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1、Chapter 6 Genitive NounCASE is a grammatical category. It 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,
2、or modern Russian. The different grammatical functions of English nouns in a sentence are mostly determined by the word order, not by any 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 labeled as the “possessive c
3、ase”; however, in view of the fact that “possession” is just one of the meanings expressed by the genitive, we prefer to use the present name rather than the traditional form.6.1 Formation, meanings and uses of genitive nouns1) Formation of genitive nounsRules of formation are as follows:a) The geni
4、tive is formed in writing by adding s to singular nouns and to those plural nouns that do not end in s, eg:my mothers arrivalwomens clothesb) Plural nouns ending in s take an apostrophe as genitive marker, eg:the girls dormitorya teachers collegec) In compound nouns or a postmodified noun phrase, th
5、e genitive ending is added to the end of the compound or to the end of the noun phrase, eg:my mother-in-laws deathan hour and a halfs talksomebody elses opinionthe University of Minnesotas presidentd) In coordinate nouns, the genitive ending is added to each of the coordinate elements when denoting
6、respective possession, and only to the last coordinate element when denoting common possession. Compare: Marys and Bobs booksMary and Bobs bookse) 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 t
7、o the appositive, eg:Basel the booksellersBasels, the booksellersf) In personal names ending in sibilant /z/, the genitive ending can either be s or an apostrophe only, but it can only bes when personal names end in other sibilant sounds, eg:Dickens / Dickenss novelsJones / Joness poemsMarxs doctrin
8、eRosss discoveries2) Meanings of genitive nounsThe genitive is chiefly used to denote “possession”, and therefore, is traditionally called “possessive case”. But genitive meanings are by no means restricted to possession. They can be summed up as follows: a) Possessive genitive, eg: Mr Bronws suitca
9、se has been taken upstairs. Taiwan is part of Chinas territory. b) Subjective genitive, eg:The Prime Ministers arrival was reported in the morning paper.Everybody was pleased at Davids quick recovery from illness.c) Objective genitive, eg: The enemys defeat brought the war to an end.The criminals pu
10、nishment will be ten years in prison. d) Genitive of origin, eg:I havent received my sisters letter yet.Newtons law was developed in the 17th century.e) Descriptive genitive, eg:I first met her on a summers day.This workshop makes mens shoes.f) Genitive of time, distance, measure, value, etc, eg:two
11、 hours delay300 kilometers distancefive dollars worth of stamps50 kilograms weight3) Uses of genitive nounsGenitive nouns are mostly used as central determiners and therefore perform the same function as “possessive determiners” (traditionally called “possessive pronouns”), eg:the boys father = his
12、fatherthe womans husband = her husbandthe students essays = their essaysthe prime ministers arrival = his arrivalthe criminals punishment = his / her punishmentMarys letter = her letterthe strangers story = his storyAs central determiner, genitive nouns cant collocate with other central determiners,
13、 nor can they be preceded by a premodiffier. For instance, we can say “Marys letter”, but not “a Marys letter”; we can say “Marys interesting letter” instead of “interesting Marys letter”. This, however, does not apply to some other genitive nouns such as the descriptive genitive and the genitive th
14、at denotes time, distance, value or measure. These genitive nouns are not used as determiners but as premodifiers in the noun phrase, eg:a childrens bookthese childrens booksan interesting childrens booksome other new childrens booksthe newly published childrens booka / another three days journeya p
15、leasant three days journeyanother very boring three days journeyAs central determiner, genitive nouns are sometimes interchangeable with of phrases, eg:Chinas foreign policy = the foreign policy of Chinaan elephants trunk = the trunk of an elephantthe prime ministers arrival = the arrival of the prime ministerthe criminals punishment = the punishment of the criminalNewtons law = the law of NewtonShakespeares tragedies = the tragedies of ShakespeareBut in some cases, we can only use genitive nouns instead of of-phrases, eg: at ones wits endat swords pointsa hai
