her / hers

[lille82]

Could anybody please clarify why the following sentence is correct?

A teacher of hers used to study in England.

Why can't we replace hers by her?

Thanks in advance.

 

[bhaisahab]

Could anybody please clarify why the following sentence is correct?

A teacher of hers used to study in England.

Why can't we replace hers by her?

Thanks in advance.

A teacher of his, a teacher of hers, a teacher of theirs.

 

[emsr2d2]

The word changes with the word order:

My teacher --- a teacher of mine
Your teacher --- a teacher of yours
Her teacher --- a teacher of hers
His teacher --- a teacher of his (the only one which doesn't change)
Our teacher --- a teacher of ours
Your teacher --- a teacher of yours
Their teacher --- a teacher of theirs

The first construction uses the possessive adjective. The second construction uses the possessive pronoun.

 

[lille82]

Thanks

 

[Barb_D]

You may find this link interesting and/or helpful: The virtual linguist: Double genitive

 

[lille82]

Thanks for your link and reply.
I have read about double genitive on grammarphobia. Interesting one