of my or my mine or of me?

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exciter

#395817 Mon, 23 Jul 07 09:05 PM

Dear all,

Here is a question:

This is a bad caharaterisitc of my

This is a bad caharaterisitc of mine

This is a bad caharteristic of me

Which one is correct?

Thanks.

exciter

Joined on Sat, Jan 29 2005

Junior Member (53)

Yankee

#395822 Mon, 23 Jul 07 09:13 PM

Which do you think is correct, Exciter?

By the way, the correct spelling is characteristic.

Yankee

Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006

Connecticut, USA

Senior Member (4,157)

Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain

exciter

#395823 Mon, 23 Jul 07 09:15 PM

To me it is the second one. But I encounter the first one quite often, and I dont see the logic of this usage.

exciter

Grammar Geek

#395825 Mon, 23 Jul 07 09:29 PM

Of mine.

She is their friend. She is a friend of theirs.

He is her friend. He is a friend of hers.

That's one of my bad habits. That's a bad habit of mine.

Does that help?

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,589)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Kooyeen

#395827 Mon, 23 Jul 07 09:32 PM

Hiya,

Grammar Geek wrote:

He is her friend. He is a friend of her.

Is that ok? I would have said "friend of hers"... Smile [:)]

EDITED: Man, you guys are fast. I just went back to fix it and you'd already pounced! GG

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (3,973)

If you don't have a sense of humor already, it's about time you buy one.

Grammar

Yankee

#395833 Mon, 23 Jul 07 09:47 PM

I suspect that was a typo, Kooyeen. Wink [;)]

......................................................

Hi Exciter

I agree with you and Barb -- the second one is correct (of mine).

a friend of mine / yours / his / hers / ours / theirs.

However, you will also hear people say things such as "a friend of my father's".

Yankee

Kooyeen

#395836 Mon, 23 Jul 07 09:56 PM

Heh, typos might be dangerous. Some learners might decide to sue this forum for typos... then the admins are going to lose a lot of money and they'll have to sell some servers, or even some members as slaves. Wink [;)]

Yankee wrote:
However, you will hear people say things such as "a friend of my father's.

What should they say? A friend of my father? I think "a friend of my father's" is the correct form, isn't it? I heard you could say "a friend of Mike", but most people say "a friend of Mike's", is this true? Smile [:)]

Kooyeen

Yankee

#395864 Mon, 23 Jul 07 11:30 PM

Hi Kooyeen

Since the examples asked about were not complete sentences, I simply added how/why you would also hear 'a friend of my ...' (i.e. you would need to add something after 'my' to the example originally given).

Yankee

Clive

#395866 Mon, 23 Jul 07 11:39 PM

Hi,

then the admins are going to lose a lot of money and they'll have to sell . . . some members as slaves. You think we don't? Have you noticed that some people post here for a while, and then are never heard from again ? . . . . hmmmmm.

I think "a friend of my father's" is the correct form, isn't it? Yes.

I heard you could say "a friend of Mike",]. Yes. it's one of those things that has been said so long that it is starting to sound not bad. If pressed to find a different shade of meaning, I'd suggest that a friend of Mike's sounds like the friendship is reciprocated, while 'a friend of Mike possibly sounds like Mike might not welcome the friendship. But, really, the intended meaning is usually the reciprocated one. Use the possessive version. Smile [:)]

Best wishes, Clive