Lecture 5
Genitive Noun
Teaching Contents
 5.1
Formation, meanings and uses of
genitive nouns
 5.2
Independent genitive and double
genitive
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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.
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,
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the toys of children
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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-inlaw’s friend, a cat and dog’s life, [the teacher of
music]’s room
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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)
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Coordinated genitive
1. The head of the noun phrase is singular:
Charles and Louise’s / Charles’s and Louise’s child 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’s children
are really lovely.
(The children are joint offspring of Charles and Louise.)
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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
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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.
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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 ’s or an apostrophe only,
but it can only be ’s when personal names end in other
sibilant sounds,
e.g. Burns’ / Burns’s poem (sibilant /z/);
Ross’s poem
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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
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c) Objective genitive
e.g. the family’s support
d) Genitive of origin
e.g. the girl’s story
e) Descriptive (Classifying) genitive (not ofgenitive)
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
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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
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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.
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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.
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b) The choice of genitive
The –s genitive is favoured by the animate
nouns in particular persons and animals with
personal gender characteristics. The ofgenitive is chiefly used with nouns denoting
lower animals and with inanimate nouns.
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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
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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
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--- 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
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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.
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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 ofphrase expresses the origin of the headword
modified
--- the joy of his return (The joy derives from his
return)
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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
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The difference between the –s genitive and the ofgenitive
(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
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(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）
5.2 Independent genitive and double genitive
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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).
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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).
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2) Double genitive
An independent genitive when functioning as
prepositional complementation is called postgenitive. The prepositional phrase with a postgenitive 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 …)
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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.
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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
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this / a / their palace of a house
*these palaces of a house
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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.
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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
Correct the errors of the genitives
if any:
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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.
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1. that dictionary of Cathy’s
2. a lady’s or (a) gentleman’s wristwatch
3. T
4. T
5. T