They both indicate the sense of possession. the classroom. A friend of mine from college lives in Washington. He is a friend of mine. On the other hand, the expression friend of mine is generally used in the informal sense. I'd appreciate it if someone would answer my question. Our online discussion forums are the perfect place to quickly get help Articles about learning, using and teaching the English language, • The expression friend of mine is often accompanied by the indefinite article ‘a’ in its usage. Yup u r right..."a friend of mine" looks too personal and "one of my friends" seems pretty formal. The expression friend of mine is very casual in usage than the expression my friend. So, friend of mine gives a similar meaning to my friend. Therefore, my means the friend is this person’s friend. Native speakers use a friend of mine or one of my friends (They mean the same thing.) On the other hand, friend of mine does not indicate the close relationship between you and the friend. Test your knowledge of the English language. when they mean a friend of mine.They say my friend when they mean my friend. If you say "he is a friend of mine" you're not necessarily implying that. and moderators, we have a number of professional volunteer English On the other hand, friend of mine does not indicate the close relationship between you and the friend. grammar, spelling and punctuation, through to language teaching, khoff's reply was promoted to an answer. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Copyright © 2010-2018 Difference Between. Also, are both 'One of my friends died last night' and 'A friend of mine died last night' acceptable?

In this sentence, you can see that the expression friend of mine is preceded by the indefinite article ‘a’.
career development, specialisations, and ideas and suggestions for learning English. You must log in or register to reply here. On the other hand, no indefinite article is needed in the use of the expression my friend. including advice, tutorials, opinions and lesson plans from various from students and teaching forum topics. There are actually many opinions regarding the use of these two expressions. In other words, the expression my friend adds special importance and significance to the friend. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy: Legal.

In addition to the UsingEnglish.com team of staff You may have many friends - we don't know - but you're just telling people that "he" is a friend. you study, learn and teach English including text analysis, language
teaching and reference resources. This is the main difference between the two expressions, my friend and friend of mine. and quizzes, PDF lesson plans, teacher articles and a directory of Includes helpful articles, a glossary, quizzes, and a large language reference. These differences should be understood so that there won’t be confusion regarding the usage of the two words, my friend and friend of mine. tips, exam tips and help with study skills.

The use of the two terms my friend and friend of mine makes the people wonder if there truly exists a difference between my friend and friend of mine as they seem very much alike. It's a personal preference: I tend to avoid the "double possessive" (of + mine), which doesn't seem to bother many people. thank you very much ..your explanation is very clear and easy to understand but as I am thinking ....... what about, I have a question that I believe would make the comparison more complete: "he is one of my friends", thanks MikeL, yes it is perfecly clear. • The expression my friend adds special importance and significance to the friend. Grammatically speaking both these expressions denote the same meaning. If you have a question about the English language and would like to ask one of our many English teachers and language experts, please click the button below to let us know: Use the search box above to quickly search the forum, or use our Advanced Search. @media (max-width: 1171px) { .sidead300 { margin-left: -20px; } } Frequency of use is not the point here. If you say "he is one of my friends" you're implying that you have more than one friend. The expression my friend is generally used in the formal sense, but we use this expression in informal circumstances as well. Thanks a lot, Well, that's just my understanding and it might be wrong.

• On the other hand, no indefinite article is needed in the use of the expression my friend. Difference Between Here and Hear in English Grammar, Difference Between Then and Than in English Grammar, Difference Between Brackets and Parentheses, Difference Between Coronavirus and Cold Symptoms, Difference Between Coronavirus and Influenza, Difference Between Coronavirus and Covid 19, Difference Between Sacrificial Anode and Impressed Current, Difference Between Sony Xperia M5 and Galaxy S6, Difference Between Acetylcholine and Adrenaline, Difference Between Electrostatics and Magnetostatics, Difference Between Acidophiles Neutrophiles and Alkaliphiles, Difference Between Functional Group and Homologous Series, Difference Between Fermentation and Putrefaction. English language resources for English learners and teachers to help But they're not 100% identical. All rights reserved. Observe the sentence given below. authors and contributors. Examples: My friend Kalinda lives in Washington. He is a friend of my father's. • We use the expression my friend to indicate the close relationship between you and the friend.