Lecture 5 - Formation, Meanings, and Uses of Genitive Nouns

1. Lecture 5 Genitive Noun

2. Teaching Contents • 5.1 Formation, meanings and uses of genitive nouns • 5.2 Independent genitive and double genitive

3. Case is a grammatical category and denotes the changes in the form of a noun or a pronoun showing its relationship with other words in a sentence. As modern English is basically an analytic language, English nouns have not a complicated case system like that of Latin, German, or modern Russian. The different grammatical functions of English nouns in a sentence are mostly determined by the word order, not by case form. It is in this sense that the genitive case may be viewed as a relic of the old case system. The genitive was traditionally labelled as the possessive case.

4. Two Case systems: the unmarked common case and the marked genitive case: boy, boy’s • The genitive case: the inflected genitive (the –s genitive)(屈折所属格） and the periphrastic genitive (the of-genitive)（迂回所属格） • e.g. the children’s toys, • the toys of children

5. 5.1 Formation, meanings and uses of genitive nouns • 1) Rules of formation of the –s genitive • a) adding ’s to singular nouns and to those plural nouns that don’t end in –s , e.g. my mother’s arrival, women’s clothes • b) adding an apostrophe to plural nouns ending in –s, e.g. the teachers’ college, the workers’ achievements • c) adding ’s to the compound nouns or to the end of a postmodified noun phrase, e.g. my brother-in-law’s friend, a cat and dog’s life, [the teacher of music]’s room

6. d) In coordinate nouns, the genitive ending is added to each of the coordinate elements when denoting respective possession, and only to the last coordinate element when denoting common possession, e.g. America’s and England’s problems (respective); America and England’s problems (in common) • Coordinated genitive

7. 1. The head of the noun phrase is singular: Charles and Louise’s / Charles’s and Louise’schild is really lovely. (The child is a joint offspring of Charles and Louise.) 2. The head of the noun phrase is plural: Charles and Louise’s / Charles’s and Louise’schildren are really lovely. (The children are joint offspring of Charles and Louise.)

8. 3. John’s and Mary’s children: • A. the children who are offspring of John and Mary • B. John’s child and Mary’s child • C. John’s children and Mary’s child • D. John’s child and Mary’s children • E. John’s children and Mary’s children • Coordinated genitives are formal. • Tom and his brother’s children • F

9. 4. How to avoid ambiguity? a. I’m interested in Henry and Herbert’s book(s) / the book(s) of Henry and Herbert. b. Henry’s house and Mr. Jones’s are not far from here. 5. “Or” only connects coordinated genitive Is that a lady’s or gentleman’s wrist-watch? Is that a wrist-watch of a lady or gentleman? I wonder whether it is Tom’s or Peter’s house / the house of Tom or Peter.

10. e) In the construction of “noun phrase + appositive”, the genitive ending is added to the end of the appositive, or both to the end of the noun phrase and to the appositive, e.g. Where is my classmate Nancy’s car? Tom has gone to Basel’s, the blacksmith’s shop • f) In personal names ending in sibilant /z/, the genitive ending can either be’sor an apostrophe only, but it can only be ’swhen personal names end in other sibilant sounds, • e.g. Burns’ / Burns’s poem (sibilant /z/); • Ross’s poem

11. 2) Meanings of genitive nouns • The genitive is chiefly used to denote possession, and therefore, is traditionally called “possessive case”. But genitive meanings are by no means restricted to possession, as shown in the following: • a) Possessive genitive, • e.g. my son’s wife, Mrs. Johnson’s passport • b) Subjective genitive, • e.g. the student’s application

12. c) Objective genitive • e.g. the family’s support • d) Genitive of origin • e.g. the girl’s story • e) Descriptive (Classifying) genitive (not of-genitive) • e.g. a women’s college • (=college for women/*of women) • f) Genitive of measure • e.g. a four days’ journey, two dollars’ worth of apples

