A friend of me

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

An extremely well-educated newspaper columnist was talking on TV about those people who like and who do not like his political views.
Then he said, “He [referring to a famous person] is not a fan of me.”

I know that “good” English requires “a fan of mine,” but can you grammar experts make a guess as to why this famous columnist made such a “mistake”?

Thank you.

2

It’s colloquial speech rather than formally correct grammar.

3

Thank you.

4

I would never say “He is a fan of mine”.

5

Thank you.

6

Who is this person?

7

Hi James,

It would be interesting to know some of the preceding context. Strictly speaking, ‘a fan of me’ is in fact grammatically correct. However, I think that sort of wording would tend to be used in only certain contexts. In your sentence, that sort of wording places the focus more on ‘he’ and what he likes (or doesn’t like) rather than on ‘me’ and what ‘belongs’ (or doesn’t belong) to me. For example, imagine that the speaker lives in NYC and works for the NY Times:

  • He is a fan of the Big Apple and the New York Times, but he is not a fan of me.

In other words:

  • He is likes the Big Apple and he likes the New York Times, but he does not like me.

That’s the way I see it.

[color=darkblue]______________________________________________________
[size=75]“I’m not a big blues fan, but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t dig B.B. King.” ~ Maurice Gibb[/size]

8

Why not?

That book is mine - it is my book
That is a book of mine.

That fan is mine - it is my fan.
He is a fan of mine.

9

Thank you, ESL Expert, for the great answer.