CONTENTS FEATURE: I'd like a double genitive, please — and so would this friend of mine GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn up to $500 FEATURE: I'd like a double genitive, please — and so would this friend of mine      Possession is expressed in the English language in either of two ways — with the preposition "of," or with an apostrophe to form the possessive case of a noun. "The home of the Tanaka family" and "the Tanaka family's home" can be used interchangeably. Linguists use the term "genitive case" in reference to the noun formation to show a possessive relationship.      Ordinarily, the two methods of establishing genitive case are mutually exclusive; since either of the two methods alone expresses the sense of belonging or possession, use of both would be considered redundant.      In some sentence constructions, though, doubling possessive forms is customary and acceptable. Under certain circumstances, doing so is necessary for clarity. The "double genitive" form, also known to linguists as a "post-genitive" construction, is an idiomatic phrasal construction in which possession is established by the preposition "of" simultaneously with the possessive case of a noun or pronoun, as in "an uncle of Sheila's" or "the description of Steve's."      Some critics who offhandedly regard the double genitive form as redundant might be inclined to choose one of the singular possessive forms to express those example statements. Doing so could inadvertently introduce ambiguity or change an intended meaning, however, when the reference is to one of several items or people, or to a few among a group of many.      Suppose Julius wrote, "I met an uncle of Sheila's at the office party." Then after noticing the double-genitive construction, Julius changed it to a single possessive form: "I met Sheila's uncle at the office party." Was that an improvement? No, because it concealed information that had been present in the original version. The indefinite article "an" in the double-genitive version told readers that Julius had met ONE of Sheila's uncles — indicating that she has more than one uncle. That clue is eradicated in the single-possessive form. The statement that Julius met Sheila's uncle could be interpreted to mean that he is Sheila's only uncle. The single-possessive form did not convey as much information as the double-genitive construction.      Suppose the members of a review committee were comparing industrial site descriptions and assessments that Craig, Sudesh and Amy conducted independently. The initial draft of the committee's report declared, "the description of Amy's was the most vividly detailed." A zealous editor who objected to the double-genitive construction changed the sentence to "Amy's description was the most vividly detailed." That revision changed the meaning of the sentence. The original version clearly indicated that the committee members were discussing the description of the site that Amy submitted. The revised sentence declared that the committee members were reviewing Amy's appearance — the description of Amy. In contrast, the double-genitive form clearly conveys the notion that the subject was the description that Amy wrote.      Likewise, "a photo of Greg's," "a photo of Greg" and "Greg's photo" are not equivalent phrases. The first, a double-genitive formation, refers to a photograph that Greg made or owns; the subject could be a landscape, a close-up of a flower, or a portrait. The other phrases instead suggest an image DEPICTING Greg.      The double-genitive form is ingrained in fixed idiomatic phrases in which an individual is represented by a possessive pronoun. Examples include "an uncle of hers," "a friend of yours," "an idea of theirs" and "a camera of mine."      Double-genitive constructions can refer to nouns that are indefinite in number ("a paint brush of Earl's" or "paint brushes of Earl's") or definite ("the paint brush of Earl's that Tony borrowed"). Such constructions also can be used to give demonstrative emphasis ("THAT paint brush of Earl's is well made").      Here are a few more examples of double-genitive expressions with meanings that are distinct from single-possessive statements. "an analysis of Robert's" (he performed the analysis); "an analysis of Robert" (a psychotherapist's assessment of Robert) "memories of Alice's" (what she remembers); "memories of Alice" (what other people remember about her) "dreams of Alfred's" (what Alfred conjured while he slept); "dreams of Alfred" (which someone else experienced) "friends of John McCain's" (his personal acquaintances); "friends of John McCain" (political supporters, who may have never met him) "choice of Joe Biden's" (a decision that Joe made); "choice of Joe Biden" (Joe was picked — a decision by Barack Obama) "fear of Tony Soprano's" (what Tony fears); "fear of Tony Soprano" (how Tony intimidates others) "dislike of Mark's" (what Mark dislikes); "dislike of Mark" (other people detest Mark) "impressions of Tatiana's" (what Tatiana thinks of something); "Impressions of Tatiana" (what other people think of her) "a bone of the dog's" (on which he's chewing); "a bone of the dog" (forming part of the dog's skeleton)      Those examples should eliminate any bone of contention about the legitimacy of double-genitive constructions. GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions 1. Diane F. wrote:      "[In the September 2007 edition of EditPros News, you wrote] 'Courtroom protocol is beyond our area of expertise, but well within that of a friend of ours — Barry Melton, public defender in Yolo County, Calif. So we consulted him.' I thought it was incorrect to start a sentence with "so." Can you explain why it is or isn't correct? And couldn't you have just said, "...public defender in Yolo County, Calif., so we consulted him?" The grammar coach replies:      The word "so" can take the form of numerous parts of speech; it can be used as an adjective, adverb, pronoun or conjunction. Placement of a transitional conjunction ("and," "but," "so") at the beginning of a sentence is considered standard usage. As a coordinating conjunction, "so" is equivalent to "consequently" or "therefore." Just as you could begin a sentence with either of those words, "so" is acceptable also. A usage note in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, for example, says, "although occasionally condemned, use of "so" to introduce clauses of result and purpose is standard."      