'of his' or 'of him'?

[Anhminh1232002]

Claire's an old flame of his.

I've read that sentence on http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv216.shtml
Anyway, thanks.

[Beeesneees]

It is correct as you read it.

Claire's an old flame of his.
Claire is his old flame
His old flame is Claire.

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[Alan]

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Hi Anhminh1232002,

In your sentence:

Claire's an old flame of his, the word 'his' is a possessive pronoun. You would say: An old friend of yours/mine/hers/ours/theirs. All those words are also possessive pronouns.

Alan
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[Alan]

Hi,

This would not show possession and could be used when 'him' becomes the personal pronoun object of a preposition as in: I thought of him the other day when we visited his home town.

Alan

This is the answer to a question that seems to have disappeared!

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
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