is this apostrophe correct?

[rachetta]

Dear friends of the apostrophe, or should I say friends of the apostrophe's,

Which is correct: 
"It had been a definite concern of William's"

or 
"It had been a definite concern of William"

Thanks for the help!

[Dave Miller]

Both are possible, but the first version is what people normally say. Compare it to: "It had been a definite concern of mine" (which sounds right) and "It had been a definite concern of me" (which sounds wrong!).

The second version is "correct" in that it doesn't break any grammatical rules, but it's not natural English.

[rachetta]

Thanks Dave,
which version would you choose for an article to be published in an academic journal?

[Dave Miller]

If I had to choose between just those two, I'd still choose the first version.

If it worries you, change the sentence! How about "It had been of definite concern to William", or "It had been a definite concern to Willliam"?

[Verbivore]

Aug 6, 2013 16:06:13 GMT rachetta said:

Dear friends of the apostrophe, or should I say friends of the apostrophe's [...]

Or even Friend's of the Apostropheys'.

Rachetta: I concur with Dave's responses.
Expressions such as "Amy is a friend of my mother's" are idiomatic; ordinarily one would expect the of to cancel the need for the 's on mother -- this construction appears to be a double possessive.

However, don't be deluded about logic in English orthography or grammar: it's a complete fantasy!

I would argue (and I've edited many a doctoral / masters thesis and academic textbook) that this idiomatic expression is so ingrained that it is not, grammatically, incorrect -- merely an exception to a convention (I dislike the term rule in grammar).

Nonetheless, it might be considered too informal for academic register, so a recasting, as suggested by Dave M, is probably wise. After all, one isn't generally permitted chattiness or informality in theses and academic papers -- even the increasingly accepted qualitative-based researches.

It is difficult (though not entirely impossible) to write good academic work without coming across as dry and stuffy; if the work were later to be converted to book form it would need "humanising" to make it readable by non-eggheads. But ... if dry and stuffy is what gets you honours or distinctions because that's what your supervisor/s like / want / insist upon, then dry and stuffy is just fine. Just don't expect it to be suitable for proletarian consumption.  

[Dave]

This is known as DOUBLE POSSESSIVE. This is from The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual (1995):

Two conditions must apply for a double possessive--a phrase such as a friend of John's--to occur: 1. The word after of must refer to an animate object, and 2. The word before of must involve only a portion of the animate object's possessions.

Otherwise, do not use the possessive form of the word after of: The friends of John Adams mourned his death. (All the friends were involved.) He is a friend of the college. (Not college's, because college is inanimate.)

Memory Aid: This construction occurs most often, and quite naturally, with the possessive forms of personal pronouns: He is a friend of mine.

Sometimes it's not a case of being grammatically correct so much as it is following styles or conventions or idioms.

[rachetta]

Thanks everyone! The example came from an academic text I was proofreading... and, because I was looking for mistakes, it jumped out at me as possibly being wrong. The best thing to do would be rephrase. Writing academic papers in an accessible style is not that difficult if that is your aim and you have an ability in writing. I handed in my doctoral dissertation on Monday (most definitely qualitative!) and I hope that it's engaging and readable... ;-)

[Verbivore]

Aug 7, 2013 10:19:43 GMT rachetta said:

[...] I handed in my doctoral dissertation on Monday (most definitely qualitative!) and I hope that it's engaging and readable... ;-)

Best wishes for its acceptance and success!

There have been two "readable" and "engaging" theses / doctoral dissertations (of perhaps close to a hundred) I've worked on, while the others were either try-hards or otherwise missed the bus when it came to engaging the reader.

Perhaps, Rachetta, you'd like to share your results with us at the appropriate time.

[rachetta]

Oh dear - 2% is pretty pathetic! My work is about an exiled German Jewish architect's work in India in the 1940s and it's written as a narrative... so maybe there's hope! I shall be happy to share once the exam is over.