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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Page 4 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 Re: at my sister's, of my sister's. [Re: ParkinT] #181533 01/07/09 05:24 PM 01/07/09 05:24 PM Joined: Jun 2008 Posts: 9,193 Land of the Flat Water LukeJavan8 Carpal Tunnel LukeJavan8   Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jun 2008 Posts: 9,193 Land of the Flat Water I believe it, emotional attachment. ----please, draw me a sheep---- Re: at my sister's, of my sister's. [Re: ] #204467 02/01/12 03:39 PM 02/01/12 03:39 PM Joined: Jun 2008 Posts: 9,193 Land of the Flat Water LukeJavan8 Carpal Tunnel LukeJavan8   Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jun 2008 Posts: 9,193 Land of the Flat Water Hi -back at you. Welcome. ----please, draw me a sheep---- Re: at my sister's, of my sister's. [Re: LukeJavan8] #204490 02/04/12 12:34 PM 02/04/12 12:34 PM Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 1,075 Lancaster, UK Rhubarb Commando old hand Rhubarb Commando   old hand Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 1,075 Lancaster, UK Good to have you here, zeun. We're a mad bunch, but mostly harmless! I'm immortal until proven otherwise Re: at my sister's, of my sister's. [Re: Rhubarb Commando] #204494 02/04/12 04:41 PM 02/04/12 04:41 PM Joined: Jun 2008 Posts: 9,193 Land of the Flat Water LukeJavan8 Carpal Tunnel LukeJavan8   Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jun 2008 Posts: 9,193 Land of the Flat Water Be careful with that statement RC. ----please, draw me a sheep---- Re: at my sister's, of my sister's. [Re: LukeJavan8] #204505 02/05/12 03:01 PM 02/05/12 03:01 PM Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 1,075 Lancaster, UK Rhubarb Commando old hand Rhubarb Commando   old hand Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 1,075 Lancaster, UK Careful? Me? C'mon, now - I have a reputation to maintain. I'm immortal until proven otherwise Re: at my sister's, of my sister's. [Re: BranShea] #204510 02/05/12 07:01 PM 02/05/12 07:01 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel Faldage   Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Incidentally, getting back to the original question: Back when case meant something in English and we actually marked it in nouns different prepositions took different cases in their noun objects. We have dumped all case markings in nouns except the genitive. So, the one case where it is shown we think is abnormal. Really, it's all the instances where it's not shown that are the abnormal ones. Re: at my sister's, of my sister's. [Re: BranShea] #204512 02/06/12 06:56 AM 02/06/12 06:56 AM Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,295 Netherlands, the Hague BranShea OP Carpal Tunnel BranShea   OP Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,295 Netherlands, the Hague I dug up the initial post Originally Posted By: BranShea 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 Re: at my sister's, of my sister's. [Re: BranShea] #220035 01/27/15 11:04 AM 01/27/15 11:04 AM Joined: Dec 2008 Posts: 287 Victoria, Australia Bazr enthusiast Bazr   enthusiast Joined: Dec 2008 Posts: 287 Victoria, Australia Originally Posted By: BranShea I dug up the initial post Originally Posted By: BranShea 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. live in the moment Re: Double genitive [Re: BranShea] #221425 06/28/15 01:44 PM 06/28/15 01:44 PM Joined: Oct 2010 Posts: 1,114 London, UK A A C Bowden old hand A C Bowden   old hand A Joined: Oct 2010 Posts: 1,114 London, UK 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. Re: Double genitive [Re: A C Bowden] #221568 07/11/15 10:23 PM 07/11/15 10:23 PM Joined: May 2010 Posts: 961 Alaska Tromboniator old hand Tromboniator   old hand Joined: May 2010 Posts: 961 Alaska Thank you, A C. That's my sense of the thing exactly. Page 4 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------   Information and announcements   Q&A about words   Wordplay and fun   Words and languages in schools   Miscellany   Weekly Themes   Looking for (writers, speakers, ...) (Old) Weekly themes. 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