OURS – English Grammar Profiler

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In the EGP, there are several points in the category of PRONOUNS with the possessive pronoun ‘ours’:

C1 Point 101:

… in subject position

B2 Point 72:

… with singular and plural reference, in subject position.

B2 Point 86 is the same except:

… in object positions, and complement positions after ‘be’ and after prepositions.

B2 Point 87 

possessive pronoun ‘ours’ after noun + ‘of’.

B2 Point 76 is dealt with in another post: https://englishgrammar.pro/comparative-hers-ours/

There is no clear indication of what the difference is between the C1 101 and B2 72 point when it is in the subject position since ‘ours’ will always ‘have a singular or plural reference’.  This is another example of ambiguity in the EGP.  

To add to the confusion, when we look at ‘ours’ in the EVP, we are given an A2 level for the word and an example from a B1 student:

A search in iWeb for: ours _v

*’Ours’ is not always the subject in the following Ngrams!  Since here it is not the first word in the clause. (It is often the last word in the preceding clause).

1 OURS IS 13647

  Los Angeles Times Democracies around the world are under threat. Ours is no exception.

2 OURS WAS 4788 3 OURS ARE 3825 4 OURS HAS 1955 5 OURS WERE 1215 6 OURS HAVE 1047 7 OURS WILL 1027 8 OURS HAD 885 9 OURS DID 796 10 OURS DOES 792 11 OURS CAN 647 12 OURS DO 554 13 OURS WOULD 550 14 OURS CAME 365 15 OURS COULD 236 16 OURS SHOULD 221 17 OURS MAY 209 18 OURS INCLUDED 204 19 OURS WENT 166 20 OURS TOOK 158 21 OURS LOOKS 141 22 OURS COMES 135 23 OURS COME 129 24 OURS GOT 126 25 OURS MUST 125 26 OURS BEING 122 27 OURS BE 120 28 OURS LOOK 105 29 OURS STARTED 103 30 OURS GET 99 31 OURS DONE 97 32 OURS MIGHT 97 33 OURS TURNED 97 34 OURS USED 94 35 OURS LOOKED 91 36 OURS NEEDS 87

37 OURS WORKS 84

OURS SEEMS

  That’s Online The History of the Daiquiri: War, White Rum and a Ship’s Doctor There may be other universes based on all sorts of other principles, but ours seems to be based on war. *’seems’ is already B2 grammar (wide range of linking verbs)

39 OURS GETS 78 40 OURS MADE 78 41 OURS SAID 75 42 OURS USING 75 43 OURS GOES 72 44 OURS SHALL 72 45 OURS COST 69 46 OURS GO 68 47 OURS USES 65 48 OURS SEEM 63 49 OURS ARRIVED 62 50 OURS WORK 62 51 OURS BROKE 59 52 OURS GAVE 55 53 OURS CALLED 54 54 OURS SET 54 55 OURS NEED 53 56 OURS TOLD 53 57 OURS DIED 52 58 OURS INCLUDES 51

59 OURS BASED 50 (*this is -ED clause following.)

60 OURS TAKES 47 61 OURS LIVES 45 62 OURS OFFERS 44 63 OURS RUNS 43 64 OURS WO 43 65 OURS MAKES 41 66 OURS BEGAN 40

67 OURS NAMED 40 (*this is -ED clause following.)

68 OURS WORKED 39 69 OURS TAKE 38 70 OURS SAYS 37 71 OURS ENDED 36 72 OURS NEEDED 36 73 OURS CA 34

74 OURS REQUIRES 34 (not subject in most examples)

75 OURS STARTS 34 76 OURS BOUGHT 33 77 OURS MAKE 33 78 OURS TEND 33 79 OURS USE 33 80 OURS GIVES 32

81 OURS LASTED 32

82 OURS MEASURED 32 83 OURS SIT 31 84 OURS START 31 85 OURS ASKED 30 86 OURS FOUND 30 87 OURS PUT 30 88 OURS SEEMED 30 89 OURS INCLUDE 29 90 OURS MEANS 29 91 OURS SENT 29 92 OURS HAPPENS 28 93 OURS BEGINS 26 94 OURS FEATURES 26

