Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Are you a "friend of Fred" or a "friend of Fred's"? James R. grammar I am puzzled. I have been led to believe that a pronoun that is the object of a verb or the object of a preposition is always in the objective case. But evidently there is an exception to that rule because your article on double possessives implies that a possessive pronoun sometimes can be the object of a preposition. Please explain. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=18582#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=18582#Comments Sun, 23 Aug 2009 05:48:25 GMT elljay68 grammar Which is correct, then? The patient is a call patient of Dr. Bacon. The patient is a call patient of Dr. Bacon's. (Ignore the fact that it's poorly worded. It's based on a doctor's dictation, and a few of us MTs are trying to decide which is preferable.) Thanks! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=18005#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=18005#Comments Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:19:08 GMT steve-o grammar first, I need a grammar coach for my blog! Second, this one is driving me crazy. I have a website called Film Noir of the Week. If I use a sentence like this: "This week's selection is The Man with the Golden Arm" is it "week's" or "weeks" http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13676#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13676#Comments Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:35:56 GMT rpmason grammar phil3ip. If you disagree with what purists believe, provide your reasoning and argue your point--tell us why. Saying that it's wrong and claiming that you can't parse the sentence won't convince many people. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13626#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13626#Comments Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:36:09 GMT phil3ip grammar a friend of Fred's But, what's with your second sentence? The final three words are simply wrong. "Many purists believe that double possessives should be relegated to informal and semiformal writing, if at all." I suppose it's grammatical, but it doesn't mean much. If you counter with "Well, you know what she was trying to say," then there's not much point in having her say it at all, is there! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13624#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13624#Comments Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:09:36 GMT aardvark grammar Hi Marcio, Both are correct although aardvark believes that when the possessive adjective "my" is put before the noun, the expression is more emphatic than when a prepositional phrase is used to modify a noun. aardvark would opt for "my friend" over "of mine." http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13606#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13606#Comments Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:44:58 GMT Márcio grammar Good episode!! And about the use of "MY FRIEND" and "A FRIEND OF MINE"??? Is that any difference??? thanks http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13605#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13605#Comments Sun, 24 Aug 2008 05:04:58 GMT sheena grammar friend of fred http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13604#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13604#Comments Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:52:31 GMT mary grammar This is off topic, but i've done some searches and can't find any matching posts. what is the correct use or the phrase "or not/or no" as in: 'Are you coming to the store with us, or not?' I have heard both versions used, though I had always believed "or not" was correct. Then I heard NBC commentator Brian Williams say, "Are you considering returning for the 2012 games, or no?" Does anyone know the correct usage? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13600#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13600#Comments Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:08:54 GMT aardvark grammar That hat of Squiggly's used to be aarvark's hat. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13593#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx?commentid=13593#Comments Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:50:43 GMT Sun, 23 Aug 2009 05:48:25 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-possessive.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us