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Do I need to repeat a personal pronoun every time I use some noun with it?

I brought my pen and pencil

or

I brought my pen and my pencil

What if we have more nouns?

I took my glasses, my phone, my picture, my knife and my wallet.

or

I took my glasses, phone, picture, knife and wallet.

or

I took my glasses, phone, picture, knife and my wallet.

?

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    You don't have to repeat it. Commented May 23, 2020 at 12:48
  • But what if I live near some building which ia being built. I am a thief. I am saying "I brought my pen and bricks". The questions is whether the bricks are mine, too, or I brought my pen but the bricks I brought were of the builders', not mine? How to distinguish it? Commented May 23, 2020 at 13:00
  • The 'my' is presumed to cover all things listed after it. Commented May 23, 2020 at 13:02
  • Then how should I say the sentence with the bricks that are not mine? Commented May 23, 2020 at 13:03
  • @MichaelAzarenko You could say, "my pen and some bricks". Commented May 23, 2020 at 13:19

1 Answer 1

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You don't need to repeat "my".

Listeners will generally understand "my" to determine all of the items in the list

I brought my pen, book and bag.

If the ownership is different, and important, you can mention it

I brought my pen, book, and Katie's notepad that she'd lent me.

It is quite common to repeat "my" and not strange:

I brought my pen, my book, and Katie's notepad that she'd lent me.

You've brought up a fairly weird example in the comments:

I brought my pen and bricks.

Wait, what? This is a very unlikely situation, but deja-vu Don't get yourself tied in knots: nobody ever says this. If they did we would probably understand because it would be one of those special occasions when people gather and are expected to bring a brick or two. I've never been to that kind of party, but if you have, that's cool.

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  • Parties where people bring bricks are often referred to as “riots”.
    – StephenS
    Commented Oct 22, 2020 at 12:29

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