[etni] Fwd: re: grammar question
- From: ETNI list <etni.list@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Etni <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2012 14:00:18 +0200
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Marlene <marlenegay@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: grammar question
Barry,
No one ever says: a cat of your son, an apple of your teacher -
outside of English class practicing the form - except in the idiom: an
apple of your eye. We say: your son's cat, your teacher's apple.
A pen of my brother - sounds stilted and just isn't used by native
speakers. (My brother's pen is the preferred usage.) But "a member of
my congregation/synagogue/country club" is used because using the
alternative (possessive 's) ought not to be used with inanimate nouns.
Marlene
Barry wrote:
> Do you mean you wouldn't say a cat of your daughter's
> which is equivalent to a colleage of x's.
> ( people say this, but it's a common error -- a double possessive.)
> But what's wrong with a cat of your daughter?
> or a pen of my aunt?
> or the pen of my aunt,
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