Mine's/my/mine

Question

I've always believed all possessive pronouns do not take apostrophes. Is 'mine' an exception, since google shows numerous examples of mine's?

Could someone please explain whether or not mine's is OK and explain its use(s)? Thanks.

a. The hat belongs to a friend of mine's.

b. The hat belongs to a friend of mine.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

a. The hat belongs to a friend of mine's. No. The hat IS a friend of mine's (hat). It is a friend of mine's hat. (Awkward, but possible.)

b. The hat belongs to a friend of mine. OK.

The whole noun phrase takes the 's. (a friend of mine)'s hat, (a cousin of John)'s car

The others all end s, and we may have to wait for a punctuation expert to see if it's ours' or ours's, theirs' or theirs's, and so on, or if it's something else. I doubt it's ours's.

?An acquaintance of [ours' / his' / theirs'] vacation was cut short because of bad weather.

I suspect that good writers avoid these.

CJ

English 1b3 · Answer

Interesting. Thanks.

This site ( http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/poss.htm ) says possessive pronouns do not take apostrophes:

The hat IS a friend of mine's (hat). It is a friend of mine's hat

So both these examples use an apostrophe to show the possessive of the whole noun phrase.

Mine's/my/mine

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