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Sat 27 Jan, 2018 10:24 pm
Do you ever use or are there any cases in which "the house of my sister" is preferable to "my sister's house"? I'm asking this because, on a different ESL forum, one of the experts wrote the following:
The construction 'house of (someone)' is completely un-English, by the way. It sounds like a literal translation from a Romance language like Spanish, Italian, or French (casa de, casa di, maison de).
Do you agree?
Thank you.
@paok1970,
I agree with the expert. I could dream up some context where it might be preferable, but it would be rare.
@paok1970,
The phrase 'House of..' when used, refers to a family, company or dynasty not a physical building.
House of Saud is a documentary about the Saudi Royal family.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Saud<br />
House of Fraser is a large department store/business.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Fraser
@paok1970,
paok1970 wrote:The construction 'house of (someone)' is completely un-English, by the way. It sounds like a literal translation from a Romance language like Spanish, Italian, or French (casa de, casa di, maison de).
Do you agree?
yes - sounds like a bad translation
___
It reminds me of the absolute gales of laughter from customs folks in Montreal when my aunt and uncle were arriving. When they got through, we asked them what was going on. My aunt said my uncle was trying to show off his great command of English. When asked why they were travelling to Canada, he told them " I am here for the sister of my woman"
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