A friend of mine / My own

Welcome to your A friend of mine / My own Lesson! In this topic we talk about:
• A friend of mine
• My own / your own
• On my own / by myself
Take the quizzes when you’re ready! If you’re having problems, use the comment box to contact our English Teachers.

A friend of mine

We say “A friend of mine.” or “A friend of Tom’s.” Have a look at some examples:

“A friend of mine invited me to a picnic.”
(not “a friend of me.”)

“That was a really great idea of yours.”
(not “a great idea of you.”)

“She had a fight with a neighbour of hers.”
(not “a neighbour of her.”)

“I went to a wedding. A friend of my sister’s got married.”
(not “a friend of my sister.”)

“A friend of Steve’s moved to England.”
(not “a friend of Steve.”)

My own / your own

We use my/our/your (etc) before own: “My own car. / Your own job. / Her own dress.”
My own = something that is only mine, it belongs to no-one else:

“I don’t want to share a car with my parents, I want my own car.”

“It’s a shame that this flat doesn’t have its own garden.”

“It’s her own fault if she doesn’t have any money.”

Own can also be used to say that the person does something themselves, and doesn’t have someone else do it for them:

“I fixed my own car.”
(I did it, I didn’t ask a mechanic to do it)

“Steve cuts his own hair.”
(He doesn’t go to a hairdressers)

On my own / by myself

Both “On my own” and “by myself” mean “alone”:

“Jane hates living on her own.” ↔ “Jane hates living by herself.”

“They explored the city on their own.” ↔ “They explored the city by themselves.”

“I had to learn to drive on my own.” ↔ “I had to learn to drive by myself.”