95 OURS CONTAINS 25

96 OURS HAPPENED 25

97 OURS INSTALLED 25

98 OURS LOVE 25 99 OURS OFFER 25

100 OURS STAY 24

*Although there are many examples of ‘ours’ in PELIC, none match the red ngrams.

ours (based|contains|installed|lasted|named|requires|seem|seemed|seems)

A search for preposition (not of_IO) in iWeb shows that ‘ours’ is often used to discuss relatedness:

* * * *_ii ours

1 , WHICH MAY DIFFER FROM OURS 65 2 ITS OWN TIME AND IN OURS 37 3 FOR A SMALL COMPANY LIKE OURS 34 4 IN A SOCIETY SUCH AS OURS 34 5 PRIVACY POLICIES MAY DIFFER FROM OURS 26 6 AT THE TABLE NEXT TO OURS 25 7 PRIVACY PRACTICES MAY DIFFER FROM OURS 23 8 YOUR FAMILY IS ANYTHING LIKE OURS 22 9 LINK FROM YOUR SITE TO OURS 21 10 PRIVACY POLICY MAY DIFFER FROM OURS 21 11 SOME ENTIRELY UNRELATED WEB-SITES TO OURS 21 12 TOTALLY UNRELATED INTERNET WEBSITES TO OURS 21 13 TOTALLY UNRELATED WEB SITES TO OURS 21 14 YOUR PROTECTION AS WELL AS OURS 21 15 IN A COUNTRY SUCH AS OURS 20 16 SOME ENTIRELY UNRELATED SITES TO OURS 20 17 ABSOLUTELY UNRELATED INTERNET WEBSITES TO OURS 19 18 COMPLETELY UNRELATED INTERNET WEBSITES TO OURS 19 19 IN A DEMOCRACY SUCH AS OURS 19

20 SOME COMPLETELY UNRELATED SITES TO OURS 19

…….

_nn of ours

1 FRIEND OF OURS 3460 2 FRIENDS OF OURS 1708 3 WORLD OF OURS 1002 4 COUNTRY OF OURS 897 5 FAVORITE OF OURS 868 6 CLIENT OF OURS 862 7 CUSTOMER OF OURS 674 8 FAVOURITE OF OURS 430 9 GOAL OF OURS 308 10 PARTNER OF OURS 290 11 DREAM OF OURS 260 12 LAND OF OURS 257 13 PLANET OF OURS 256 14 NATION OF OURS 208 15 CONCERN OF OURS 188 16 FAULT OF OURS 183 17 CITY OF OURS 173 18 PART OF OURS 164 19 SIZE OF OURS 159

20 PASSION OF OURS 140

PELIC students

B2/C1:

*Note, there are many errors surrounding or using ‘ours’, so here we include only the clearer examples:

694,dl7,Chinese,Male,117,5,w,48,1,557,”Choosing Mr. / Mrs. Right before Marriage

Thus, if we find our partner’s action is quite different from ours, it doesn’t mean he or she is really the wrong person.

*Note that the complexity checker predicts to be from an advanced student:

13983,ff2,Chinese,Female,288,5,w,1897,1,803

People who have a job like ours have a different life style.

27391,gb4,Chinese,Female,534,5,w,3597,1,1201, Men should share housework

Ours is the job of protecting, surviving and of course ruling aristocratically.

B2:

26482,ep4,Thai,Female,524,4,w,3437,3,416

Ours is not perfect democracy so it doesn’t always work.

39742,ef0,Arabic,Male,739,4,w,5110,1,277

Our parents spent their whole life sacrificing and dedicating their life to make ours just better.

B1:

24037,el8,Hebrew,Female,469,3,g,3111,1,99,

Friends of ours told me that the local council has opened two beautiful play ground[s].