will accrue to...

Question

Denis Tull is not alone in his observation that ‘sizeable benefits of China’s return will accrue to state elites’.

Shouldn't we say "...will accrue to state elites' hands"?

Can we really say something such as "...will accrue to ours"

or

"...will accrue to his son's"???

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

The last ' is a closing quote mark, not a possessive apostrophe. "... will accrue to state elites" seems OK to me.

"... will accrue to state elites' hands" does not sound quite right to me. It's not usual for something to accrue to someone's hands. ("Fall into someone's hands", yes.) Your other two examples with "ours" and "son's" are, as you suspect, wrong.

Did you mean to highlight "China"? I can't quite see the significance of that in relation to your question. Apologies if I've misunderstood.

Clive · Answer

Hi,
I'm not sure what you mean by China’s return. Return from where? Do you possibly mean China's revenue/income?

Best wishes, Clive

Mr Wordy · Answer

CliveI'm not sure what you mean by China’s return.

I wondered about that too, before I found the full text at http://nsdl.org/resource/2200/20070323092153968T . It's actually referring to China's return to Africa.

CalifJim · Answer

... that >‘sizeable benefits of China’s return will accrue to state elites’<
I think you've got the wrong end of the stick.

CJ

Mr Wordy · Answer

Mr Wordy Your other two examples with "ours" and "son's" are, as you suspect, wrong.

Clarification: By this, I mean that the example with "ours" is wrong if it's supposed to mean "... will accrue to us". It is possible if "ours" means "our <suitable noun>", such as "our account".

Similarly for "his son's".

will accrue to...

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions