Seminar 4 The Noun (Ii) 1. Theoretical Comment

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SEMINAR 4
THE NOUN (II)
1. Theoretical comment
The problem of the category of case in English. Various approaches to the category of
case in English language study: “the theory of positional cases”, “the theory of prepositional
cases”, “the theory of limited case”, “the theory of possessive postposition” (“the theory of no
case”); their critical assessment. Formal and functional properties of the common case and
the genitive case. The structural types of genitive.
The semantic types of the genitive.

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2. Practice
1. Provide equivalents for the following terms.

declension the genitive (possessive) case
the meaning of appurtenance the category of article determination
“the theory of positional cases” a noun determiner
“the theory of prepositional cases” classifying function
“the limited case theory” numerical function
“the postpositional theory” generic function
the common case specifying function
2. Explain the semantic distinctions in the contrastive use of the two cases:
Africa problem – Africa’s problem; family coach – family’s coach; earth radius – earth’s
radius.
3. Comment on the structural types of the genitives.

1) The Prime Minister of England’s speech was a sensation. 2) ...because of my age and
the young man I go with’s age, it is the only right thing to do (Tarkington). 3) I am nobody’s
servant, I’m my own boss. 4) He always prefers somebody else’s fireside (Maugham). 5) They
stayed at Gran’s over the weekend. 6) Tom’s an old flame of Rita’s.
4. Identify the semantic types of the following genitives (use the box).
1. an old people’s home; 2. a king of considerable intelligence; 3. the city’s destruction;
4. the minister’s arrival; 5. a few of the candidates; 6. the city of Rome; 7. Ed’s telegram; 8. Ed’s
stamp collection; 9. an hour’s walk; 10. yesterday’s newspaper; 11. the girl’s face of her fiancé;
12. the pleasure of meeting you.
1. genitive of possession/possessor 5. genitive of destination

2.1. genitive of integer (partitive genitive) 6.1. genitive of dispensed qualification
2.2. genitive of received qualification 6.2. genitive of comparison (descriptive
genitive)
3.1. genitive of agent (subjective genitive) 7. genitive of adverbial
3.2. genitive of authorship 8. genitive of quantity
4. genitive of patient (objective genitive) 9. appositive genitive
5. Consider the relationship between structures like the prime minister’s son and the
son of the prime minister. The two constructions are not, however, in anything like a one-to-
one relationship: there are many cases where only one is acceptable. Thus we can have your
nose but not *the nose of you and conversely the writing of letters but not *the letters’ writing.
Some of the factors that contribute to the choice of the construction are as follows:
 complexity of the subordinate term (possessive case phrase);

 humanness and animacy of the subordinate term;
 nature of relationship between the subordinate and superordinate (the of-
phrase) terms.
Label each of the following phrases as

1 – unacceptable (*);
2 – acceptable, with a strong preference to its counterpart;
3 – possible though informal;
3
4 – normally possible;
5 – more natural than its counterpart;
6 – the only alternative.
Motivate your answer by one of the factors stated above.

1a. your car; 1b. the car of you; 2a. your appointment as dean; 2b. the appointment of you
as dean; 3a. the opinion of the only other person to whom the manuscript had been shown;
3b. the only other person to whom the manuscript had been shown’s opinion; 4a. Peter’s hat;
4b. the hat of Peter; 5a. the thoughts of Tolstoy; 5b. Tolstoy’s thoughts; 6a. the voice of
Shalyapin; 6b. Shalyapin’s voice; 7a. the evident repugnance of the woman he was talking to;
7b. the woman he was talking to’s evident repugnance; 8a. the man’s left eye; 8b. the left eye of
the man; 9a. the eye of the needle; 9b. the needle’s eye; 10. the doctor’s removal from the board;
10b. the removal of the doctor from the board; 11a. the errror’s removal from the draft; 11b. the
removal of the error from the draft.
6. Open the brackets and account for the choice of the casal form of the noun.
1) Vivian Schnlitzer-Murphy had rubies as big as (hen + eggs), and sapphires that were
like globes with lights inside them (Fitzgerald). 2) But as Soapy set foot inside the (restaurant +
door) the (head + waiter + eye) fell upon his freyed trousers and his decadent shoes (O. Henry).
3) “The face,” said Reineman, “is the (face + one + God + own angels” (O. Henry). 4) His
face was a sickly white, covered almost to the eyes with a stubble the (shade + a red Irish setter
+ coat) (O. Henry). 5) Their eyes brushed past (each other), and the look he new so well was
staring out at him from hers (O. Henry).
7. Explain the role of determiners used with transposed proper nouns, with unique
nouns and with pronouns:
1) “What is that something that they possess – the sirens of the world! The Helens of
Troy, the Cleopatras…?” (Christie) 2) The country will become an El Dorado if it wins the
confidence of foreign partners (Business Week). 3) He who has a why to live can bear almost
any how (Nietzsche). 4) You do this not because you can figure out the specific whys and hows,
but because you trust His love and wisdom (Myers). 5) Wonderful what Hollywood will do to a
nobody (Chandler). 6) God is not much interested in my stage image – the me I often present to
others (Baty).
Literature:
1. Алєксєєва І. О. Курс теоретичної граматики сучасної англійської мови:

навчальний посібник. – Вінниця: Нова Книга. 2007. – С. 42-52; 154-160.
2. Блох, М.Я. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка / М.Я. Блох. - М.:
Высшая школа, 1983. – С. 61-83.
3. Блох, М.Я. Практикум по теоретической грамматике английского языка / М.Я.
Блох, Т.Н. Семенова, С.В. Тимофеева. – М.: Высшая школа, 2004. – С. 111-113.
4. Иванова, И.П. Теоретическая грамматика современного английского языка /
И.П. Иванова, В.В. Бурлакова, Г.Г. Почепцов. - М.: Высшая школа, 1981. – С.
25-35.
5. Ильиш, Б.А. Строй современного английского языка: учебник / Б.А. Ильиш. –
Ленинград: Просвещение, 1991. – С. 41-57.
6. Rayevska N.M. Modern English Grammar. – Kyiv: Vysca Skola Publishers, 1976. –
P. 78-87.
7. Харітонов І.К. Теоретична граматика англійської мови. Навчальний посібник. –
Вінниця: НОВА КНИГА, 2008ю – С.29-33.

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1

The semantic types of the genitive.

1. Provide equivalents for the following terms.

3. Comment on the structural types of the genitives.

1. genitive of possession/possessor 5. genitive of destination

 complexity of the subordinate term (possessive case phrase);

Label each of the following phrases as

Motivate your answer by one of the factors stated above.

1. Алєксєєва І. О. Курс теоретичної граматики сучасної англійської мови:

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