TOPIC 16

THE EXPRESSION OF POSSESSION

OVERVIEW
THE GENITIVE CASE
THE GENITIVE AND THE “OF- CONSTRUCTION”: THEIR USES
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES AND PRONOUNS
VERBS DENOTING POSSESSION
OTHER LEXICAL DEVICES TO EXPRESS POSSESSION
In English, possession can be expressed
BY ….

-GENITIVE or POSSESSIVE case of NOUNS, marked by the genitive or possessive

case of the possessive apostrophe. John’s car.
- “OF- CONSTRUCTION”, the leaf of the table.

-POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES & PRONOUNS that function as DETERMINERS, as in

my house, this is hers.
-VERBS have, belong to, own,etc
-OTHER LEXICAL DEVICES
 THE GENITIVE CASE- TWO cases in NOUNS

, the COMMON case and the GENITIVE case

DID YOU KNOW ??...

”’s”, is due to a historical error, for centuries, it was believed to be the product
of a contraction of a noun and the pronoun his, This notion was long prevalent and
Shakespeare writes: ’Gainst the count his galleys I did some service’ and ‘In
characters as red as Mars his heart’.-----------------
The GENITIVE OF A NOUN is formed:

-SINGULAR NOUNS & PLURAL NOUNS not ending in “s” by “apostrophe + s”. boy’s
hair, people’s choice.

-PLURAL nouns ending in “s” adding apostrophe only.the farmers’ meeting, many farmers’
problems. (zero genitive).

-SINGULAR NAMES ending in “s” usually have possessive forms “apostrophe + s”, especially
in British English,(apostrophe only is not rare).Charles’s wife.

-CLASSICAL NAMES ,more than one syllable and ending in “s” use
an apostrophe OR “apostrophe + s” Euripides’ plays, Socrates’ idealism.
PRONOUNCIATION
THREE PRONOUNCIATIONS OF the genitive case, depending on ending.
-Jack's dog, pronounced /s/ (the
preceding sound is voiceless non-sibilant.) - Peter's letter,
voiced /z/, preceding sound is voiced non-sibilant /r/.

When the preceding sound is a sibilant: /s, z, ∫, ʒ, t∫, d , > PRONOUNCE /ɪz/: George's dog.
In modern English
James's son /ɪz/
with classical names /z/ Archimedes' donkey

RULES in pronounciation genitive inflection same as for the “s” inflection in plural nouns, and
for 3rd person singular of present simple of verbs.
FUNCTIONS OF THE GENITIVE
ATTRIBUTIVE Function- The genitive precedes a headword to which it is grammatically
subordinated. it is my mother’s hat.

INDEPENDENT Function- The headword is not expressed, explicit or implicit in the

context. This is not mine, it is Peter’s

THE ATTRIBUTIVE GENITIVE. TWO types

-Specifying Genitive: Refers to a particular or specific person or thing.

two strong stresses the ‘doctor’s ‘car -Classifying
Genitive: Denotes the class or kind to which the person or thing denoted by the headword.belongs
one strong stress a
‘stone’s throw, a fool’s ‘errand -
 Continuation CLASSIFYING Genitives
CLASSIFYING Genitives are CLOSELY connected.

ATTRIBUTIVE words used with GENITIVE

-Preceding a classifying genitiv refer to the group as a whole. -Preceding a
specifying genitive refers to the word in the genitive. My son’s guitar (specifying).
Their doll’s house (classifying).

-Difficult to find many examples as classifying (child’s play).

THE INDEPENDENT Genitive- three types
i ) Semi-Independent Genitive or Elliptic
Genitive:
The headword is omitted. It occurs in the immediate context, before or after the genitive. Her memory is
like an elephant’s(before). or Mary’s was the prettiest dress (after).

ii) Post-Genitive or Double Genitive. “of + genitive”. an

opera of Verdi’s.
The noun with the genitive inflection MUST BE definite and personal,
The noun preceding the “of-construction” CANNOT BE a proper name and MUST HAVE an indefinite
reference.
We can make a distinction:A portrait of my father (representing him). A portrait of my father’s ( belonging
to him or painted by him).

iii) Local Genitive

PUBLIC BUILDINGS(St. Paul’s), of RELATIONSHIPS(uncle’s)
TRADESMEN´S DESIGNATION(butcher’s).
 THE MEANING
RELATIONS between a genitive and its headword are UNLIMITED.
ZANDVOORT distinguishes:

Possessive Genitive: with an object, it denotes its possessor. my uncle’s book.

