Tell me, anyone!!

[mackerel]

I can't understand what is the difference between ''my friend'', ''a friend of mine'', and ''one of my friends''. Can anyone tell me about this? I want as many opinions or adivices as possible!!

[IamKira]

there is no big difference at all......they are all just different ways of saying the same thing......
so, you can say, "My friend once ate ten sea turltes."....or, "Once, a friend of mine ran from the cops."......or "One of my friends was stupid enough to attempt a bank robbery."

[mackerel]

Originally Posted by IamKira

there is no big difference at all......they are all just different ways of saying the same thing......
so, you can say, "My friend once ate ten sea turltes."....or, "Once, a friend of mine ran from the cops."......or "One of my friends was stupid enough to attempt a bank robbery."

Oh, thank you very much, IamKira!!! It helps me a lot!!

[IamKira]

ok.........well, ...............yeah.........you just pick whatever sounds best at the time..........insted of just saying my friend all the time you can mix it up and say "this friend I once had", or "this friend of mine"...........

[zerojustice315]

Yeah, no real difference.

[Sanchome]

Interesting question! It's hard to answer.

All of the phrases can be used the same in many sentences.

She's my friend.
She's a friend of mine.
She's one of my friends.

My friend told me something.
A friend of mine told me something.
One of my friends told me something.

I think those sentences are close to exactly the same meaning.

Maybe in this case, "My friend" is more approriate:

Do you want to be my friend?

It might sound a little less personal to say:

Do you want to be a friend of mine?
Do you want to be one of my friends?

I guess it is because "my friend" can be a little more personal. "My friend" might sound like a closer friend than "one of my friends".

It's a hard question!

[mackerel]

Originally Posted by Sanchome

Interesting question! It's hard to answer.

All of the phrases can be used the same in many sentences.

She's my friend.
She's a friend of mine.
She's one of my friends.

My friend told me something.
A friend of mine told me something.
One of my friends told me something.

I think those sentences are close to exactly the same meaning.

Maybe in this case, "My friend" is more approriate:

Do you want to be my friend?

It might sound a little less personal to say:

Do you want to be a friend of mine?
Do you want to be one of my friends?

I guess it is because "my friend" can be a little more personal. "My friend" might sound like a closer friend than "one of my friends".

It's a hard question!

Interesting!!Good Example and detailed but clear explanation!! It really helped me understand the difference Thanks a lot!!

[Sanchome]

I was thinking more about it, and I think it's true that "my friend" sounds more personal in some circumstances.

If someone is upset - very emotional - I think they would often choose "my friend" instead of the other two options.

So, if someone is mad and they start yelling, they might say:

Please, just be my friend right now!

Or if someone is really lonely they might say:

I need someone to be my friend!

If someone close to them died or moved away, someone might say:

I miss my friend so much!

In all of those cases, I think that "my friend" is much better than "a friend of mine" or "one of my friends".