Questions tagged [double-possessives]

For questions about using two different possessive markers, like “of Bob’s” or “of mine”. Also known as 'double genitives' or 'oblique genitives'.

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I had seriously considered telling the story from the point of view of the wives

I had seriously considered telling the story from the point of view of the wives. the point of view of the wives or the point of view of the wives' Which one is appropriate in terms of grammar or ...
gomadeng's user avatar
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1 answer
30 views

Repeated possessive (ex. 'of mine,' or 'of Trump's')

Mr. Brooks, a hard-right Republican and a once-fierce ally of Mr. Trump’s whom the former president has accused of becoming “woke,” has drawn intense scrutiny for his actions preceding the violence on ...
MesutOezil's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
3k views

“Office of the director” or “Director’s Office”?

I learn English for years and this is something I don’t understand completely. In my natural language, If I want to say, for example, that an office belongs to a director, I say, “escritório do ...
Duck's user avatar
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3 answers
379 views

actors' or actor's?

Following text excerpt: …it would have been important to work with real-life photographs of the actors' faces and to… Is actors', in this case, correct? – Or should it be: …it would have been ...
Simon R.'s user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
55 views

"The friend of John who I hate" vs "John's friend who I hate" [duplicate]

On another language forum, I was told that sentences like, This is John's friend who I hate. This is my car which I've had for two years. etc. are wrong and we should say these instead: This is ...
Fire and Ice's user avatar
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1 answer
54 views

Double possessive case [duplicate]

I am studying the possessive case from here. The page explains there is also a double possessive, formed by: owned thing + of + owner + 's The first case is an indeterminative article: This is a ...
robertspierre's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
228 views

"That's your only friend that I've ever met." Why is this an impossible sentence?

I read the following usage note in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language's entry for "of": Grammarians have sometimes condemned categorically the so-called double ...
joy2020's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
124 views

Do a demonstrative and a possessive pronoun make it offensive (if so, what is the alternative)?

In a Japanese Language question, I was informed that English construction such as That son of yours These cats of hers would have an extra offensive connotation outside of a neutral combination of ...
broccoli forest's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
184 views

The bike of Tom or the bike of Tom's - questions about possessives

I wonder which expression is correct in my examples. I know the better way to say them is "Tom's bike" and "Tom's home", but I am still curious about the form in the examples as it is quite common in ...
vincentlin's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
146 views

Am I correct about possessives?

1 When you say about a bird in general, you say "This is a feather of a bird", you can also say "This is a bird's feather". a. So when you say "These are feathers of a bird", so will you say "These ...
Kim Lam's user avatar
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1 answer
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Can you help me explain this?

1 When I say "This is a pig's trough.", so is the word "a" describing or attached to "pig" or "trough"? 2 When I say "This is the pigs' trough.", so is the word "the" describing or attached to "pigs" ...
Kim Lam's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
368 views

Double Possessive - two friends of hers

The train arrived at the station, and Paula got off. Two friends of hers, Jon and Rachel, were waiting to meet her. I understand why I should say 'a friend of hers' instead of 'her a friend'. But ...
jinnyk216's user avatar
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1 answer
906 views

It's a car of my father's friend's

I read that we really could use the double possession like It's a car of my father's But somewhy we can't say: It's a car of my father's friend's Like, the triple possession? Is it true or we ...
Michael Azarenko's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
94 views

It's a book of my mother's

If we say: It's a book of my mother's How could this sentence be identified? Wrong, archaic, formal or something else?
Michael Azarenko's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
491 views

“Your face looks like my sister's friend face” or “my sister's friend”?

Which sentence should I use to show that she has the same face and should I use feature instead of face? "Your face looks like my sister's friend face" or just "Your face looks like my sister'...
Nurul Aina's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
1k views

"our important customer" vs. "important customer of ours"

Any difference between: "He is an important customer of ours" and: "He is our important customer"
Kent Tong's user avatar
  • 141
4 votes
1 answer
161 views

40 percent of X's Y: Is the percentage about X or Y?

