Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - her

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. Note: 'Her' is a third person singular pronoun. 'Her' is used as the object of a verb or a preposition. 'Her' is also a possessive determiner. 1. You use her to refer to a woman, girl, or female animal. I went in the room and told her I had something to say to her... I really thought I’d lost her. Everybody kept asking me, ‘Have you found your cat?’ PRON: v PRON, prep PRON • Her is also a possessive determiner. Liz travelled round the world for a year with her boyfriend James... DET 2. In written English, her is sometimes used to refer to a person without saying whether that person is a man or a woman. Some people dislike this use and prefer to use ‘him or her’ or ‘them’. Talk to your baby, play games, and show her how much you enjoy her company. PRON: v PRON, prep PRON • Her is also a possessive determiner. The non-drinking, non smoking model should do nothing to risk her reputation. DET 3. Her is sometimes used to refer to a country or nation. (FORMAL or WRITTEN) PRON: v PRON, prep PRON • Her is also a possessive determiner. Our reporter looks at reactions to Britain’s apparently deep-rooted distrust of her EU partner. DET