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Azz Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

His friend or a friend of his

I saw John with his friend yesterday.

Does this imply that
a. John has only one friend
or
b.That the speaker knows the friend in question
or
c. That the speaker thinks or knows that the listener knows who the friend in question is or has at least a vague idea as to his identity

Could the sentence be used as an equivalent to


I saw John with a friend of his yesterday.

Many thanks.
  

Top answer

azz Does this imply that a. John has only one friend No. That the speaker knows the friend in question What do you mean by 'know'?

— Mister Micawber

  • azz Does this imply that a.
  • John has only one friend No.
  • That the speaker knows the friend in question What do you mean by 'know'?
  • It implies only that he knows that the person is a friend of John's.
  • azz Does this imply that c.
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6 Answers
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azzDoes this imply that a. John has only one friend
No. (Common sense)
azzDoes this imply that b.That the speaker knows the friend in question
What do you mean by 'know'? It implies only that he knows that the person is a friend of John's.
azzDoes this imply that c. That the speaker thinks or knows
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Ah! To me 'his friend' seemed to be a bit less impersonal than 'a friend of his'! I did not think that in this context one could use 'his friend' instead of 'one of his friends'.

Many thanks.
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azzTo me 'his friend' seemed to be a bit less impersonal than 'a friend of his'!
I don't see that, sorry.
azzI did not think that in this context one could use 'his friend' instead of 'one of his friends'.
This question comes up from time to time. There is no common sense reason to assume that 'his friend' means that he has
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azzTo me 'his friend' seemed to be a bit less impersonal than 'a friend of his'!
Not true. I am a friend of the family = I am a family friend.
In spoken English, if you said " I saw John with his friend..." you are projecting an assumption based on your interpretation of what you saw at the moment, which may be a conversation between them. But he may just
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grammarfreakIn spoken English, if you said " I saw John with his friend..." you are projecting an assumption based on your interpretation of what you saw at the moment, which may be a conversation between them.
No.

If you said those words, you almost certainly knew that the person was his friend., If your situation were the case, and we felt the need
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fivejedjonIf you said those words, you almost certainly knew that the person was his friend., If your situation were the case, and we felt the need to pass the news on to someone, we simply say something like "I saw John talking to someone yesterday".
It can be argued!
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