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mine
'Mine' replaces 'my + noun'. Before a noun: 'my jacket'. Standing alone: 'mine'. Never 'the my jacket'.
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The dog wagged ___ tail happily.
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its
'Its' = possessive (belonging to it). 'It's' = 'it is' or 'it has'. No apostrophe for possessive 'its'.
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___ idea was it to go camping in November?
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Whose
'Whose' asks about possession. 'Who's' = 'who is' or 'who has'. Here we ask about ownership of the idea.
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A colleague ___ gave me a lift to work.
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of mine
'A colleague of mine' = one of my colleagues. Use 'of mine/yours/his/hers', not 'of me' or 'of my'.
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These shoes are too tight. Can I try the black ___?
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ones
'Ones' replaces a plural noun (shoes). 'One' replaces a singular noun. Shoes are plural → 'ones'.
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I've read two of the three reports. I'll finish ___ tomorrow.
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the other
'The other' = the last remaining one from a known set. 'Another' = one more from an open set. Three reports, two done → one specific remaining.
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Some students passed the exam, but ___ failed.
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others
'Others' = some other people (not all remaining). 'The others' would mean all the rest. Here it's a general, non-specific group.
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Be careful with that knife — you might cut ___.
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yourself
Reflexive pronoun when the subject and object are the same person. 'You' cut 'yourself'.
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After the long hike, we sat down and tried to ___.
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relax
'Relax' does not take a reflexive pronoun in English. Also: feel, concentrate, meet, hurry. Never 'relax ourselves'.
Possessives, Pronouns and Quantifiers: A Mixed Review Test
Possessives, pronouns and quantifiers form one of the densest clusters of small, high-frequency grammar words in English, and learner corpus research consistently shows that errors here are common precisely because the words are so short and so frequent — a single wrong choice of 'its' for 'it's', or 'much' for 'many', appears constantly across writing samples. Analysis of the Cambridge Learner Corpus places pronoun and determiner errors among the top error categories at B1–B2 level, alongside articles and prepositions. Unlike verb tenses, these errors rarely come from not knowing a rule — they come from switching between eight closely related but distinct micro-systems within a single sentence or paragraph. This 30-question test mixes all eight areas covered by the possessives, pronouns and quantifiers hub: possessive nouns, possessive adjectives and pronouns, one/ones/other, reflexive pronouns, quantifiers, indefinite pronouns, much/many/few/enough, and both/either/neither — the same kind of rapid category-switching that real writing and speaking demand.
Possessive Nouns and Possessive Adjectives/Pronouns
Possessive nouns add 's to show ownership: 'my sister's car' (one sister), 'the board of directors' meeting' (the 's goes on the final word of a compound noun). Joint possession — two people owning one thing together — takes a single 's on the last name: 'Tom and Sarah's flat', referred to afterwards as 'their flat'. Possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, its, our, their) sit before a noun; possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs) stand alone. 'Whose' asks about ownership ('Whose idea was it?'), while 'who's' means 'who is' or 'who has' — a spelling pair as easy to confuse as its/it's. The phrase 'a colleague of mine' uses 'of' + possessive pronoun, never 'of me' or 'of my'.
One/Ones/Other and Reflexive Pronouns
'One' replaces a singular countable noun already mentioned; 'ones' replaces a plural one: 'these shoes are tight — can I try the black ones?' 'The other' picks out the one specific remaining item from a known set, while 'another' means one more from an open set, and 'others' means some unspecified additional members of a group. Reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, herself…) mark that the subject and object of a verb are the same person: 'you might cut yourself.' But a short list of verbs — relax, feel, concentrate, meet, hurry — never take a reflexive pronoun, and 'by + reflexive' is a fixed pattern meaning 'alone' ('I'll do it by myself').
