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Voxxi Posted 21 years ago
Linguistics Studies

...the power of Him?

Hi!

Do we alternatively write "Fred's power" as "the power of Fred" or as "the power of Fred's"; and, further, how how do we in like manner rewrite "His [God's] power"? "the power of Him/His/He"?

Best wishes,

Voxxi
  

Top answer

Possessives of people and anthropomorphized nouns are not normally presented in the 'of-- ' form. Although the power of *** is a notable exception, the pronoun-- even the capitalized one-- remains structurally odd, and I would suggest limiting yourself to His power . What Gerard Manley Hopkins can get away with, the average writer cannot.

— Mister Micawber

  • Possessives of people and anthropomorphized nouns are not normally presented in the 'of-- ' form.
  • Although the power of *** is a notable exception, the pronoun-- even the capitalized one-- remains structurally odd, and I would suggest limiting yourself to His power .
  • What Gerard Manley Hopkins can get away with, the average writer cannot.
  • On second thought, it is not as uncommon as I had at first presumed: when we do use the of-- form, it often appears in what is called (I think) the double possessive: the power of His .
  • That dog of mine is always biting the postman.
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2 Answers
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Possessives of people and anthropomorphized nouns are not normally presented in the 'of--' form. Although the power of *** is a notable exception, the pronoun-- even the capitalized one-- remains structurally odd, and I would suggest limiting yourself to His power. What Gerard Manley Hopkins can get away with, the average writer cannot.

On second thought, it i
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Of plus pronoun also occurs in set phrases such as I can't think for the life of me....

It can also be used where no possession is involved He thinks the world of her.
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