Possessive pronouns—words like his, my, our, its, her, and their—can help identify whether you’re talking about specific or nonspecific items. As we’ve seen, articles also indicate specificity. But if you use both a possessive pronoun and an article together, readers will become confused. Articles should not be used with pronouns. Consider the examples below:
Incorrect: Why are you reading the my book?
The and my should not be used together, as they are both identifying the same noun. Instead, choose one or the other depending on the intended meaning:
Correct: Why are you reading the book?
Correct: Why are you reading my book?
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