章振邦英语语法教程--Lecture 7 Number and Genitive

Lecture 7 Number and Genitive

7.1 Number

In the broadest sense of the word, NUMBER refers to a grammatical classification used in the analysis of word classes which have contrasts between singular and plural. Number contrasts in English are seen in nouns (boy, boys), pronouns (she, they, this, these), determiners (this, these, each, all), and verbs (say, says, was, were). But in the present lecture, the sense of NUMBER is restricted only to the number forms in nouns.

1) Regular and irregular plural

Individual nouns are all countable and therefore have singular and plural forms. The singular form of an individual noun, which shares the same form as the base of the word, can take such determiners as a(n) and one (e.g.: a/one desk, an/one article). The plural form of an individual noun can be regular or irregular. The regular plural is formed by adding –s or –es to the base (e.g.: days, houses, donkeys, tomatoes, boxes, churches, brushes, classes, babies, countries, loaves, wives, etc/), while the irregular plural is not formed in the same way but by other means such as by changing the internal vowels or by changing the ending of the noun (e.g.: tooth—teeth, man—men, mouse—mice, child—children, ox—oxen).

Irregular plurals also include some words of foreign origin,

borrowed from Greek, Latin or French. The plural forms of these borrowed words are known as “foreign plurals”, e.g.:

basis—bases criterion—criteria

stratum—strata alumnus—alumni

Some borrowed words have two plurals—a foreign plural and an English plural, e.g.:

medium—media—mediums

index—indices—indexes

formula—formulae—formulas

curriculum—curricula—curriculums

For some nouns, their singular and plural numbers share the same form, e.g.:

a deer—ten deer

one fish—several fish

a Japanese—a group of Japanese

an aircraft—a hundred aircraft

2) Number forms of the collective, material, abstract and proper noun

a) Number forms of the collective noun

Some collective nouns are countable, some are not. Countable collective nouns behave just like individual nouns. An uncountable collective noun has no plural form. If we want to count the number, we still have to use a kind of individual noun related semantically to the

collective (e.g.: a piece of furniture, two articles of equipment). There is also a kind of collective noun which can be used either in the singular or in the plural sense. When viewed as a single unit, the collective is singular in meaning and is to be followed by a singular verb. When, on the other hand, the noun is used to refer to the individuals that form the collective, it is plural in meaning and should be followed by a plural verb.

b) Number forms of the material noun

Material nouns are generally uncountable and have no plural forms. But there are some such items that can be used either uncountably or countably. When used to mean the material itself, they are uncountable, but when used in other senses, for example, two coffees in the sense of “two cupfuls of coffee”, they are countable, behaving just like individual nouns. There are also material nouns that can take plural endings, for example, sands/waters in the sense of “large expanse of sand or water” and foods/fruits in the sense of “a variety of food or fruit”; these nouns, though ending in-s, remain uncountable.

c) Number forms of the abstract noun

Abstract nouns are mostly uncountable. They cannot take such determiners as a(n)/one or plural forms. But there are a few abstract nouns (e.g.: “a victory”, “two victories”) that are countable like individual nouns. There are also abstract nouns that have plural endings but which are uncountable. We can say, for instance, “He is in financial

difficulties”, but not “He is in several difficulties.” In the case of some abstract nouns, the mere addition of a plural ending has the effect of changing the meaning of the base. For instance, the word experience in “We meet once a year to exchange our teaching experience” is used in the sense of “经验”, while the plural form experiences means “经历” in “We told each other our experiences in foreign countries”. Some abstract noncount nouns have semantically related individual nouns as their countable equivalents. This is clear when we use photos or photographs instead of photography to express the idea of “taking a lot of pictures”. d) Number forms of the proper noun

Proper nouns are unique in reference and therefore have no plural forms, except for such proper names as the United States, the Philippines, the Netherlands, etc. which are themselves plural in form. When a proper noun takes a plural ending, it takes on some characteristics of a common noun, e.g.:

Have you invited the Browns?

There are two Miss Smiths/Misses Smith in our class.