Some 40 percent of people's "first memory" happened at an age when it wasn't possible to create memories. Source Context shows the percentage is about the people. The word memory, being singular, ...
Sara's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
111 views

possessive ('s) used in the word "family"

Which of the following sentences is correct? He's a friend of my family. He's a friend of my family's.
Norm's user avatar
  • 31
0 votes
1 answer
614 views

"Of someboy's" vs "of somebody."

I'm not a native English speaker so I wanted to ask about something that I always hear being said. The thing of somebody's. Is this right? Shouldn't it be this way? Somebody's thing. Or The ...
Iaka Noe's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
113 views

Difficulties for Objects' Possessions (or Objects Prossession? What about Possessions of Objects?) [duplicate]

Well, as it is guessable from the title of the question, I have issues with possessions in general and for objects possession in particular. Here is my main concern, hope to get durable solutions: ...
lonesome's user avatar
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3 answers
278 views

It's a question of the TOEIC test [closed]

Which is the correct answer? The president of Girou Electronics stated that the financial performance of the company was a personal responsibility of ... his himself he him
Shuichiro Matsuda's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
161 views

Double possessives

I am confused with one question. I've been self-studying English for several time. But I've thought about does possessives have sneaky apects. Some days ago I faced with double possessive so I made ...
Anthony Voronkov's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
60 views

Translating future statements

I've translated the next sentences: A brother of my friend's will have finished university by the summer and he is looking forward to teaching at school. Tomorrow he'll be working all the day and we'...
Anthony Voronkov's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
274 views

Why is "son" possessive in "I should rather say a very particular friend of your son's."?

"I should rather say a very particular friend of your son's." Not "of your son"? Why should I use possessive case in this statement?
Anthony Voronkov's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
114 views

the wife of the king of the Island or island king's wife?

How can I rewrite this sentence? 1- He gave a letter to the wife of the king of the Island. I can think of: 2- He gave a letter to the island king's wife. 3- He gave a letter to ...
Gamal Thomas's user avatar
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7 votes
5 answers
3k views

What is the main noun in "a year's worth of learning" in the following sentence?

I wonder which noun in the phrase "a year's worth of learning" in the following sentence is the main noun of the phrase. If "a year's worth" is the main noun, then "of learning" should be a phrase ...
Smart Humanism's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
95 views

Use of possessive case in a disjunction

what is the correct form? This It will be a pain to manage renewals without an automatic charge on your's or your customer's credit card. or this It will be a pain to manage renewals without ...
Marco Marsala's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
4k views

The meaning of "this heart of mine"

I was wondering about difference between "my" and "of mine" and have found some posts that say: "my" is definite form and "of mine" is indefinite one. So, "of mine" is the same as "one of my". ...
Yury Sitnikov's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
419 views

Which one sounds better? "of mine" or "my"

My friend (or "a friend of mine"?) told me that anytime I need to express such expression, it's always better to say "of mine", because it sounds more naturally. Like "two brothers of mine" rather ...
gnoulv's user avatar
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4 votes
3 answers
11k views

Differences between "my sister's house"/"the house of my sister"/"a house of my sister's"

1. My sister's house 2. The house of my sister. 3. A house of my sister's. Am I right when assuming that the phrase 1 and 2 indicate that my sister owns or lives just in one house whilst the third ...
bart-leby's user avatar
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1 vote
4 answers
732 views

How do "Friend of P" and "Friend of P's" mean the inverse of each other?

I abbreviated Peter as P in the title for brevity; feel free to abbreviate thus. Please explain user Ed Staub's answer below, since it only seems to present this stance? To me, both 1 and 2 mean that ...
user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
12k views

Send me a picture of hers vs Send me a picture of her? Send me a picture of him vs send me a picure of his? [duplicate]

What exactly is happening? Hers and His sound correct; but why?
Sandeep D's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
1k views

Should I use " European Union's " or "European Union"?

Here are my constructions: As I said, I am present in territory of the European Union's , therefore, please contact me only via e-mail at [email address]. As I said, I am present in ...
Heniek Kowalski's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
2k views

Why say "of x's" instead of "of x"?

I have often heard people say "x of his" or "x of mine". But since his and mine point out ownership, isn't using "of" here doubles that ownership? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to say "x of him" or "...
Mertcan Ekiz's user avatar