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Can we say,

“video game of Star Wars,” “book of Star Wars,” “movie of Star Wars” etc.

instead of

“Star Wars video game,” “Star Wars book,” “Star Wars movie” etc?

For example, can we say these sentences

Jedi Outcast is my favorite video game of Star Wars.

I bought the new comic book of Star Wars.

instead of

Jedi Outcast is my favorite Star Wars video game.

I bought the new Star Wars comic book.

“Star Wars video game,” “Star Wars book,” “Star Wars movie” etc. sound more natural to me. I would like to receive your suggestion.

Fire and Ice
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3 Answers3

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Yes, English often uses this construction to help nouns modify other nouns—giving the modifier first, with no "of" ("a Batman movie")—where other languages would use constructions equivalent to "a ___ of ___" (una película de Batman).

Using the construction you propose could be possible with a slight shift in meaning, since we use "of" to talk about parts of a whole. "The next episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks" means "the next episode to be added to the whole thing that is Star Trek: Lower Decks." This construction requires that the noun that comes after "of" be a specific thing that has parts. The Star Wars franchise is disparate enough that this doesn't work well; you could have "a new episode of The Mandalorian," but not "a new movie of Star Wars." (You could, though, use "franchise" or another word to refer to "all things having to do with Star Wars: "The Last Jedi is maybe the most divisive movie of the Star Wars saga.")

You could also use "___ of ___" to describe what a thing is "made of" or filled with, just like you would have a "glass of water." So you might say "I bought an old book of Ducktales comics." But this means "a book 'full of' Ducktales comics." You couldn't say "I bought a new comic book of Star Wars," since "Star Wars" isn't really a thing, but you could say "I bought a new book of Star Wars comics," since "comics" are a "thing," and "Star Wars" is the type of comics. (And again, it would be less idiomatic to say "comics of Star Wars.")

Andy Bonner
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"The video game Star Wars is a lot of fun." [appositional] OR
"The Star Wars video game is a lot of fun". [naming the game]

The "of" is completely out because there is no possession.

  • A book of mine on this issue. [I either own the book on it or I wrote the book]
  • A movie of his on this issue. [He directed the movie. It is "his movie".]
Lambie
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    I started out with an answer similar to this but I think the issue of possession in this case is a bit more convoluted. We can say A movie of Spielberg's and that shows that this movie is part of what we consider to belong to him, part of his oervre. Does movie of Star War's work in a similar way? It belongs to the Star Wars universe. Perhaps it's not an issue of possession but of expression? – EllieK Mar 17 '22 at 15:30
  • @EllieK A movie of Spielberg's is not the same thing at all. In fact, he is the "possessor" of the movie. – Lambie Mar 17 '22 at 16:34
  • sigh - there's no reasoning with you. Spielberg no more possesses Jaws, than the Star Wars franchise possesses Phantom Menace. You failed to engage my point and instead provided a response as brief and unenlightening as your answer. – EllieK Mar 17 '22 at 17:25
  • @EllieK Tsk, tsk, tsk. We just don't say: The movie of Stars Wars, do we? We say in "apposition": The movie [called] Star Wars, like "The book [called] Gone with the Wind" OR it is a name: The Star Wars video game. A movie of Spielberg's takes an apostrophe s because he is the director; it is his, so to speak. – Lambie Mar 17 '22 at 17:29
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    @AnonFNV They are two different FORMS for naming the game; one is appositional and the other is works like a noun. – Lambie Mar 17 '22 at 17:30
  • @Lambie - Thank you for engaging. The point I make is that what we say has nothing to do with possession. Possession vs Expression. – EllieK Mar 17 '22 at 17:30
  • @EllieK It does. That is WHY we don't say: The movie of Star Wars: Star Wars does not own the movie. That movie of Spielberg's, i,e. His movie. He would be seen to own it or possess it. Just like: A car of mine. – Lambie Mar 17 '22 at 17:33
  • @Lambie I see. You wrote [naming the game] like it only applies to the second sentence, which I found confusing. I still think OP is using 'The Star Wars video game' to mean a game from the Star Wars franchise, not a game called Star Wars. But I'll delete my comment. Also I think EllieK is right about the Star Wars franchise being a possessor in that case. – AnonFNV Mar 17 '22 at 17:34
  • @Lambie - A book of mine on this issue. [I either own the book on it or I wrote the book]. Or you edited the book, or it's on your favorite book list, or you were the illustrator, or your publishing company published it. Possession is much broader than I wrote it or it's on my bookshelf. Which is where my hesitation to call this an issue of possession arose. – EllieK Mar 17 '22 at 17:45
  • @EllieK A book of mine on this issue means: Obviously, if you talking and are a publisher, and say: A book of ours on this issue means you publishing company IN EFFECT owns it. – Lambie Mar 17 '22 at 17:53
  • No. It means your publishing company published it. Stepping out here. Last word. – EllieK Mar 17 '22 at 17:55
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No, you cannot say "___ is my favorite video game of Star Wars" the same way you can't say "___ is my favorite book of Harry Potter/movie of the Avengers/album of Taylor Swift". The closest you could get, I think, would be saying "____ is my favorite of the Star Wars video games", which would still be slightly awkward (perhaps) but totally acceptable. I personally am not on board with the previous lamb-based answer to this question. I think "of" works badly in this context except! if you are using a word that is by definition a piece of a larger whole - "chapter of", "episode of", "installment of" would all work better. Otherwise you have to use the category (or whatever it is) as an adjective.

L. B.
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  • This is wrong. You do quite often hear people say these things as describrd in the other answers – Chenmunka Apr 29 '22 at 15:33
  • I don't think I'm necessarily fully right, but I don't think I'm fully wrong. I think it is slipperier. You could say any of these things but I think it would strike me as off. – L. B. Apr 30 '22 at 01:29