A friend of his wife's?
Hi, everyone.
Could you tell me why the writer used the genitive "'s" in the sentence below when he could have simply written "a friend of his wife"?
They live in Florence. Andrea begs Lucrezia that they end a quarrel over whether the painter should sell his paintings to a friend of his wife's.
Thanks!
Top answer
silak12 Could you tell me why the writer used the genitive "'s" in the sentence below when he could have simply written "a friend of his wife"? The double genitive is common in the spoken language. We tend to use it by habit because it eliminates potential confusion.
- silak12 Could you tell me why the writer used the genitive "'s" in the sentence below when he could have simply written "a friend of his wife"?
- The double genitive is common in the spoken language.
- We tend to use it by habit because it eliminates potential confusion.
- Compare: A photograph of his father vs A photograph of his father's
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
silak12Could you tell me why the writer used the genitive "'s" in the sentence below when he could have simply written "a friend of his wife"?
The double genitive is common in the spoken language. We tend to use it by habit because it eliminates potential confusion. Compare:
A photograph of his father
vs
A photograph of his fat
0
Related Questions