Double possessives. Words that do double duty. The monkeys aren't working.

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Mignon Fogarty, Inc.

Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2025

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

1107. This week, we look at double possessives, such as "a friend of Mignon's" and whether they are grammatically correct. Then, we look at words that do double duty, from the nautical origins of "scuttlebutt" to "beetle" — which can be both an insect and a tool.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Grammar Girl here. I'm Injohn Fogarty, your friendly guide to the English language. Today,
0:10.4	we're going to double your pleasure and double your fun. First, we'll talk about double possessives,
0:15.5	and then we'll talk about words that do double duty. Way back in episode 449, we addressed a follower's question about
0:24.5	the use of double possessives, sometimes called double genitives. That's when we mark possession
0:30.2	twice, usually with of an apostrophe S, as in a friend of squiggly's, or of a possessive pronoun as in a friend of mine. But with the first
0:41.1	example, is a friend of squiggly acceptable without the apostrophe S at the end of squiggly? Well, in the
0:48.0	previous episode, the bottom line was double possessive does have legitimate uses, but you might
0:53.9	want to avoid it in formal writing and perhaps use only one possessive does have legitimate uses, but you might want to avoid it in formal writing
0:55.7	and perhaps use only one possessive at a time if it sounds natural. So your best bet would be just
1:02.1	Squiggly's friend. The question of double possessives is complex, or at least it seems that way.
1:09.8	Phil from North Carolina recently submitted virtually
1:12.8	the same question I received 10 years ago, asking, if Harry is Bruce's friend, is it correct
1:20.1	to say he's a friend of Bruce, as opposed to he's a friend of Bruce's? The former doesn't sound
1:26.5	quite right, possibly because of the common
1:28.8	usage of the alternative, which seems to be a double possessive. Phil is correct on both counts.
1:36.9	A friend of Bruce sounds awkward to some people, and the commonly used a friend of Bruce's is a
1:43.1	double possessive and perfectly legal.
1:45.8	So let's break this down a little more and see what the most prevalent style guides have to say.
1:51.7	Of course, the normal way to form possessives in English is either with an apostrophe S or with the word of.
1:59.7	The example we gave in episode 449 is the UK's crown jewels,
2:05.6	or the crown jewels of the UK. Both are grammatical. But what if we use a double possessive?
2:13.2	Is it the Grammar Girl podcast of Mignon or the Grammar Girl podcast of Mignon's with the apostrophe S?
	...

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