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I have read a paragraph in a book named English preposition that gives a definition of 'a friend of mine' which means that OF integrates the person into the sphere of your affection, but I can not understand what meaning it wants to convey.

Edwin Ashworth
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Myjason
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    Possible duplicate of Why is it usually "friend of his", but no possessive apostrophe with "friend of Peter"? The accepted answer suggests what the 'double possessive' and simple periphrastic of usages connote. // 'He is a friend to me' usually connotes some special repeated kind action / ongoing attitude; it could be used in context such as "He always helps with the garden and with putting the bins out. He is a real friend to me" (note the idiomatic padding). – Edwin Ashworth Jul 12 '19 at 10:59
  • @EdwinAshworth: I can't endorse that "duplicate" VTC. The only instance there of the preposition *to* being used in such contexts (as in *He's a real friend to me) is a comment by me under one of the least-upvoted answers. But I didn't explain the primary difference between friend of mine* and *friend to me* anywhere near as well as you just have in you comment here. I'm inclined to favour migrating to English Language Learners – FumbleFingers Jul 12 '19 at 11:45
  • ...I found this question on ELL that specifically presents the examples *1a. She is a good friend to me* and *1b. She is a good friend for me. But that specific* distinction doesn't seem to be directly addressed by any answers (the question as a whole is more broadly asking about the difference between “for me” and “to me”). – FumbleFingers Jul 12 '19 at 11:50
  • @FF That's because OP is essentially asking two questions here. One, the body question, which does not mention the 'friend to X' expression, is certainly answered at the duplicate. Not authoritatively, but the place for a better answer would be at that thread. "He is a friend to me" I consider awkward as a standalone remark, unless someone is dissing 'him', when I'd expect a Well and emphasis to be added. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 12 '19 at 13:00
  • 'A friend of mine' is just another way of saying 'one of my friends'. – Kate Bunting Jul 12 '19 at 18:59
  • I find the useful knowledge in the book which says that being a good friend to someone involves more activities than being a good friend of someone. in my point of view, it is easy to understand this quotation that if being a good friend to someone should pay more efforts. Here is the name of the book I just mentioned above, English Preposition Explained by Seth, and I give the hyperlink:http://ngoaingu.vimaru.edu.vn/wp-content/uploads/documents/Emailing-English-Prepositions-Explained.pdf, the quotation is in P238. – Myjason Jul 14 '19 at 11:31

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