![]() There are also cases in which the double genitive may be more elegant for example, many speakers find such sentences as That's your only friend that I've ever met or That's your only friend I've ever met to be awkward or impossible, but rephrasing using the double genitive provides an acceptable alternative, as in That's the only friend of yours that I've ever met. ![]() It can help sort out ambiguous phrases like Bob's photograph, which could mean either "a photograph of Bob" (i.e., revealing Bob's image) or "a photograph that is in Bob's possession." A photograph of Bob's, on the other hand, can only be a photo that Bob has in his possession and may or may not show Bob's image. ![]() But this construction has been used in English since the 1300s and serves a useful purpose. Usage Note: The "double genitive" construction, in which a possessive form appears as the object of the preposition of, as in a friend of my father's or a book of mine, is looked down on by some grammarians and usage critics.
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