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Thread: a fan of me

  1. #1
    allthewayanime is offline Member
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    Default a fan of me

    An extremely well-educated newspaper columnist was talking on TV about those people who like and who do not like his political views.
    Then he said, "He [referring to a famous person] is not a fan of me."

    I know that "good" English requires "a fan of mine," but can you grammar experts make a guess as to why this famous columnist made such a "mistake"?

    Thank you.

  2. #2
    bhaisahab's Avatar
    bhaisahab is offline Moderator
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    Default Re: a fan of me

    Quote Originally Posted by allthewayanime View Post
    An extremely well-educated newspaper columnist was talking on TV about those people who like and who do not like his political views.
    Then he said, "He [referring to a famous person] is not a fan of me."

    I know that "good" English requires "a fan of mine," but can you grammar experts make a guess as to why this famous columnist made such a "mistake"?

    Thank you.
    Not being inside his head, I wouldn't like to speculate. Who is this person by the way?

  3. #3
    AlexAD's Avatar
    AlexAD is offline Senior Member
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    Default Re: a fan of me

    Quote Originally Posted by bhaisahab View Post
    Not being inside his head, I wouldn't like to speculate. Who is this person by the way?
    Not a teacher, nor a native.
    I think that most people make mistakes while speaking their language.
    They even might not be aware of that. May be because they got used to the way they speak something.

  4. #4
    Ilki is offline Banned
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    Default Re: a fan of me

    Quote Originally Posted by allthewayanime View Post
    An extremely well-educated newspaper columnist was talking on TV about those people who like and who do not like his political views.
    Then he said, "He [referring to a famous person] is not a fan of me."

    I know that "good" English requires "a fan of mine," but can you grammar experts make a guess as to why this famous columnist made such a "mistake"?

    Thank you.
    He may be a purist who does not like the double genitive.
    If you asked me why the speaker's "I" can't be in accusative case - which is the case prepositional comlements normally take -, I would become very hot under the collar.

  5. #5
    5jj's Avatar
    5jj
    5jj is online now Moderator
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    Default Re: a fan of me

    Quote Originally Posted by Ilki View Post
    If you asked me why the speaker's "I" can't be in accusative case - which is the case prepositional complements normally take -, I would become very hot under the collar.
    Most writers today prefer 'object(ive)' to 'accusative'.
    Context is always important; labelling is rarely important.


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