Nov
5
Category: 
|5 - Questions and Answers: Double possessive: “[Q] From Frances Pack: ‘You recently wrote ‘a friend of Pope’s’. What? Do I not remember correctly that Pope’s is already possessive—so the use of of before it makes a double possessive? That was drummed into my ears when I was a freshman in high school in Latin I class. Curious—because I sometimes slip and write it that way—then have to go back and ‘correct’ it. Is this no longer the rule?’
[A] It never was. You’ve been led into a misunderstanding, as some grammarians of the eighteenth century were, by trying to apply the rules of Latin to English, where they don’t fit. It must be said that disputes about it are unrelated to effective communication, since nobody would ever fail to understand ‘a friend of Pope’s’.
[…]
In particular, grammarians say a double possessive is essential to avoid giving the wrong meaning when a word indicating ownership is placed after of, as ‘a bone of the dog’s’. The extra possessive is required because ‘a bone of the dog’ means, not a bone in the possession of the dog, but one inside the dog. ‘A picture of Jane’ means an image of Jane, whereas ‘a picture of Jane’s’ is a picture of any sort that happens to be owned by Jane.”
(Via World Wide Words newsletter.)
