Double genitive & partitives
Double genitive and partitives
A friend of mine, that temper of his, many a time, a great many people — advanced possession and part-whole constructions.
the double genitive (of + possessive)
He’s a friend of mine. (= one of my friends)
That temper of his will get him into trouble. (expresses attitude — praise/irritation)
I love that big heart of yours.
No friend of mine would say that.
👉 Combines “of” with the possessive pronoun — never “a friend of me”.
many a / a great many / “idiot of a driver”
Many a time I’ve told him. (= many times — always singular verb)
A great many people disagree. (= very many)
That idiot of a driver nearly hit me. (emotive apposition)
He’s no fool of a manager.
👉 “many a” looks plural in meaning but takes a singular noun and verb.
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