#181533 - 01/07/09 12:24 PM
Re: at my sister's, of my sister's.
[Re: ParkinT]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 8426
Loc: Land of the Flat Water
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I believe it, emotional attachment.
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#204467 - 02/01/12 10:39 AM
Re: at my sister's, of my sister's.
[Re: ]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 8426
Loc: Land of the Flat Water
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Hi -back at you. Welcome.
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#204490 - 02/04/12 07:34 AM
Re: at my sister's, of my sister's.
[Re: LukeJavan8]
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old hand
Registered: 11/13/11
Posts: 1075
Loc: Lancaster, UK
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Good to have you here, zeun. We're a mad bunch, but mostly harmless!
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#204494 - 02/04/12 11:41 AM
Re: at my sister's, of my sister's.
[Re: Rhubarb Commando]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 8426
Loc: Land of the Flat Water
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Be careful with that statement RC.
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#204505 - 02/05/12 10:01 AM
Re: at my sister's, of my sister's.
[Re: LukeJavan8]
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old hand
Registered: 11/13/11
Posts: 1075
Loc: Lancaster, UK
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Careful? Me? C'mon, now - I have a reputation to maintain.
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#204512 - 02/06/12 01:56 AM
Re: at my sister's, of my sister's.
[Re: BranShea]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 5295
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
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I dug up the initial post Here's a little thing I longtime wanted to ask. You say:
I will be at my sister's.
She's a friend of my sister's.
In the first sentence this seems clearly to mean: "At my sister's " house or place.
The second form always struck me as odd. "a friend of my sister's" ... what?
Maybe I am making mistakes here, but I just would like to know the details about this. (thanks) I reread the Michael Quinion article from Jim's link and keep on using the double genitive anyway as it's stuck in my head since schooldays. > link
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#220035 - 01/27/15 06:04 AM
Re: at my sister's, of my sister's.
[Re: BranShea]
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enthusiast
Registered: 12/01/08
Posts: 287
Loc: Victoria, Australia
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I dug up the initial post Here's a little thing I longtime wanted to ask. You say:
I will be at my sister's.
She's a friend of my sister's.
In the first sentence this seems clearly to mean: "At my sister's " house or place.
The second form always struck me as odd. "a friend of my sister's" ... what?
Maybe I am making mistakes here, but I just would like to know the details about this. (thanks) I reread the Michael Quinion article from Jim's link and keep on using the double genitive anyway as it's stuck in my head since schooldays. > link "a friend of my sister" is good.
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#221425 - 06/28/15 09:44 AM
Re: Double genitive
[Re: BranShea]
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old hand
Registered: 10/22/10
Posts: 751
Loc: London, UK
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I have been looking back over this discussion, and there is one possible explanation that no-one has mentioned.
"A friend of my sister's" implies that my sister has two or more friends and we are referring to one of them. So we mean "a friend of [= from among] my sister's friends".
"Of" here means not "belonging to my sister's friends" but "part of the group of her friends". This is why we cannot say "the friend of my sister's" – there cannot be a group if she has only one friend.
So I think the double genitive is perfectly logical.
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