Tuesday, 20 October 2020

Common errors in English: Usage of Double Possessive of mine.

Double possessive (of + mine etc)


Incorrect : He is a friend of me. 


Correct . He is a friend of mine.


Incorrect : A friend of you told me the news. 


Correct : A friend of yours told me the news.


Note : When we want to emphasize the person who possesses rather than the thing which s/he possesses, we usually use the double possessive (of + mine/yours etc.). Here the general rule (that a preposition is followed by an object form of noun or pronoun) is violated. "A friend of yours' actually means “One of your friends.”