Granted, we could have written, "consequently, we consulted him" or "for that reason, we consulted him" or "as a matter of course, we consulted him." Because that phraseology was a bit too stiff for the conversational tone we prefer in our responses to "grammar coach" questions, we used "so" instead.      As you indicated in your second question, we could have tacked the "so" clause onto the end of the sentence, but that would have made it uncomfortably long, interrupted by three commas and two dashes: "Courtroom protocol is beyond our area of expertise, but well within that of a friend of ours — Barry Melton, public defender in Yolo County, Calif. — so we consulted him."      We chose instead to let the reader take a breath. So that's the story. 2. Ann wrote:      "Regarding salutations in informal letters and e-mails, I know it's correct to write 'Dear Joe,' but what about the punctuation when you write 'Hi Joe'? Almost everyone I know writes 'Hi Joe,' but I think it should be 'Hi, Joe.' My linguist son says I'm following the rule to the letter, but it's 'clunky' that way, so I should write 'Hi Joe'. What is your opinion?" The grammar coach replies:      Opening salutations can be either formal or personal. We'd like to frame our response to your question within a historical perspective.      In her 1922 book Etiquette, Emily Post advocated use of the colon in the salutation of a business letter (as in Dear Bob: or Dear Mr. Keeshan:), a convention that stands to this day. She said the colon also should be used in writing informal notes to acquaintances; she condemned use of the familiar greeting "hello" (which she considered vulgar) among all but the closest friends, but that protocol has been relaxed in the intervening decades. The Random House Handbook and other grammar and correspondence guides permit a comma in place of a colon in the salutation of a letter addressed to a friend (as in Dear Bob,).      Emily post surely would have condemned the use of "hi," "hey," "howdy," "yo," or any other colloquialism as a greeting.      These days, many people may consider use of "Dear" in a salutation — with either a colon or a comma — to be excessively formal. Some people may be squeamish about using it, particularly in corresponding with someone who they do not regard as a "dear" acquaintance.      The word "dear" is an adjective that means "beloved" or "esteemed." Because "dear" is modifying the name it precedes, no punctuation is needed between it and the name. As you pointed out, a comma is appropriate after the complete salutation. Thus, Dear Joe, is correct.      The word "hello," however, is a different part of speech. It's an interjection, much like oh or well. An interjection must be punctuated by an exclamation mark if it stands alone (Ouch!), or by a comma if it introduces or bisects a statement (No, Bill is not in his office. Oh, he's working on the report. Sharon left town, yes, but she'll be back. Hey, the ceiling has sprung a leak. Hello, Joe.)      If your son wishes to use "hi" in an opening salutation, he should punctuate it with two commas, as you did (Hi, Joe,). Elimination of the comma changes "hi" from an interjection to an adjective, suggesting that Joe is "hi" — an informal spelling of the word "high." Whereas Hi, Joe is a salutation, Hi Joe is descriptive — and uncomplimentary.      Are you perplexed by some aspect of grammar or word usage? Don't be shy! Ask the "grammar coach" at EditPros and we'll try to help—at no charge, just for the sport of it. FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn a finder's fee of up to $500      Do you know of a friend or colleague whose office can benefit from EditPros' services? If you do, EditPros may reward you with a "finder's fee" of up to $500.      EditPros LLC, established in 1993, performs writing, editing, proofreading and publication management services for newsletters, brochures, Web sites, annual reports, research studies, business proposals, and other informational and marketing materials. Our office is in Davis, Calif., between Sacramento and San Francisco; however, our clients include educational institutions, private corporations, health-care organizations, trade associations, scientific research institutions, Web site developers and government agencies from throughout the United States. We have worked with some of them for more than 10 years.      If you recommend our services to a friend or business colleague, and that introduction leads to an assignment for EditPros, we will award you a "finder's fee" equaling 10 percent of the amount we earn on the first assignment for the new client, up to a maximum finder's fee of $500. Naturally, the finder's fee is applicable only to client organizations for which we have not worked previously.      This offer will remain in effect until further notice. 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