The Case of Nouns. The Genitive Case.

The Case of Nouns. The Genitive Case.

Case – is the form of the noun which shows the relation of the noun to other words in the sentence. English nouns have two cases – the common case and the genitive (possessive) case,

e.g. the child – the child’s father, an hour – an hour’s walk (common case – genitive case).

The Genitive Case. Formation.

’s	’
Rule	Example	Rule	Example
to singular nouns	the child ’s toy	to proper names ending in -s	Soames ’ (= Soames’s) collection (Soames’ is more common)
to irregular plural nouns	the children ’s toys	to regular plural nouns	soldiers ’ uniforms
always to the final component of compound nouns	my father-in-law ’s house

Pronunciation Rules

[z]	[s]	[iz]
Rule	Example	Rule	Example	Rule	Example
after vowels and voiced consonants	bo y ’s [bo iz ] gir l ’s [gә: lz ]	after voiceless consonants	studen t ’s [stju:d(ә)n ts ] wi f e’s [wai fs ]	after sibilants	prince’s [prin siz ] judge [d ] Burns’ [bә:n ziz ]

Nouns that admit of the Genitive Case

Rule	Example
animate nouns denoting	personal names	John ’s bed, Mary ’s job
personal nouns	my friend ’s visit, the boy ’s new shirt
collective nouns	the party ’s platform, the team ’s victory
higher animals	the dog ’s barking, the lion ’s cage
inanimate nouns and abstract notions	temporal nouns	a day ’s work, a few months ’ trip
nouns denoting distance	a mile ’s distance, two kilometres ’ walk
nouns denoting measure	a shilling ’s worth, a hundred kilos ’ weight
locative nouns	the island ’s outline, the city ’s historical centre
geographic and proper names	Europe ’s future, Eton ’s staff
few other nouns (must be memorized)	the sun ’s rays, the ship ’s crew, the play ’s title, the Nature ’s sleep

NB! With most inanimate nouns except for those mentioned above the idea of possessivity is expressed by means of noun of-phrases, e.g. the corner of the room, the leg of the table.

NB! Animate nouns, modified by two or more adjectives or attributive subclauses also admit of

noun of-phrases instead of the Genitive Case, e.g. the dress of my beautiful elder sister

(my beautiful elder sister’s dress doesn’t sound very natural), the dress of my elder sister who is now abroad (attributive subclause).

Classification of the Genitive Case

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04