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A third common way of showing
possession
in
English
is through
using
of. One way of forming possessives
of this type is with a noun phrase, one, or a number
or
quantity followed by of
and then a
possessive
pronoun:
Bob is a friend
of
his. Mrs. Smith is a neighbor of ours. Angela and
Julie are friends of theirs.
Is this painting one of yours? If you don't have
a pencil, use one
of mine. Amy has three dogs. Is that dog one of hers?
I borrowed two of Bob's books
and several of
yours. The
boss like several of their ideas and
all of
ours. Jim ate his lunch and also half of
mine.
Special
Note:
Notice these differences in
meaning:
Bob is Jim's friend. / Bob
is a friend of
Jim's.
In
the first sentence, we
know only that Jim has one friend--Bob. In the
second sentence, we know
that Jim has several
friends, and Bob is
one of them.
__________________________________________
Mrs. Smith is our
neighbor.
/ Mrs. Smith is a neighbor of
ours.
The
first sentence states
only that we have one neighbor-- Mrs. Smith. The
second sentence states that
we have several neighbors,
and Mrs. Smith
is one of them.
__________________________________________
Angela and Julie
are their
friends. / Angela and Julie are
friends of theirs.
In the first sentence, we
know only that they
have two friends-- Angela
and Julie. In
the second sentence, we know that
they
have several friends, and Angela and Julie are
two of them.
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