083 a friend of mine / my own house / (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)
• Mike 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 use my/your/his/her/its/our/their before own:

     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've got 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   

We also use own to say that we do something ourselves instead of somebody else doing it for us.

 

For example:

• Brian usually cuts his own hair. (= he cuts it himself; he doesn't go to a barber)
• I'd like to have a garden so that I could grow my own vegetables. (= grow them myself instead of buying them from shops)

 

 

   D   

On my own / by myself

 

On my own and by myself both mean 'alone'. We say:

• on {my / your} own = by {myself / yourself (singular) }
• on {his / her / it} own = by {himself / herself / itself}
• on {our / their} own = by {ourselves / yourselves (plural) / themselves}

• I like living on my own / by myself.
• 'Did you go on holiday on your own / by yourself?'  'No, with a friend.'
• Jack was sitting on his own / by himself in a corner of the cafe.
• Learner drivers are not allowed to drive on their own / by themselves.