Hypercorrection

“From years’ of experience in primaries”

Apostrophes, Hypercorrection, Possessives

I saw this today on a political blog.

Problem:
The possessive apostrophe after “years” does not belong there.

Explanation:
The phrase “years of experience” translates to “experience’s years” — just as “friends of Jim” and “Jim’s friends” are equivalent.

So, “years’ of experience” would translate to “experience’s years’” — leaving us wondering what the plural noun “years” is meant to possess with its trailing apostrophe.

It seems that the author fell prey to hypercorrection, using both the possessive preposition “of” AND the possessive apostrophe to indicate experience across the years.

Solution:
“From years of experience in primaries”

“friend of Jim’s”

Apostrophes, Hypercorrection, Possessives

I saw a phrase like this the other day.

Problem:
The possessive preposition “of” before a noun should not be used with a possessive apostrophe-‘s’ after the noun.

Explanation:
The phrase “friend of somebody” translates to “somebody’s friend”.

So, “friend of Jim’s” would translate to “Jim’s’s friend” — a meaningless concept.

It seems that the author fell prey to hypercorrection, using both the possessive preposition “of” AND the possessive apostrophe-‘s’ to indicate friendship with Jim.

Solutions:
“friend of Jim”
or
“Jim’s friend”

The Dreaded Double “is”

Common English Blunders, Hypercorrection, Redundancies, Verbs

A site visitor by the name of Kyle today reminded me about this common English blunder.

Problem:
Some people follow one “is” by a comma and another “is” when speaking.

Explanation:
Here is Kyle’s first example:

“What I’m trying to say is, is that I can’t remember his exact words.”

Read this example aloud, and you will recognize the pattern.

Read this example silently, though, and you will see the problem. The speaker, perhaps out of a sense of hypercorrection, has put a pause (the comma) after the first “is” and has put a second “is” after that pause — as if the listener has forgotten about the first “is” instance.

Correcting this example gives us:

“What I’m trying to say is that I can’t remember his exact words.”

Read this example, and you see that the “is” connects (or “equates”) the phrase on the left side of it to the phrase on the right side of it.

Here is reader Kyle’s second example:

“The thing is, is that I’m having a hard time remembering his exact words.”

Again, the solution is simple: replace “is, is” with “is”:

“The thing is that I’m having a hard time remembering his exact words.”

Solution:
Avoid the dreaded double “is” by replacing “… is, is …” with “… is …”.

Thanks, Kyle, for this excellent submission of what, unfortunately, is becoming yet another common English blunder!