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Which of the following sentences is correct?

He's a friend of my family.
He's a friend of my family's.

Maulik V
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Norm
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1 Answers1

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To my surprise, both have been used by authors (after checking on NGram). In fact, there is another variation as well - my family friend.

Personally, I may prefer the first one because the preposition 'of' already takes care of the possession. And thus, the apostrophe there looks redundant.

Maulik V
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    Also very common: a friend of the* family* –  May 03 '18 at 15:17
  • “…a friend of my family” and “…a friend of my family’s” are clearly synonymous. “my family friend” is merely similar.

    I suggest none of those is as common as “… a friend of the family…”; prolly not even put together.

    One might prefer the first but never because the preposition “already takes care of the possession” or makes the apostrophe look redundant; that simply can’t be.

     – Robbie Goodwin Jul 09 '18 at 20:38