11. Comment on the use of the Absolute genitive case

The Absolute Genitive is used:

1. when the second component is dropped to avoid unnecessary repetition.

I parked my car next to John’s

Whose umbrella is it? – It’s Ann’s.

2. when it is introduced by the preposition of to denote “one of many” (the socalled partitive possessive /double genitive).

He is an old friend of my father’s (one of my father’s old friends).

3. in constructions with an ofphrase to express emotional characteristics (such as disapproval, irony, neglect etc.)

That’s another big idea of your uncle’s

How do you like that silly joke of Jane’s?

4. to denote the place of residence:

at Brown’s/the Browns’ at my brother’s

5. the genitive case may have local meaning to denote a shop, a plant etc. (the ‘s element loses the meaning of possession).

at a chemist’s/butcher’s/florist’s etc = (at a baker’s/fishmonger’s etc. shop)

She got married at St. Paul’s.

Names of the owners of some businesses can be used similarly: Claridge’s.

Note: Some very wellknown shops etc. call themselves by the possessive form and drop apostrophe: Foyks, Harrods.

Note: We don’t use the genitive case when the governing noun has an attribute expressed by a noun with a preposition or a subordinate clause:

e.g. She is the sister of the girl with whom we were at school together.

12. Comment on the lexical means of expressing Gender in English.

Most nouns have the same form for masculine and feminine: parent, child, singer, dancer.

We use only he or she to refer to people and it to refer to everything else. It is the pronouns, not nouns that tell us if the reference is to female or male:

e.g. He is the person you spoke to.

Gender, the distinction of nouns into masculine, feminine and neuter, may be expressed lexically by means of:

1. different words:

man – woman boy – girl gentleman – lady sir madam king queen

monk – nun widower widow bachelor – spinster bridegroom – bride uncle – aunt

son – daughter nephew – niece drake – duck gander – goose bull – cow

stallion – mare boar – sow stag – doe ram – ewe

13. Comment on the formation of the plural of the noun in English.

I The plural form of English nouns is formed by adding the ending (inflexion) -s or -es pronounced as /z/, /s/ and /Iz/.

1. /Iz/ after sibilants: noses, horses, bridges.

2. /z/ after voiced consonants (other than sibilants) and vowels: flowers, beds, dogs, boys.

3. /s/ after voiceless consonants: caps, cooks, hats, coats.

Some nouns in the plural form change the pronunciation of their final consonant (voiceless into voiced consonant)

a) /s/ - /z/ e.g. house – houses

b) nouns ending in -th / θ / after long vowels and diphthongs change it in / ð /:

e.g. bath – baths

path – paths

c) But / θ / is always retained after consonants (including r) and short vowels:

e.g. Smith –Smiths

myth – myths month – months

birth – births youth – youths

II We add -es in the following cases:

1. if the noun ends in

- s bus – buses

- ss glass – glasses

- x box – boxes

- sh brush – brushes

- ch bench – benches

- tch match – matches

2. a) if the noun ends in –y, preceded by a consonant, -y is changed into –i + es

e.g. fly – flies

army – armies

lady – ladies

b) in proper nouns we add only –s

e.g. Mary – two Marys

c) if the final –y is preceded by a vowel we add –s only (except in nouns ending in –quy : soliloquy – soliloquies).

e.g. day – days, monkey – monkeys.

3. a) if the noun ends in –o preceded by a consonant, the plural form is generally formed by adding -es:

e.g. cargo – cargoes

hero – heroes

potato – potatoes

veto -vetoes

But:

piano – pianos

radio – radios

tango – tangos

solo – solos

photo – photos

kilo – kilos

soprano – sopranos

dynamo – dynamos

zero – zeros

concerto – concertos

b) in proper nouns we add only –s.

e.g. Eskimo – Eskimos Romeo - Romeos

c) All nouns ending in –o, preceded by a vowel form the plural in –s.

e.g. portfolio – portfolios

kangaroo – kangaroos

d) But there are a few nouns ending in –o which form the plural both with -s and -es.

e.g. mosquito – mosquito or mosquitoes

halo – halos or haloes

cargo – cargos or cargoes

3. a)The following nouns, ending in –f(-fe) change it into –v in the plural:

e.g. wife – wives

knife – knives

leaf – leaves

thief – thieves

calf – calves

life – lives

loaf – loaves

wolf – wolves

half – halves

shelf – shelves

sheaf – sheaves

self – selves

b) Some nouns take only –s in the plural:

e.g. roof- roofs

chief – chiefs

belief – beliefs

safe – safes

gulf – gulfs

proof – proofs

cuff – cuffs

handkerchief – handkerchiefs

cliff – cliffs

reef – reefs

c) There are some nouns ending in -f which have two forms in the plural.

e.g. scarf- scarf or scarves

hoof – hoofs/hooves

wharf – wharfs/wharves

dwarf – dwarfs/dwarves