13. 3) Uses of genitive nouns • Genitive nouns are mostly used as central determiners and therefore perform the same function as “possessive determiners”, (traditionally called possessive pronouns), e.g. • the boy’s father= his father • Mary’s letter = her letter • a) As central determiners, genitive nouns can’t collocate with other central determiner, nor can they be preceded by a premodifier. • e.g. Mary’s letter, * a Mary’s letter; • Mary’s interesting letter, * interesting Mary’s letter

14. This, however, does not apply to some other genitive nouns such as the descriptive genitive and the genitive that denotes time, distance, value or measure. These genitive nouns are not used as determiners but as premodifiers in the noun phrases, • e.g. a/the children’s book, a pleasant three day’s journey • Classifying genitive differ in a number of respects from specifying constructions. • 1) They respond to the question “What kind of …?” rather than “whose …?”, which displays their similarity to adjectives and other such noun premodifiers, rather than to determiners. In fact, they cannot be replaced by possessive determiners.

15. 2) They can be preceded by determiners and modifiers of the whole noun phrase, rather than of the genetive noun alone: a new children’s book. This again is true also for adjective and noun premodifiers of nouns. • 3) They form an inseparable combination with the following noun and do not usually allow an intervening adjective: *children’s new book. • 4) They are frequently paraphrased by a for-phrase rather than an of construction, as in books for children. Compare again constructions with noun premodifier like baby clothes. • These characteristics reflect the close bond between a classifying genitive and the following head noun.

16. b) The choice of genitive • The –s genitive is favoured by the animate nouns in particular persons and animals with personal gender characteristics. The of- genitive is chiefly used with nouns denoting lower animals and with inanimate nouns.

17. The main factor governing the choice of the one or the other genitive form is the animate or rather the personal quality of the noun. But there is considerable overlap in the use of the two forms. The animate nouns normally take the –s genitive, but the of- genitive is also possible in most cases. Inanimate nouns regularly take the of-genitive, but a great many occur with the –s genitive. • The four classes of animate nouns normally take the –s genitive, but the of- genitive is also possible • a) Personal names • --- George Washington’s statue, Susan’s pupils • b) Personal nouns • --- the boy’s new shirt, my sister-in-law’s hat

18. c) Collective nouns • --- the government’s conviction, the majority’s choice • d) Higher animals • --- the horse’s neck, the tiger’s strips • The –s genitive is also used with certain kinds of inanimate nouns • a) Geographical names • --- continents: Europe’s future • --- countries: China’s development

19. --- states: Minnesota’s immigrants • --- cities/towns: Hollywood’s studios, London’s water supply • --- universities: Harvard’s Linguistics Department b) Locative nouns denoting regions, heavenly bodies, institutions: • ---the world’s economic organization, the moon’s interior, the school’s history • c) Temporal nouns • --- a week’s holiday • d) Nouns of special interest to human activity • --- my life’s aim, love’s spirit, the novel’s structure, the wine’s character, television’s future

20. The use of the –s genitive and of- genitive • (1) We must use the –s genitive when… • a) the noun modified is followed by a post-modifier or an appositive. • --- The monitor’s brother, an actor was here then. • b) it is a classifying genitive. • --- Have you a copy of the teacher’s book? • c) the –s genitive is used in some set expressions: • --- a wolf in sheep’s clothing • People don’t get their money’s worth. • *People don’t get the worth of their money.

21. We must use the of- genitive when… • a) the noun in the of- phrase is followed by some modifiers or appositives • --- Some sentences have been changed at the suggestion of the teachers present in the meeting. • b) the definite article + -ed participle or adjective denoting a class of people in the of- phrase structure • --- the life of the poor • c) the prepositional complementation in the of- phrase expresses the origin of the headword modified • --- the joy of his return (The joy derives from his return)

22. d) the genitive is used to express the possessive relationship between part and whole • --- the middle of the night • --- the back of the classroom • --- the top of the page • --- the bottom of the ladder • e) there are determiners before the two nouns • --- their knowledge of her feeling • --- this dog of the country

