Language is the medium to have a conversation between human beings. It has seen many changes and is being constantly updated to comply with the modern way of writing and speaking. It takes many components like nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, etc. To complete a sentence.
My and Mine are both possessive adjectives that indicate a type of right to something or any possession of anything. It can be of either any living or any non-living thing. It is important to know the difference between the two, as mixing them can make any sentence incorrect.
My vs Mine
The main difference between My and Mine is that My is a possessive adjective and pronoun while Mine can only be used as a possessive pronoun. “My” comes before a noun, whereas “Mine” comes after the noun. It would be clearer with an example: “My clock is black and brown.”, “That black and brown clock is Mine.”
My is a possessive adjective and pronoun. It is spoken by the speakers to emphasize an object or any noun that belongs to themselves. Example: “Look at my new pens and notebooks for school!” It can be used for both plural and singular nouns.
Mine is a possessive pronoun that shows extreme ownership over a noun. It makes a sentence shorter by using itself when it is clear what is getting discussed in a conversation. “The glass that you are drinking from is mine” can be taken as a good example.
Comparison Table Between My and Mine
| Parameters of Comparison | My | Mine |
| Position in a dialogue | My comes before a noun/object in a sentence. | Mine comes at the end of a dialogue. |
| Repetition | In a with My, words are generally repeated. | Mine is used as it avoids repetition of words. |
| Relation with noun | It is followed by a noun. | The noun comes before Mine. |
| Other meanings | An expression of surprise, such as “My gosh,” “Oh My God,” etc. And in a sentence where a person wants to show appreciation or respect. | A stock or reserve of minerals is also called a Mine. For example, Coal Mine, Gold Mine, etc. |
| Examples | “It is My book!”, “My meal is not fully cooked.”, etc. | “You are Mine.”, “This suitcase is Mine.”, etc. |
What is My?
My is a possessive adjective, an adjective is a word that tells you more about a noun, and a possessive adjective is that word that indicates a sort of strong ownership over something at a noun. It can be used either for singular nouns or plural nouns.
There are seven possessive adjectives in the English language that are: My, your, his, her, its, our, and their. And are used when a person wants to indicate or show their ownership over a noun. As opposed to Mine, My requires another word, a noun, to make the meaning of the speech clear.
Aside from the popular definition that means ownership of nouns, the word is used in many regular phrases like “Oh My God,” “oh My word” and to show love and affection to family, friends, and other known people as “oh, yes My darling.”, “oh, My dear, are you sick?” etc.
What is Mine?
Mine is a pronoun that is highly possessive. A pronoun is used in exchange for a noun that is generally used to avoid repetition of words in a sentence. It shortens the sentence and is used to avoid repetition in a sentence. Sometimes possessive pronouns can act as the subject/ object of the sentence as well.
It makes the speech sound more superior and composed. As an example: “Your choice of clothes is similar to mine.” And “Your choice of clothes is similar to my clothes.” It can be seen from this shot example that how the use of Mine cuts a sentence out of some words and makes it sound more interesting by avoiding repetition of words.
Mine has some other definitions as well, like the place of extraction for natural resources, the process of making cryptocurrency. And even though it shortens the length of sentences, it cannot start dialogues, something that ‘My’ has the ability to perform.
Main Differences Between My and Mine
- Mine cannot be put before a noun, and My follows a noun. “Mine coffee cup” would be incorrect. “My coffee cup” is correct.
- Mine has the ability to support itself as it is a pronoun, and pronouns have the ability to stand on their own, on the other hand, My cannot stand on its own as it is an adjective and needs an additional word, a noun for the completion of the speech.
- It is seen that Mine makes a sentence shorter of at least one word comparatively to My. For example: “The pen is mine.” “This pen is my pen.”
- My can start a sentence, while in comparison, Mine is placed at the end of a sentence. A speech cannot be started with Mine. Example: “My phone!”, “The phone is mine.”
- Aside from the basic possessive words, both of these words have other meanings of My is to show off surprise or respect. For example, “Of course, My dear.” And Mine also means a place of a big collection of natural sources.
Conclusion
Earlier, especially in the renaissance era, My and Mine were interchanged as wished by the authors, but as the eras passed, the way to use these adjectives in the English language changed as well. Both of these words are highly possessive, and they add an extra effect of the right of the speaker to any particular object or person.
They both are different parts of a speech and show extreme ownership. But the words serve different purposes in a sentence. Except for these possessive meanings, both of these have their own other meanings as well, that are off, “My goodness” for My and a stockpile for natural resources for Mine.
References
- https://aap.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00201746908601564
- https://books.google.co.in/books?id=8NRWAAAAMAAJ&q=my+vs+mine&dq=my+vs+mine&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJj6m1y8fwAhUCOSsKHXQDA9M4ChDoATAEegQIAhAD