Page 178 - English Grammar in Use

Unit a friend of mine my own house
83 on my own / by myself

A a friend of mine / a friend of yours etc.
We say ‘(a friend) of mine/yours/his/hers/ours/theirs’.
A friend of mine = one of my friends:
I’m going to a wedding on Saturday. A friend of mine is getting married. (not a friend of me)
We went on holiday with some friends of ours. (not some friends of us)
Harry had an argument with a neighbour of his.
It was a good idea of yours to go to the cinema.
In the same way we say ‘(a friend) of my sister’s / (a friend) of Tom’s’ etc. :
That woman over there is a friend of my sister’s. (= one of my sister’s friends)
It was a good idea of Tom’s to go to the cinema.

B my own … / your own … etc.
We say my own / your own / her own … etc. :
my own house your own car her own room
(not an own house, an own car etc.)
my own … / your own … etc. = something that is only mine/yours, not shared or borrowed:
I don’t want to share a room with anybody. I want my own room.
Vicky and Gary would like to have their own house.
It’s a shame that the apartment hasn’t got its own parking space.
It’s my own fault that I have no money. I buy too many things I don’t need.
Why do you want to borrow my car? Why don’t you use your own? (= your own car)

You can also say ‘a room of my own’, ‘a house of your own’, ‘problems of his own’ etc. :
I’d like to have a room of my own.
He won’t be able to help you with your problems. He has too many problems of his own.

C He cuts his own hair
We also use own to say that we do something ourselves instead of somebody else doing it
for us. For example:
Paul usually cuts his own hair.
(= he cuts it himself)
I’d like to have a garden so that
I could grow my own vegetables. PaUL
(= grow them myself instead of
buying them from shops)

D on my own / by myself
On my own and by myself both mean ‘alone’. So you can say:
⎫ my / your ⎫ ⎫ myself / yourself (singular)
⎪
⎪
⎪
on his / her / its own or by himself / herself / itself
⎬
⎬
⎬
⎪ ⎪ ⎪
⎭ our / their ⎭ ⎭ ourselves / yourselves (plural) / themselves
I like living on my own. or I like living by myself.
Some people prefer to live on their own. or … live by themselves.
Jack was sitting on his own in a corner of the cafe. or Jack was sitting by himself …
Did you go on holiday on your own? or Did you go on holiday by yourself?

166 myself/yourself/themselves etc. ➜ Unit 82