3) Partitives

Partitives, also called unit nouns, are commonly used to denote a part of a whole or the quantity of an undifferentiated mass. Both count and noncount nouns can enter partitive constructions. With plural count nouns, partitive construction can denote t he idea of “a group”, “a pack”, etc.

With noncount nouns, such constructions can achieve countability. Partitives fall into the following categories:

a) General partitives

With noncount nouns the expression of quantity can be achieved by means of certain general partitives, particularly piece, bit, article, and item, followed by an of-phrase, e.g.:

a piece of advice

a bit of trouble

an item of news

an article of furniture

several pieces of bread

three items of news

b) Partitives related to the shape of things

There are partitives that semantically related to the shape of things but their power of collocation is quite limited, e.g.:

a cake of soap

a bar of chocolate

two ears of corn

ten head of cattle/cabbage (head can be treated as plural)

c) Partitives related to volume

A third class of pertitives are those that semantically related to volume, all of which are common nouns. They can freely collocate with related

noncount nouns, e.g.:

a bottle of ink/oil

two bowls of rice

several pails of water

a glass of beer

d) Partitives related to the state of action

The use of these partitives is limited to certain set phrases, e.g.: a fit of anger/coughing/laughter/fever

a peal of applause/laughter/thunder

a flash of hope/light/lightning

a display of courage/force/power/skill/fireworks

e) Partitives denoting pairs, groups, flocks, etc.

These partitives commonly occur with plural count nouns, e.g.: a pair of shoes/scissors/trousers

a flock of birds/chickens/sheep/goats

a herd of elephants/cattle

a swarm of bees/flies/animals/people

a troupe of actors

a gang of hooligans/criminals

a pack of hounds/cards/thieves

a bench of judges

7.2 Genitives

Genitive is the only case form in itself of nouns and pronouns that indicates possession. As “possession” is just one of the m eanings expressed by the genitive, we prefer to use “genitive case” instead of the traditional term “possessive case”.

Case is a grammatical term that shows the functional role of a noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun in relation to other words in the clause or sentence. Modern English does not have a complicated case system. The genitive, therefore, may be viewed as a relic passed down from old English.

1) Formation of the genitive

Rules of formation are as follows:

a) The genitive is formed in writing by adding ’s to singular nouns and to those plural nouns that do not end in –s, e.g.:

my mother’s arrival

women’s clothes

b) Plural nouns ending in –s take an apostrophe as genitive marker, e.g.: the girls’ dormitory

a teachers’ college

c) In compound nouns or a postmodified noun phrase, the genitive ending is added to the end of the compound or to the end of the noun phrase, eg: my mother-in-law’s death

an hour and a half’s talk

somebody else’s opinion

the University of Minnesota’s president

d) In coordinate nouns, the genitive ending is added to each of the coordinate elements when denoting respective possesion, and only to the last coordinate element when denoting common possession. Compare: Mary’s and Bob’s books

Mary and Bob’s books

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, eg:

Basel the bookseller’s

Basel’s, the bookseller’s

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, eg:

Dickens’/Dickens’s novels

Jones’/Jones’s poems

Marx’s doctrine

Ross’s discoveries

2) Meanings of the genitives

The genitive i s chiefly used to denote “possession”, and therefore, is traditionally called “possessive case”. But genitive meanings are by no

means restricted to possession. They can be summed up as follows: a) Possessive genitive, eg:

Mr. Brown’s suitcase has been tak en upstairs.

Taiwan is part of China’s territory.

b)Suubjective genitive, eg:

The Prime minister’s arrival was reported in the morning paper. Everybody was pleased at David’s quick recovery from illness.

c)Objective genitive, eg:

The enemy’s defeat brought the war to an end.

The criminals punishment will be ten years in prison.

d) Genitive of origin, eg:

I haven’t received my sister’s letter yet.