23. The difference between the –s genitive and the of- genitive • (a) The –s genitive : regularity and continuity • the of- genitive : contingency of things • --- my last week’s article (每周一次的连载文章） • --- my article of last week(偶尔刊登的文章） • (b) The –s genitive: informal • the of- genitive: formal • --- the woman next door’s husband • --- the foreign policy of China

24. (c) The –s genitive: literal sense (字面意义） • the of- genitive: extended meaning (引申意义）and symbolic meaning (象征意义） • --- the tree’s top （树梢） • --- the top of the tree (出类拔萃） • --- the table’s top (桌面） • --- the top of the table （上座，首席）

25. 5.2 Independent genitive and double genitive • 1) Independent genitive • When the genitive occurs without a following head, i.e. with the head of the noun phrase omitted, and functions independently as an element, it is called independent genitive. • a) The noun occurring in the context can be retrieved • --- My car is faster than John’s (car). • b) Names and nouns referring to persons which denote residence: • See you at Harry’s tomorrow. • --- Shall we meet at his brother’s (house).

26. c) Proper nouns for certain well-known buildings: • St. Paul’s (Cathedral), Queen’s (College) St. James’s (Palace) • The noun: church, school, public buildings • --- He lives near St. Paul’s (Cathedral) in London. • d) Words for shops denoted by the type of shopkeeper: • the baker’s/butcher’s/grocer’s/greengrocer’s • commercial firms • --- I buy my meat at Johnson’s (shop).

27. 2) Double genitive • An independent genitive when functioning as prepositional complementation is called post-genitive. The prepositional phrase with a post-genitive as complementation is called double genitive. --- a friend of my father’s • 1) The use of the double genitive • a) Partitive meaning denoting “one of…” • --- This is a book of my mother’s. (one of …)

28. b. indefinite, definite, personal • --- a friend of the doctor’s( *the cover of a book’s) • Attention to some points • a) Noun head with “this, these, that, those”: it has emotional colouring : praise, disapproval, pleasure, displeasure • --- That child of his sister’s is very clever. • --- That son of Henry’s is a rascal.

29. a boy of a girl • 一般的of短语用来修饰或限制前面的名词的，但是，在此处：限定词+名词1+of + a/an + 名词2，of短语与前面的名词构成同位关系，而且名词2是概念的中心，of短语是对名词2进行修饰的，就像一个形容词： • an angel of a wife = an angelic wife; the fool of a policeman = the foolish policeman • a boy of a girl 一个男孩气的女孩子 *一个女孩气的男孩 • a palace of a house 宫殿般的房子 • a great elephant of a woman 一个庞大如象的女人 • 此结构的特点是：名词2前必须使用不定冠词，而名词1前可用任何限定词(a, this, that, her, your) • e.g. that dog of a landlord 狗地主 • that great pig of a Louis XVIII 大肥猪路易十八

30. this / a / their palace of a house • *these palaces of a house

31. b) Difference between double genitive and of phrase • --- He is a friend of my father’s. (many, one of them) • --- He is a friend of my father. ( in good terms) • A: Who told you that? • B: A friend of your father’s.

32. A: If he says such things, he is not a friend of my father. • c) The noun head: picture, portrait, printing, photograph, bust, statue • The double genitive--- the picture that one keeps • The of phrase--- the picture of one’s own • --- This is a portrait of Mr. Black’s • --- This is a portrait of Mr. Black • d) The noun head: criticism, opinion, judgment, • --- a criticism of William’s = a criticism offered by William • --- a criticism of William = a criticism about William

33. Correct the errors of the genitives if any: • 1. Where’s the dictionary of Cathy’s? • 2. I don’t know whether this is a lady or a gentleman’s wrist-watch. • 3.Her love of a child took the fancy of all of us. • 4. The poem of Shelly’s he recited a hundred times was Ode to the West Wind. • 5. Andrew and Horatia’s eyes met.

34. 1. that dictionary of Cathy’s • 2. a lady’s or (a) gentleman’s wristwatch • 3. T • 4. T • 5. T