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Double possessive/Euphony/Emphasis - - Case - Noun-Parts Of Speech-ESL/Learn English Grammar

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[Sidenote: _The double possessive._]


68. A peculiar form, a double possessive, has grown up and become a

fixed idiom in modern English.


In most cases, a possessive relation was expressed in Old English by

the inflection _-es_, corresponding to _'s_. The same relation was

expressed in French by a phrase corresponding to _of_ and its object.

Both of these are now used side by side; sometimes they are used

together, as one modifier, making a double possessive. For this there

are several reasons:--


[Sidenote: _Its advantages: Euphony_.]


(1) When a word is modified by _a_, _the_, _this_, _that_, _every_,

_no_, _any_, _each_, etc., and at the same time by a possessive noun,

it is distasteful to place the possessive before the modified noun,

and it would also alter the meaning: we place it after the modified

noun with _of_.


[Sidenote: _Emphasis._]


(2) It is more emphatic than the simple possessive, especially when

used with _this_ or _that_, for it brings out the modified word in

strong relief.


[Sidenote: _Clearness._]


(3) It prevents ambiguity. For example, in such a sentence as, "This

introduction _of Atterbury's_ has all these advantages" (Dr. Blair),

the statement clearly means only one thing,--the introduction which

Atterbury made. If, however, we use the phrase _of Atterbury_, the

sentence _might_ be understood as just explained, or it might mean

this act of introducing Atterbury. (See also Sec. 87.)


The following are some instances of double possessives:--


This Hall _of Tinville's_ is dark, ill-lighted except where she

stands.--CARLYLE.


Those lectures _of Lowell's_ had a great influence with me, and

I used to like whatever they bade me like.--HOWELLS


Niebuhr remarks that no pointed sentences _of Cæsar's_ can have

come down to us.--FROUDE.


Besides these famous books _of Scott's and Johnson's_, there is a

copious "Life" by Thomas Sheridan.--THACKERAY


Always afterwards on occasions of ceremony, he wore that quaint

old French sword _of the Commodore's_.--E.E. HALE.




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