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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Does "of mine" imply multiple things?

Here's my tiny little question:
If I were to say something like: "She's a friend of mine", does that imply I have multiple friends?
For instance, would it be correct to say that "She's a friend of mine" could be replaced by either "She's my friend" or "She's one of my friends", or only by the latter (without change of meaning, of course)?

Thanks in advance,
Fernando
  

Top answer

We presume that as a normal member of society, the speaker has more than one friend. The article a also means a non-specific member of a group. Taken all together, "She's a friend of mine" could be replaced semantically by either "She's my friend" or "She's one of my friends".

— Mister Micawber

  • We presume that as a normal member of society, the speaker has more than one friend.
  • The article a also means a non-specific member of a group.
  • Taken all together, "She's a friend of mine" could be replaced semantically by either "She's my friend" or "She's one of my friends".
  • It is "She's my friend" that we cannot presume suggests that the speaker has only a single friend.
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2 Answers
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We presume that as a normal member of society, the speaker has more than one friend. The article a also means a non-specific member of a group. Taken all together, "She's a friend of mine" could be replaced semantically by either "She's my friend" or "She's one of my friends". It is "She's my friend" that we cannot presume suggests that the speaker has only a single friend.
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