Quantifiers, Indefinite Pronouns, and Much/Many/Few/Enough
'Some' appears in offers and requests even though it's usually associated with positive statements ('Would you like some coffee?'), while 'any' belongs to ordinary questions and negatives. 'None of' takes a singular verb with uncountable nouns ('none of the information is accurate') and can take either singular or plural with countable ones. Indefinite pronouns follow the same some/any/no pattern (someone/anyone/no one), are always grammatically singular ('everyone is ready'), and place any following adjective after themselves, not before ('somewhere warm', never 'warm somewhere'). 'Many' pairs with countable plurals and 'much' with uncountables; 'a little'/'a few' signal a positive 'enough' amount, while 'little'/'few' (without 'a') signal a negative 'almost none'; and 'enough' follows adjectives ('salty enough') but precedes nouns ('enough time').
Both, Either, Neither
'Both' takes a plural verb ('both candidates are qualified'); 'neither' is already negative and takes a singular verb, so it never combines with a second negative ('neither of them wants', not 'don't want'); its correlative partner is 'nor', never 'or'. In short negative-agreement replies, 'me neither' answers a negative statement, while 'me too' answers a positive one.
Common Mistakes
✗ Is that your jacket? — No, my is the blue one. → ✓ No, mine is the blue one. ('mine' stands alone, without a noun)
✗ These shoes are tight — can I try the black one? → ✓ the black ones? ('shoes' is plural, so 'ones')
✗ After the hike we tried to relax ourselves. → ✓ we tried to relax. ('relax' never takes a reflexive pronoun)
✗ He doesn't have much friends. → ✓ He doesn't have many friends. ('friends' is countable — use 'many')
✗ None of the information are accurate. → ✓ None of the information is accurate. ('information' is uncountable — singular verb)
✗ I don't know nothing about it. → ✓ I don't know anything about it. (English avoids double negatives)
✗ Both candidates is qualified. → ✓ Both candidates are qualified. ('both' always takes a plural verb)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between 'its' and 'it's'?
'Its' (no apostrophe) is the possessive form — it shows that something belongs to 'it': 'The dog wagged its tail.' 'It's' (with an apostrophe) is a contraction of 'it is' or 'it has': 'It's raining' (it is), 'It's been a long day' (it has). This is one of the most persistent spelling confusions in English because every other possessive noun uses an apostrophe ('the dog's tail'), so learners naturally expect 'its' to need one too. The rule to remember: no possessive pronoun in English ever takes an apostrophe — not its, not his, not hers, not theirs, not yours.
When do I use 'mine' instead of 'my'?
'My' is a possessive adjective and always comes directly before a noun: 'my jacket', 'my idea'. 'Mine' is a possessive pronoun and stands alone, replacing 'my + noun' when the noun has already been mentioned or is obvious from context: 'Is that your jacket? No, mine is the blue one.' The same pattern applies to your/yours, his/his, her/hers, our/ours, their/theirs. A frequent error is combining the two — 'the mine jacket' or 'this is the mine' — but a possessive pronoun never takes an article in front of it.
What is the difference between 'the other' and 'another'?
'The other' refers to the one specific item remaining from a known, limited set: if you've read two of three reports, the one left is 'the other' one. 'Another' means 'one more' from an open-ended, unlimited set — it doesn't point to a specific known item. Compare: 'I don't like this colour — show me another' (any other colour, unspecified) versus 'I've tried on two dresses; can I see the other one?' (the one specific dress left in a set of two). Learners often use 'another' when the context already limits the options to one specific remaining item, where 'the other' is required.
Why can't I say 'relax myself' or 'concentrate myself'?
A small group of English verbs describe actions that are inherently self-directed, so they never take a reflexive pronoun even though the equivalent verb in many other languages does: relax, concentrate, feel (well/bad), meet, hurry, and a few others. 'I tried to relax' is correct; 'I tried to relax myself' is not standard English. This contrasts with verbs like 'cut', 'hurt', 'introduce', and 'enjoy', which do need a reflexive pronoun when the subject and object are the same person: 'She cut herself', 'Enjoy yourself!' There is no single rule that predicts which verbs behave which way — the reflexive-free group has to be learned as a list.
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