I think both of the Bill Clinton sentences would have "Bill Clinton('s)"
acting as an adjective--one possessive and the other not, but both as
adjective phrases.  I think I missed your point.

Maureen

        ----------
        From:  Michael Kischner [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
        Sent:  Thursday, July 08, 1999 3:41 PM
        To:  [log in to unmask]
        Subject:  Re: Yet Another Grammatical Question

        I don't know, Maureen.  In "I am afraid of him," conventional
grammar
        would call "of him" an adverbial modifer of "afraid."  But the
distinction
        I really got to wondering about was between a friend of Bill
Clilnton's
        and a supporter of Bill Clinton.

        On Thu, 8 Jul 1999, Maureen Fitzpatrick wrote:

        > I'm not completely certain, but I'll take a stab.  I think this is
one of
        > those examples that shows why a functional or rhetorical
understanding of
        > grammar can be more helpful than a strictly traditional
understanding of it.
        > The best I can do is to mention what you've probably already
noticed--that
        > the prepositional phrase is acting as an adjective (it can be
rewritten "I
        > am his friend" just as "I have a watch of gold" can be written "I
have a
        > gold watch").  In a case like "I am afraid of him", my best guess
would be
        > that it is acting as either as an object or perhaps as an
adverbial
        > (answering the adverbial question "why?").
        >
        > How far off does that sound?
        >
        > Maureen Fitzpatrick
        > Associate Professor, Johnson County Community College
        >
        >         ----------
        >         From:  Michael Kischner
[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
        >         Sent:  Wednesday, July 07, 1999 6:49 PM
        >         To:  [log in to unmask]
        >         Subject:  Re: Yet Another Grammatical Question
        >
        >         To give everybody a rest from Henry James:
        >
        >         An ESL student in my class wrote, "Now I am a friend of
him."  Is
        > there a
        >         good reason I can give him for why it should be "of HIS"?
        >
        >         It gets funny with proper names, too.  If we knew each
other well, I
        > might
        >         describe myself as a friend of Bill Clinton's.  But, at
least for
        > the
        >         first four or five days of his term, I would have
described myself
        > as a
        >         supporter of Bill Clinton.  Go figure.  Please.
        >