A friend of mine, my own house

UNIT  77 ''A friend of mine'', ''my own house''

A.   A friend of mine/a friend of Tom's
We say "a friend of mine/yours his hers/ours theirs.'' (not a friend of me/you/him, etc.)

• A friend of mine is coming to stay with me next week. (not a friend of me)

• We went on vacation with some friends of ours. (not some friends of us)

• Tom had an argument with a neighbor of his.

• It was a good suggestion of yours to go swimming this afternoon.

We also say "a friend of Tom's,'' ''a friend of my brother's,'' etc.:

• That man over there is a friend of my brother's.

• It was a good idea of Tom's to go swimming.

B.   My own . . . /your own . . . , etc.

You cannot say "an own . . .'' (an own house,'' "an own car," etc.)

You must use my/your/his/her/its/our/their before own:

• my own house.

• your own car.

• her own room.                       

My own . . . = something that is only mine, not shared or borrowed:

• The Browns live in an apartment, but they'd like to have their own house. (not an own house)

• I don't want to share with anyone. I want my own room.

• Unfortunately the apartment doesn't have its own entrance.

• It's my own fault that I don't have any money. I spend it too quickly.

• Why do you want to borrow my car? Why can't you use your own (car)

You can also use . . . own . . . to say that you do something yourself instead of somebody else doing it for you. For example:

• Do you grow your own vegetables? (=do you grow them yourself in your garden instead of buying them?)

• Ann always cuts her own hair. (= she cuts it herself; she doesn't go to the hairdresser)