Possessives – Which Possessive to Use for a Friend’s Car?

possessives

Is this sentence correct?

This is John's car, a friend of mine.

Or do I need to say this?

This is John, my friend's car.

Best Answer

Neither of those is correct!

This is John's car, a friend of mine.

means this car (that belongs to John) is my friend.

This is John, my friend's car.

means my friend's car is named John.

I think you understand the sentence "This is John's car" and "John is my friend." The basic structure of "This is John's car" tells us how to do it; it is "This is noun-phrase's car." So what is a noun phrase we can use to capture "John is my friend"? My friend John.

So if we put those together, we get

This is my friend John's car.

Related Topic