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The category of case
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§ 179. Case is a grammatical category which shows relation of the noun with other words in a sentence. It is expressed by the form of the noun.
English nouns have two cases: the common case and the genitive case. However, not all English nouns possess the category of case; there are certain nouns, mainly nouns denoting inanimate objects, which cannot be used in the genitive case.
The common case is unmarked, it has no inflexion (zero inflexion) and its meaning is very general.
The genitive case is marked by the apostrophe s (‘s).
§ 180. In writing there are two forms of the genitive: for most nouns it is ‘s (mother’s) and for nouns ending in -s and regular plural nouns only the apostrophe (mothers’).
In speech there are four ways of pronunciation of the genitive case.
1. [z] after vowels and voiced consonants: Negro’s, dog’s;
2. [s] after voiceless consonants: student’s;
3. [Iz] after sibilants: prince’s, judge’s;
4. zero endings: girls’, boys’.
The zero form is used:
a) with regular plural nouns – students’, drivers’, doctors’;
b) with Greek nouns in -s of more than one syllable:
Socrates’ ['sokrati:z] wife,
Xerxes’ [ 'z ǝ ksi: z] army,
Euripides’ |juǝ'rɪpɪdi:z] plays.
In many other names ending in the voiced sibilant [z] the normal spelling of the genitive case is with the apostrophe only (though sometimes 's occurs too): Burns’ (Burns’s) poems, Dickens’ (Dickens’s) novels.
Names ending in sibilants other than [z] have the regular [ɪz] in the genitive:
Marx’s [sɪz] ideas,
Tess’s [sɪz] misfortunes.
Irregular plural nouns forming their plural by vowel change also have the regular [z] in the genitive:
Children’s games,
women’s faces.
Compound nouns have ’ s joined to the final component:
the editor-in-chief’s office,
my mother-in-law’s garden,
a passer-by’s comment.
§ 181. A specific feature of the English genitive case is the so-called group genitive when ‘s can be joined:
1) to a group of two coordinated nouns if such a group refers to a single idea (when two persons possess or
are related to something they have in common):
Mum and Dad’s room.
John and Mary’s car.
2) to a more extensive phrase which may even contain a clause:
the Duke of Norfolk’s sister,
the secretary of state’s private room,
the man I saw yesterday’s son.
3) to a noun (pronoun) + a pronoun group:
someone else’s benefit.
4) to a group ending in a numeral:
in an hour or two’s time.
§ 182. The main meaning of the genitive case is that of possession, hence the traditional term ‘ the possessive case’. This general sense undergoes a number of modifications under the influence of the lexical meaning of both the noun in the genitive case and the noun it modifies.
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The main modifications of this meaning are:
1. The idea of belonging: John’s coat, Mary’s car.
2. Different kinds of relations, such as:
a) relation of the whole to its parts: John’s leg, the cat’s tail;
b) personal or social relations: John’s wife, John’s friend.
Besides the genitive case retains some of its old meanings:
subjective relations:
Chekhov’s observation = Chekhov observed;
the doctor’s arrival =- the doctor arrived;
authorship:
Byron’s poem, Shakespeare’s tragedy;
objective relations:
Caesar’s murder = Caesar was murdered;
Jule’s arrest = Jule was arrested;
measure:
an hour’s trip, a mile’s distance.
In some cases the form ’ s completely loses the meaning of possession and comes to denote a quality, as in man’s blood, woman’s work (serving in works canteen or a transport cafe, is generally regarded as woman’s work), his sly idiot’s smile - идиотская улыбка, you’ve got angel’s eyes -ангельские глазки, this is a women’s college - женский колледж.
The use of the genitive case and its equivalent of-phrase
§ 183. The genitive case is used:
1. With nouns denoting persons and animals.
John’s idea, the swallow’s nest, the mare’s back.
With other nouns (denoting inanimate objects or abstract notions) the of + noun phrase is used: the back of a train, the legs of a table.
2. With nouns denoting time and distance, such as minute, moment, hour, day, week, month, year, inch, foot, mile and substantivized adverbs: today, yesterday, tomorrow, etc.
| a moment’s delay an hour’s drive today’s newspaper a week’s time a night’s rest | a month’s absence a mile’s distance a few minutes’ silence yesterday’s telephone conversation |
With these nouns the of-phrase is either impossible, as in the first three examples, or if it is possible the two variants are not interchangeable.
today’s papers - сегодняшние газеты
the papers of today - газеты сегодняшнего дня
3. With the names of countries and towns.
Britain’s national museums
Canada’s population
London’s ambulance services
4. With the names of newspapers and nouns denoting different kinds of organizations.
The Guardian’s analysis, the Tribune’s role, the company’s plans, the firm’s endeavours, the Coal Board’s Offer, the government’s policy, the organisation’s executive board, the Geographical Society’s gold medal.
5. Often with the nouns world, nation, country, city, town:
the world’s top guitarists, the nation’s wealth.
6. With the nouns ship, boat, car:
the ship’s crew, the car’s wheel.
7. With nouns denoting planets: sun, moon, earth:
the sun’s rays, this earth’s life.
8. With some inanimate nouns in the following set expressions:
to one’s heart’s content (desire), at death’s door, at arm’s length, out of harm’s way, a hair’s breadth, a
needle’s eye, at a stone’s throw, to move at a snail’s pace, at the water’s edge.
§ 184. The syntactical function of the genitive case is that of an attribute. It is always used as a premodifier of a noun and is sometimes called the dependent genitive.
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However there are some cases when the noun in the genitive case is not followed by the headword and then it stands for the whole noun phrase. This is the so-called absolute genitive. It is used:
1. To avoid repetition:
Our house is better than Mary’s (than Mary’s house).
2. After the preposition of:
an old friend of my mother’s, that cousin of my husband’s.
3. To denote shops such as the butcher’s, the baker’s, the grocer’s, the chemist’s, or institutions, where the genitive is usually a saint's name:
St Paul’s (Cathedral), St James’s (Palace),
or places of residence:
at Timothy’s, atOld Jolyon’s, at my uncle’s.
There are also cases (though rare) when a noun is modified by two successive nouns in the genitive case. It is the so called double genitive, as in My mother’s father’s people. The first in such structures has as a rule the meaning of possession (the father of my mother), while the second may either have the same meaning (the people of my father) or other meanings as in: the boy's half-hour’s run.
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