That song of hers...That song of Nelly Furtado?

[Passionwagon]

Hi! :) Which is correct?

"I really like that new song of Nelly Furtado."

"I really like that new song of Nelly Furtado's"

"That song of hers is good." (I know this one is correct; but you wouldn't say "that song of her is good".)

Thanks!

[Coffa]

Originally Posted by Passionwagon

Hi! :) Which is correct?
"I really like that new song of Nelly Furtado."
"I really like that new song of Nelly Furtado's"
"That song of hers is good." (I know this one is correct; but you wouldn't say "that song of her is good".)
Thanks!

"I really like that new song of Nelly Furtado's" and "I really like that song of hers" are both correct for the same reason.

They are both examples of the 'double possessive' or 'post-genitive' construction, which is used when the noun following the genitive is a person or other animate object. If the noun is inanimate then the double possessive is not used. For example: "I really like the look of the picture."

Double possessives are useful for distinguishing between a genitive of possession and a genitive of description:

1) "The song of Nelly Furtado's" is "Nelly Furtado's song" - the 'of' signifies a genitive of possession.

2) "The song of Nelly Furtado" is "the song about Nelly Furtado" - the 'of' signifies a genitive of description.

[Passionwagon]

Thank you Coffa! That's exactly the kind of answer I wanted, thank you! I knew it would have something to do with determining the 'of' in the posessive and the 'of' in the descriptive but I hadn't heard of some of the grammatical terms you used to explain it.