This hall, in which he was now left alone, was a pet fancy of his friend the doctor’s;

 

It is not the form I would use, but it seems grammatical. We would say “my friend the doctor’s fancy” (not *my friend’s the doctor fancy). So if you can say “a pet fancy of my friend’s,” then I suppose you could say “a pet fancy of my friend the doctor’s,” as RLS did.

 

Dick Veit

________________________________

Richard Veit
Department of English
University of North Carolina Wilmington

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Woods
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 1:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: genitive appositive

 

List,

I found this sentence in Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde:

 

This hall, in which he was now left alone, was a pet fancy of his friend the doctor’s;

 

I see "the doctor's" as an appositive to friend, which is genitive showing the source of the fancy.  The appositive has been put in the same case, hence the appostrophe. Does my analysis look right?  Was Stevenson over Latinizing his English?  Is this the normal pattern?  Is it considered correct?  Would anyone on the list consider it an error in modern American usage? 

 

Thanks,

Scott Woods

 

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