Date: Wed, 8 Nov 1995 11:57:56 EST
From: Larry Horn LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU
Subject: Re: supervisor/coupon
Of course in a lot of contexts, 'some friends' is not equivalent to 'some
friends of mine'--
Mary told Bill that some friends would be joining them for dinner.
Not even to mention Quakers. But I agree that even when 'some friends' does
seem to suggest '...of mine', the overt expression is not identical, if only
because it more concretely grounds or anchors the nominal--I agree that it
involves Prince's assumed familiarity, as Joan Cook pointed out. And of
course there's Bolinger's principle that no two expressions (that survive) are
ever entirely synonymous, so we should be prepared to assume non-equivalence
rather than complete redundancy.
--larry