質問: my friendと言う人は孤独ですか? i'm going to meet my friend later today.と言うと、「友人が1人しかいない」と解釈されると主張する人がいます。この文ではmeet a friend of mineが正しいそうです。 ところが、以下の動画「fce (b2 first) speaking exam part one - cambridge fce speaking test advice」の6分10秒後にmeet my friendと言っています。 みなさんは「meet my friend」と聞くと、その人は「友人が1人しかいない孤独な人間」だと感じますか? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpveohekfcc
回答: 紹介するときに "please meet my mother / fiancé / etc." と言うのと同じように "please meet my friend" はよく聞くんですよね。 これがダメだと散々言われると混乱してしまう程度の英語力ですが。 肝に銘じておくべきは、規範文法をこれでもかこれでもかと主張する勢力があることだなと思います。 添付グラフ:ngram (https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=meet+my+%2a%2cmeet+a+friend+of+mine%2ci+lost+my+ring%2ci+lost+a+ring&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&direct_url=t2%3b%2cmeet%20my%20%2a%3b%2cc0%3b%2cs0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20father%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20friend%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20fate%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20wife%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20mother%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20friends%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20eye%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20eyes%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20brother%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20husband%3b%2cc0%3b.t1%3b%2cmeet%20a%20friend%20of%20mine%3b%2cc0%3b.t1%3b%2ci%20lost%20my%20ring%3b%2cc0%3b.t1%3b%2ci%20lost%20a%20ring%3b%2cc0#t2%3b%2cmeet%20my%20*%3b%2cc0%3b%2cs0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20father%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20friend%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20fate%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20wife%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20mother%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20friends%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20eye%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20eyes%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20brother%3b%2cc0%3b%3bmeet%20my%20husband%3b%2cc0%3b.t1%3b%2cmeet%20a%20friend%20of%20mine%3b%2cc0%3b.t1%3b%2ci%20lost%20my%20ring%3b%2cc0%3b.t1%3b%2ci%20lost%20a%20ring%3b%2cc0)