THE GENITIVE
The choice of the kind of Genitive being used is related to:
1) The meanings expressed by the relation between the genitive noun and the head
noun.
2) The gender class of the genitive noun: The Inflected Genitive is favoured for classes
which are highest on the gender scale.
3) The type of noun acting as head: the hotel's occupants
the book's true importance
CHOICE OF 'S GENITIVE
The following four animate noun classes normally take the 's genitive:
a) Personal Names: John's wife
Mrs Smith's house
b) Personal Nouns: the girl's surname
the children's toys
- Indefinite Pronouns: somebody's papers
anyone's questions
c) Collective Nouns: the family's income
the team's coach
d) Animals: - When we refer to material produced or made by a living animal, the 's
genitive is used:
a bird's nest
cow's milk
lamb's wool
- When the source of material is an animal that has been slaughtered the
construction Noun + Noun is used:
sheepskin
beef broth
a ham sandwich
- When we talk about parts of animals’ bodies we usually use the ‘s Genitive
whether the animal is living or dead: a sheep’s heart
a cow’s horn
a frog’s leg
d. 1) Higher Animals: the elephant's trunk
the dog's tail
d. 2) Some Lower Animals: an ant's nest
a bee's sting
With certain kinds of inanimate nouns the Inflected Genitive is possible:
e) Geographical and Institutional Names: Europe's future
London's water supply
Place nouns + the superlative: New York's tallest skyscraper
Churches and cathedrals: St Paul's Church; St Stephen's Cathedral
f) Temporal Nouns: a moment's thought
the theatre season's first big event
g) Nouns of special interest to human activity or concern: eg: plan - report - university -
book - etc.
the brain's total weight
the mind's general development
the game's history
With reference to cars, planes and ships the inflected genitive is sometimes used:
- the car's exhaust
- the ship's propeller
- the plane's engines
i) Idioms: get one's money's worth
at one's wit's/ wits' end (within) a stone’s throw
at arm's length (escape by) a hair’s breadth
within arm's reach
at death's door
(to) one's heart's content
Other reasons for the choice of the Inflected Genitive:
j) For reasons of space economy in newspaper headlines: Institute's roof damaged
k) The principles of end-focus and end-weight: The Inflected Genitive gives
information focus to the head noun: his dearest friend's death
my sister's boyfriend
CHOICE OF THE "OF GENITIVE":
It is chiefly used with nouns that belong to the bottom part of the gender scale:
a) Inanimate Nouns:
- the title of the book the 's genitive could also be fully acceptable
- the interior of the room
About common well-known objects or ideas, especially about particular examples
- the hub of the wheel - a coin of no value
- the windows of the houses - a decision of great importance
Of –structure is used in most expressions with back, front, side, top, bottom, edge,
middle, end, inside, outside and similar words.
- the back of the bus the middle of the night the top of the page
In a few very common expressions, the Noun as Adjective structure is used:
- the mountain side the roadside a treetop a mountain top
b) In measure, partitive and appositive expressions, the of-genitive is the usual form
except for temporal measure (a month's rest).
c) Idioms: for the life of me/him (It requires both the "of-genitive" and a pronoun)
d) Animate Nouns: The of-construction is possible when the meaning of the genitive is
not the Possessive.
- the Queen's arrival / the arrival of the Queen
-the crowd's sympathy / the sympathy of the crowd
- my father's house / * the house of my father
- a woman of medium height
- somebody’s characteristics
- a man of great courage
Another reason for the choice of the of-construction:
- The principle of end-focus and end-weight:
The of-construction gives focus to the prepositional complement:
the death of his dearest friend
The expressions with "edge", "end", "surface, "for...sake" permit either the 's genitive or
the of-genitive:
- She stood at the water's edge/ the edge of the water.
- He did it for charity's sake/the sake of charity.
- at his journey's end/ the end of his journey
