A building of the government's/the government

Question

Hello,1. I read "a building of yours" is right and "a building of you" is wrong.2. However, don't we say "a building of the government" instead of "a building of the government's"?3. Are both forms correct?4. how do we choose which form to use?Thanks a lot.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Using this sentence pattern, you need to get your pronouns straightened out.

i.e.

I me mine mine.

Although grammatically it is not wrong, to say "this is a car / tv /comupter of mine" is pretty weird

Mary is my friend = Mary is a friend of mine.

She is your friend =she is a friend of yours.

Does this help?

Zazzex · Answer

Thanks for reply.

I am not really getting your point.

I've got a question.

Considering a friend of I is incorrect and a friend of mine is correct,

which is correct, "a building of the government" or "a building of the government's"?

thanks

CalifJim · Answer

zazzex1. I read "a building of yours" is right and "a building of you" is wrong.

True. And you can also have "one of your buildings".

zazzexdon't we say "a building of the government" instead of "a building of the government's"?

These are not particularly idiomatic, though they are understandable. We say "a government building" or "one of the government buildings", possibly "one of the government's buildings".

zazzex~~how~~ How do we choose which form to use?

This is the most difficult of your three questions to answer. You choose on the basis of usage, and usage can sometimes seem not to be governed by any coherent principles.

1. Forms with the apostrophe (or the equivalents with pronouns) are most often used with individual people, not things. (In this classification, "government" is treated more like a thing than like a person.)

my friend, our relatives, Steve's car, Sam's house
a friend of mine / one of my friends / an acquaintance of Steve's / one of Steve's acquaintances

2. Forms without the apostrophe (like compound nouns) are most often used with things.

a government building, a toy shop, a newspaper article, a fruit salad

3. Forms with "of" are usually the last choice. These are used when neither of the other two seem appropriate, often with abstract ideas.

a matter of choice, the purpose of the meeting, a chance of showers
_________

NOT: *a Sam house; *a Steve car
NOT: *a house of Sam; *a car of Steve
NOT: *a toys' shop; *a fruits' salad

NOT: *the shop of toys, *a salad of fruit
NOT: *a choice's matter; *a shower's chance
NOT: * a choice matter; *the meeting purpose; *a shower chance

-- although you might have the meeting's purpose, so as you see, there are always variations and exceptions.

CJ

Zazzex · Answer

very awesome, thanks

A building of the government's/the government

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