At 01:49 PM 10/11/2009, Geoffrey Layton wrote:
In this week’s edition of The New Yorker, there is an article that includes these two quotes about Larry Summers:  “According to a friend of Summers’s, Harvard had wanted . . . Two questions arise from these quotes.  First involves the formation of the possessive with a proper name ending in "s." The writer adds “…’s” to Summers’s name in the possessive case - but shouldn't the possessive be Summers' - or didn't it used to be?

DD: Varies by the style book of the publication.

Second, why is the possessive necessary at all?  Why not “friend of Summers” . . .

DD: Would you say, "A former friend of I? A former friend of me?" I suspect you would use the possessive first singular. "A former friend of mine."
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/