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. >