Alex is a friend of George

[sb70012]

Alex is a friend of George
Alex is a friend of George's

Hi are they correct?

 

[Barb_D]

Yes, both forms are correct.

 

[sb70012]

Thank you. One non native English made me confused and said:'The double possessive is a matter of some controversy. Some insist that constructions like 'a friend of Bill's' are redundant and therefore should be avoided. Others see 'an old pal of mine' and extrapolate that, because you'd never say 'an old pal of me,' you also must reject 'a friend of Bill.'
As written in this link: double genitive - definition and examples of the double genitive
He told me, according to that link:
Alex is a friend of George is incorrect and Alex is a friend of George's is correct.

Is he wrong?

 

[bhaisahab]

Thank you. One non native English made me confused and said:'The double possessive is a matter of some controversy. Some insist that constructions like 'a friend of Bill's' are redundant and therefore should be avoided. Others see 'an old pal of mine' and extrapolate that, because you'd never say 'an old pal of me,' you also must reject 'a friend of Bill.'
As written in this link: double genitive - definition and examples of the double genitive
He told me, according to that link:
Alex is a friend of George is incorrect and Alex is a friend of George's is correct.

Is he wrong?

Yes, he is wrong.

 

[5jj]

Yes

ps Damn. bhai beat me to it.

 

[Barb_D]

I say both forms are okay. He says one is incorrect. So one of us is wrong. You pick who.

 

[5jj]

While you are thinking about Barb's post, sb, you may be interested to know that there are 173 COCA citations for a friend of + proper noun and 303 for a friend of + proper noun + 's.

 

[sb70012]

In this sentence: "1. Alex is a friend of George's." leads to the question, "friend of George's what?" Is Alex a friend of George's mother, George's friend, George's Aunt Mary.....
You see my confusion?

 

[5jj]

In this sentence: "1. Alex is a friend of George's." leads to the question, "friend of George's what?" Is Alex a friend of George's mother, George's friend, George's Aunt Mary.....

It doesn't for native speakers.

You see my confusion?

You'll just have to accept that this is how English works.

 

[MikeNewYork]

In this sentence: "1. Alex is a friend of George's." leads to the question, "friend of George's what?" Is Alex a friend of George's mother, George's friend, George's Aunt Mary.....
You see my confusion?

And I agree up to a certain point. I am not a fanatic about the double genitive, but I avoid it where possible. I say "a friend of my parents", a friend of John", etc. One problem in speech is that the possessive 's form can sound the same as a plural. It can be confusing: A friend of my sister's sounds the same as a friend of my sisters. When it comes to pronouns it can only be avoided by rephrasing. A friend of his is OK; a friend of him is not. The same goes for mine/me, theirs/them, etc. That said, even in my early examples, the double genitive is too commonly used to be considered incorrect at this point.

 

[5jj]

A It can be confusing: A friend of my sister's sounds the same as a friend of my sisters.

The same is true of My sister's/sisters' friend.

We somehow manage to survive these little hiccups.

 

[MikeNewYork]

The same is true of My sister's/sisters' friend.

We somehow manage to survive these little hiccups.

We do. ;-)