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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/49013
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/49013
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

You just need to get a better grasp on when using context is enough and when it isn't.

Quoting from your examples:

> "There isn't much we can do unless you tell us why you were there." The cop tells the woman.
> 
> The woman nervously taps her fingers on her arms and answers her question.

Here context **is not enough**. Apart from "her" being repeated, you've created a sentence where the first two are referring to the woman answering; one would expect the last one to do the same. Compare this on how repetition can be used as a figure of speech:

> He missed her so much. Her smile. Her laugh. Her eyes. Her scent.

Here the adjectives are all referring to the same female person that the subject misses.

But then again, in your example, you don't need to clarify that the question is "the female cop's". It's the only question being asked, so you could just say..

> ...taps her fingers on her arms and answers **the** question.

Or, if there were other question being asked,

> ...taps her fingers on her arms and answers **the last** question.

As a rule of thumb, I'd use a possessive adjective only when it's important to underline the **ownership** of something. In this case, I'm not sure it's so much of an issue, seeing that "the female cop" doesn't seem to be a named character.

But context **can** be enough, and that's should be the case in your second example:

> He looks down at the stone mask lying innocuously on Jonathan's table in his study and smiles.

Unless the subject in this sentence has s_omehow moved Jonathan's table from Jonathan's place to his study_ (and if he did, you should have showed it beforehand), it's implied that Jonathan's table will be in Jonathan's study.

Original score: 10