Subjective Genitive: if the headword denotes an action, it denotes the agent. the boy’s
application
Objective Genitive: it indicates the object or receiver of the action. the family’s support
( of-construction is
preferred inthis case) (the support of the family).
 QUIRK_ Other possible RELATIONS
Genitive of Origin: the General’s letter.
Descriptive Genitive: a summer’s day , a women’s college.
Genitive of Measure: ten day’s absence Genitive of
Attribute. the victim’s courage

THE GROUP GENITIVE SUFFIX “ S” added to the last element of a noun phrase +post-modified or
coordinated noun head. The teacher of music’s room. . Somebody else’s hat.
Coordinated Genitive: each element has suffix. John’s and Mary’s books .
Group Genitive: the suffix appended to the last element. John and Mary’s books (theirs).
 GENITIVE AND “OF + CONSTRUCTION”. THEIR USES.
According to Quirk, CHOICE DEPENDS ON the animate or personal quality of the modifying noun.
THREE `POSSIBILITIES

USE OF GENITIVE EXCLUDING “Of + Construction”

GENITIVE ALTERNATING with “Of + Construction”.

“Of – construction” EXCLUDING THE GENITIVE

USE OF GENITIVE TO EXCLUDE “Of + Construction”

With personal nouns and names: my sister’s problems, John’s house.

-With higher animals: the elephant’s trunk, the horse’s tail.

-With collective nouns: the public’s opinion. Emphasizing “organized individualism”.

-With temporal nouns: a moment’s thought, an hour’s work.

-With geographical and institutional names: Avila’s walls, Harvard’s department of Linguistics.

-With nouns denoting thingsof special interest for human activity: love’s spirit, the brain’s matter.

-In a number of set phrases: at death’s door.

Genitive or “Of + Construction”.

- PERSONAL PRONOUNS & NOUNS , genitive is more common.

- THE OBJECTIVE GENITIVE the murder of Caesar.

- COLLECTIVE GENITIVES , EMPHASIZE the Government’s delaying measures.
- NOUNS denoting MEASURES & VALUES accept both.
stood at the edge of the water. He stood at the water’s
edge.
- BOTH with DIFFERENT MEANING The love of God (the love you have for God).
God’s love (the love God has for us).
 “OF- Construction” EXCLUSION of the Genitive.

NOUNS denoting THINGS: the leg of the table.

-Expressions with “BACK”, “TOP”, etc: the back of the house.
- “PIECE”, “BIT”, etc. to form partitives: a piece of paper.
-POSSESSOR NOUN followed by NOUN or PHRASE: following the instruction of the man in blue.

COMPLEX CONSTRUCTIONS after the head of the noun phrase

-Talking about:

CHARACTERISTIC HUMAN BEING a man of great courage.

A CONTAINER & ITS CONTENTS a cup of tea.
-With ADJECTIVES used SUBSTANTIVELY the spiritual welfare of the poor.
6
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES AND PRONOUNS
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVE : ATTRIBUTIVE.
-My, your, his,...according to the person, gender and number of the possessor
Used before nouns to denote that something belongs to a person

-DEFINITE ARTICLE used in some IDIOMATIC PHRASES Indicating position & in passive
constructions she is a pain in the neck, she took me by the hand.

-POSSESSIVE ADJ. “OUR”/ EDITORIAL “OUR” used, where “my” would sound too
egoistic. common in the style of authors, editors and critics: in our opinion.

- POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS: PREDICATIVE

-Mine, yours, his, etc substitute a possessive adj. & a noun when the latter may be supplied from
the context: he put his arm through mine.
In the same way as the post-genitive: he is a friend of mine.
-YOURS polite formulae at the end of letters yours truly, yours sincerely.
VERBS DENOTING POSSESSION
TO HAVE Something is associated with or belongs to I
have a shower in my bathroom .. - As POSSESSION “have” is usually
followed by “got” but cannot be put in continuous form.

- In Informal speech “have got” sometimes ·presents an omission of “have”

-It also expresses habitual actions I have a shower every day.--------------

TO BELONG (to) followed by “to” that precedes the owner.

TO OWN Sth is of your property; bought or given; it may be confronted with “to posess”.

TO POSSESS Has a figurative meaning.

Other lexical devices to express POSSESSION
WHOSE - Interrogative particle used for asking about the possessor or the owner

-something which belongs to or is associated with a person".

whose dog is this? acting as an adjective preceding the noun OR by itself, as a pronoun: whose is this
dog?

As a relative pronoun It can also refer to the person that owns an object, acting . the boy whose
dog is white is called Jack. (relationship between the dog & the boy is established)
Other lexical devices to express POSSESSION

In ENGLAND WHOSE is extended to other fields. it tends to express also personal

possession,familiar links or other personal relationships the boy whose father is waving is hugging his
dog.
CAREFUL ... we can't say that an object belongs to another object.

WHICH- Standard way of expressing possession between objects,.

Opposed to “whose” The pen if which the top is missing is a fountain pen.