He is a henchmen of Tom's.

[tufguy]

We say "He is a friend of Tom's". Am I correct?

Is it correct to say "He is a henchman of Tom's(a bad guy)"? I think "He is a henchman of Tom" is correct. Am I correct? Because there is no mutual relation.

 

[jutfrank]

He's one of Tom's henchmen.

 

[Tdol]

We say "He is a friend of Tom's". Am I correct?

Is it correct to say "He is a henchman of Tom's(a bad guy)"? I think "He is a henchman of Tom" is correct. Am I correct? Because there is no mutual relation.

Surely, there is a relationship if he's a henchman.

 

[TheParser]

We say "He is a friend of Tom's". Am I correct?

NOT A TEACHER

Tufguy, according to a person who once worked for the famous American newspaper New York Times, your sentence is correct, and "He is a friend of Tom" would also be correct.

-- Patricia T. O'Conner, Woe Is I (1996), page 44.

I have lost the source for the following. I do not know how many native speakers agree. Personally, I like it.

a. The 's form is more intimate. "A friend of Bill's" implies in some sense that those friends belong to Bill.

b. The form without the 's is more remote. Bill need not even know that this person has friendly feelings toward him. (For example, I could say that I am a supporter of the Queen, but she does not even know who I am. On the other hand, one might say that one hundred friends of the Queen's attended a big dinner in her honor.)

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER

I have just found this information from my favorite grammarian: The double genitive (such as "of Tom's") and the of-genitive (such as "of Tom") often have the same meaning. The double genitive, however, is becoming "associated with liveliness of feeling (my emphasis), expressing the idea of approbation, praise, censure, pleasure, displeasure."

My source gives these examples: "this appropriate remark of Mrs. Smith's"; "that really beautiful speech of your wife's"; "that ugly remark of her father's."

1. I agree with Tufguy's decision to choose "of Tom's."

2. Some sources remind us that the double genitive is usually more appropriate for informal speech and writing.


Source: George O. Curme, Grammar of the English Language (1931), Vol. II, page 77.