Many of

michaeltingAre they the 1st and the 3rd?

Yes, those are the correct ones.

CJ

Dear calif

Why not the second one?

Hi.

I think the third one is wrong too. It should be Many works of Shakespeare's are famous.

This is the same as we say many friends of mine.

We have to use reflexive adjectives in the above contexts, and the reflexive adjective for Shakespeare would be shakespear's.

Cheers

imantaghaviWhy not the second one?

You can't put many, few, much, little, several, one, two, three, four, ... before a possessive. You need of in between. Many of Donald's ideas, Several of Mary's dresses, one of Henry's books, ...

CJ

hrsanei It should be Many works of Shakespeare's are famous.
This is the same as we say many friends of mine.

Grammatically speaking, I see nothing wrong in the above. But the usage needs to be cohersive to the context.

Consider: Many of my childhood friends are all married a

hrsaneiIt should be Many works of Shakespeare's are famous.

I would not say that. The noun that fits into the underlined position is usually animate in this construction.

friends of John's is quite usual, but not guitars of John's.

CJ

Thanks Jim for your help and clarification.

You are right. You made a great example. Guitars of John's sound unnatural. But the rule you pointed out about animate and inanimate subjects does not seem to be general.

Do you say

Ex. Books of I/me or books of mine

Thanks again Jim.

hrsaneiDo you say

Ex. Books of I/me or books of mine

Actually, I would probably say my books, but the more important point is your counterexample, from which we can see that the animacy of the head noun turns out not to be the correct factor to look at in explaining this, because books of mine is certainly legitimat

Thanks for your response.

I am confused, I do not know. I say guitars of John's because I just apply the structure of books of mine to it.

It doesn't seem to be a general rule for it.

I am not a native speaker, so I cannot follow my ear to see how guitars of John's sounds to my ear.

Regards

hrsaneiI do not know.

Well, join the club!

I think you're right when you say that t