We can say:
- the smell of it
Can we say:
the arrival of him
the son of me
And we can't say:
- a suggestion of Mr. Smith (should be Mr.Smith's, right?)
Can we say:
- a suggestion of Mr. Smith appointed at that time. (the modifier is long)
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1Just as you wouldn't say a suggestion of me (it's a suggestion of mine), it would be a suggestion of Mr. Smith's. Except we'd nearly always use just the Saxon genitive Mr. Smith's suggestion rather than the double possessive in that context. – FumbleFingers Oct 16 '16 at 14:01
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1@FumbleFingers The answers you cite are not duplicates. Please reopen this question, which is not about the double possessive, but asks if it's possible not to use the possessive with of, particularly with pronouns. The answer is yes, even in the rare case of the first person pronoun. – deadrat Oct 16 '16 at 18:59
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1@FumbleFingers I can't understand why my question has the same meaning with the thing you posted. The sample I wrote down is totally different. Could you please reopen my question? Really appreciate your help – moyeea Oct 16 '16 at 19:27
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@FumbleFingers Thanks so much for your kind help!!! Besides, I can't understand why we can say: the smell of him. we can't say: the arrival of hm ? – moyeea Oct 16 '16 at 19:28
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Your suggestion is ungrammatical, and not because of the possessive. I think that's why everybody is confused. "Mr. Smith appointed at that time will see you tomorrow." is ungrammatical. You should revise it before it's reopened. Maybe "A suggestion of Mr. Smith, the husband of the mayor." Or something similar. – Peter Shor Oct 16 '16 at 22:14
Generally if the said noun is animated we use 's with the noun and if inanimated we use 'of' with the noun, eg, the boy's book, here the referred noun is animated. likewise, the legs of the chair, the referred noun is inanimated.Still there are some exception to this rule, if the noun inanimated is personified the rule as stated for animated noun is to be followed, like, sun's ray
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2It’s not true that we don’t use the apostrophe-s for inanimate relationships. – tchrist♦ Oct 16 '16 at 18:49
