Genetive case

Question

Hello, Could you please help me?Are these sentences correct?Whose book is this? This book is Tom's.Whose is this book? This is Tom's.Who is that man? This is a brother of Nadia. (she has only one brother)Who is that man? This is a brother of Nadia's. (she has more than one brother)Thank you for your help.Kind regards.

Coincidence · Accepted Answer

I've forgotten about :

5. Do you know that man? Yes, it's a friend of me. (I have only one friend)
6. Do you know that man? Yes, it's a friend of mine. (I have many friends)

Thank you.

Anonymous · Answer

Correct way to respond: Yes, he's a friend of mine.

Prajwalkr · Answer

Hi

Coincidence:

Hello, Could you please help me? Are these sentences correct?
Whose book is this? This book is Tom's. OK.
Whose is this book? This is Tom's.OK, though I would like: It is Tom's.
Who is that man? He is a brother of Nadia. (she has only one brother)
I would say: He is Nadia's only brother.
Who is that man? He is a brother of Nadia's. (she has more than one brother)
He is one of the brothers of Nadia.

Coincidence: I've forgotten about :
5. Do you know that man? Yes, He's a friend of me. (I have only one friend)Not correct.
He is my only friend.
6. Do you know that man? Yes, He is a friend of mine. (I have many friends)Mine is Ok.
He is one of my friends.

Prajwal

BillJ · Answer

CoincidenceAre these sentences correct?Whose book is this? This book is Tom's.Whose is this book? This is Tom's.Who is that man? This is a brother of Nadia. (she has only one brother)Who is that man? This is a brother of Nadia's. (she has more than one brother)

Yes, they are all OK, but note that This is a brother of Nadia is not genitive; it's referred to as an of + non-genitive construction. The genitive alternative This is a brother of Nadia's is more likely. They both imply that she has more than one brother. If there's only one brother you could say This is the brother of Nadia, though it's a little ambiguous. The only way to be absolutely unambiguous about how many brothers she has is to say something like This is Nadia's only brother.

Please note the correct spelling of genitive.

BillJ

Coincidence · Answer

Thank you very much!

I am not sure, though, whether:

'He's a friend of me' (I have only one friend)

is correct...

Dimsumexpress · Answer

CoincidenceWhose book is this? This book is Tom's.Whose is this book? This is Tom's.

Is this legal? As far as I know, "Whose" is always by noun, not verb, i.e. Whose car is this? Who is he? "Who" is followed by verb, or aux. verb.

JohnParis · Answer

"He's a friend of me" is incorrect.
"He's a friend of mine" is correct (whether you have one or 500 friends!)
"Who is that man? He's my friend." is my preference.

BillJ · Answer

CoincidenceI am not sure, though, whether:'He's a friend of me' (I have only one friend)is correct...

It's incorrect; it has to be the genitive He's a friend of mine. (not me)

I think you're wrongly associating me and mine with the number of friends you have. Me, (even if it were correct) doesn't indicate how many friends you have, and nor does the correct mine. Mine is simply a genitive (possessive) pronoun, while me is nominative (nothing to do with possession).

The of + genitive construction tends to lend itself to a meaning where the complement of the preposition of comprises more than one person. So if you want it to be clearly understood that you have only one friend, you could (depending on the full context) say something like He's my only friend, or He's the only friend of mine, both of which are genuine genitive constructions.

I hope that clears things up.

BillJ

Coincidence · Answer

Thank you very much!
All your explanations were very helpful!

Kind regards.

Coincidence · Answer

Thank you!

Genetive case

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions