UNIT 83. A friend of mine my own house on my own/by myself. ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN USE FOR INTERMEDIATE

ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN USE FOR INTERMEDIATE

UNIT 83. 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: √ 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. √ √ √

EXERCISES

83.1	Write new sentences with the same meaning. Change the underlined words and use the structure in Section A (a friend of mine etc.). 1 I am meeting one of my friends tonight. ____I’m meeting a friend of mine tonight.__ 2 We met one of your relatives. We met a ______________________ 3 Jason borrowed one of my books. Jason ______________________ 4 Lisa invited some of her friends to her flat. Lisa ______________________to her flat. 5 We had dinner with one of our neighbours. ______________________ 6 I went on holiday with two of my friends. ______________________ 7 Is that man one of your friends? ______________________ 8 I met one of lane's friends at the party. ______________________at the party. 9 it's always been one of my ambitions to travel round the world. ______________________to travel round the world.
83.2	Complete the sentences using my own /our own etc. +the following: bedroom business opinions private beach words 1 I share a kitchen and bathroom, but I have ______my own bedroom____________. 2 Gary doesn't think the same as me. He's got _________________. Julia is fed up with working for other people. She wants to start _________________. In the test we had to read a story, and then write it in _________________. We stayed at a luxury hotel by the sea. The hotel had _________________. 3 4 5
83.3	Complete the sentences using my own /your own etc. 1 Why do you want to borrow my car? Why don't you ____ use your own car_____? 2 How can you blame me? it's not my fault. It's _________________. She's always using my ideas. Why can't she use _________________? 3 4 Please don't worry about my problems. You've got _________________. I can't make his decisions for him. He must make _________________. 5
83.4	Complete the sentences using my own /your own etc. Use the following verbs: bake clean cut make write 1 Brian never goes to a barber. He ______________ cuts his own hair______ 2 Helen doesn't often buy clothes. She usually ________________________. 3 We don't often buy bread. We usually ________________________. 4 I'm not going to clean your shoes. You can ________________________. 5 Paul and Joe are singers. They sing songs written by other people, but they also ________________________.
83.5	Complete the sentences using my own /myself etc. 1 Did you go on holiday on _____your own_____? I'm glad I live with other people. I wouldn't like to live on ________________. The box was too heavy for me to lift by________________. Who was Tom with when you saw him?' ~Nobody. He was by________________. 2 3 4 5 Very young children should not go swimming by ________________. I don't think she knows many people. When I see her, she is always by ________________. I don't like strawberries with cream. I like them on ________________. Do you like working with other people or do you prefer working by ________________.We had no help decorating the flat. We did it completely on ________________. I went out with Sally because she didn't want to go out on ________________. 6 7 8 9 10

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