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2 Comments
I have often heard people say:
“He is a friend of Jim’s”
or “she is the wife of Harry’s”
I am inclined to think this is inaccurate since the world ‘of’ already implies the connection, and therefore, ’s is not required. What do you think?
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Technically, that’s true — you don’t need both “of” and an apostrophe-s to express a possessive. But double possessives, as they are called, have existed in idiomatic usage (such as “a friend of John’s”) for centuries and are perfectly acceptable in these usages. As for “the wife of Harry’s,” this does not fall into the same category — rephrase that as “Harry’s wife” and everyone’s ears will be happier.
Thanks for listening!
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