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Date: | Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:31:10 -0500 |
Content-Type: | multipart/alternative |
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I think part of the question regarding the /New Yorker/ sentences had to
do with whether a possessive was needed at all. It's sometimes called
the double genitive. We would say, "He is a friend of mine," but do we
need to say "He is a friend of John's"? (One of my textbooks said, "By
an old and well-established idiom, sometimes called the double genitive,
possession may be shown by two methods at the same time, by an I
/of/-phrase and by a possessive form of the substantive."
Obviously sometimes a possessive is needed for clarity. "This is a
picture of John" would mean that it is an image of John. "This is a
picture of John's" would indicate that the picture, which might be of
Mary, belongs to John.
Gerald
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