Newton’s law was developed in the 17th century.

e) Descriptive genitive, eg:

I first met her on a summer’s day

T his workshop makes men’s shoes.

f)Genitive of time, distance, measure, value, etc, eg:

two hours’delay

300 kilometres’ distance

five dollars’ worth of stamps

50 kilograms’ weight

3)Uses of the genitive

Genitive nouns are mostly used as central determiners and therefore perform the same

Function as “possessive determiners” (traditionally called “possessive pronouns”), eg:

the boy’s father= his father

the woman’s husband=her husband

the students’ essays=their essays

the prime minister’s arrival= his/ her arri val

the criminal’s punishment=his/her punishment

mary's letter=her letter

the stranger’s story=his story

As central determiner, genitive nouns can’t collocate with other central determiners, nor can they be preceded by a premodifier. For instance, we can say “Mary’s letter”, but not“a Mary’s letter”; we can say “Mary’s interesting letter” instead of “interesting Mary’s letter”.

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 phrase, eg:

a children’s book

these children’s books

an interesting children’s book

some other new chidren’s books

the newly published children’s boo k

a/another three days’ journey

a pleasant three days’ journey

another very boring three days’ journey

As central determiner, genitive nouns are sometimes interchangeable with of-phrases,eg:

China’s foreign policy=the foreign policy of China

an elephant’s trunk=the trunk of an elephant

the prime minister’s arrival= the arrival of the prime minister

the criminal’s punishment=the punishment of the criminal

Newton’s law=the law of Newton

Shakespeare’s tragedies= the tragedies of Shakespeare

But in some cases, we can only use genitive nouns instead of of-phrases, eg:

at one’s wit’s end

at swords’ points

a hair’s breadth

a wolf in sheep’s clothing

a bird’s-eye view

at a stone’s throw

In some other cases, however, we can only use of-phrases instead of genitive nouns, eg:

the opinion of the chairman appointed a month ago

the suggestions of those present at the meeting

the income of the rich

the struggle of the exploited

the city of Rome

4) Independent genitive

As has been mentioned in the previous section, a genitive noun can sometimes be used independently, that is, without a following noun. This use of the genitive may be termed as independent genitive. Independent genitive is used:

a) when the missing noun has occurred somewhere in the context and can be easily retrieved:

Her memory is like an elephant's.

M ary’s is the largest apartment in the building.

b) when the missing noun refers to somebody's house or residence:

I’m going to dine at my brother’s.

The doctor’s is on the other side of the street

c) when the missing noun refers to church, school, or other public buildings:

Joe lives near St. Paul's( Cathedral) in London.

He was educated at Merchant T aylor’s( school).

d) when the missing noun refers to a commercial firm:

Pickled vegetables are available at the gro cer’s.

Chinese toys are sold both at S mith's and at Brown’s.

5) Double genitive

An independent genitive can sometimes be used as prepositional complementation (traditionally known as prepositional “object”). The prepositional phrase (usually an of-phrase) that takes an independent genitive as complementation is called a “double genitive” , eg:

He is a friend of my father’s.=He is one of my father’s friends.

This is a painting of my roommate’s.=This is one of the paintings owned by my roommate.

She is a business client of Sir R oger’s. =She is one of Sir Roger's business clients

From the above examples, we can see that the independent genitive in the of-phrase must

be definite specific personal reference. Thus, we can say “a patient of the doctor’s”, but not

“X a patient of a doctor’s”; nor can we say “X an engine of the plane’s”. In the first example “a doctor's" is not definite specific reference, while in the second, the reference of “the p lane’s” is not personal.

From the above examples, we can also see that the noun phrase with a

double genitive as postmoditier usually takes an indefinite determiner such as a(n), some, any, etc, or a demonstrative determiner such as this, that to convey emotional feelings, eg:

a daughter of Mrs Green’s

any/ some daughters of Mrs Green’s

t wo daughters of Mrs Green’s

which daughter of Mrs Green’s

that daughter of Mrs Green’s

But we cannot say “X the daughter of Mrs G reen’s.”Semantically, a double genitive is different from an ordinary of-phrase. Compare:

He is a friend of m y father’s. =He is one of my father’s friends.

He is a friend of my father. Implies “He is friendly to my father”.

a portrait of Mr B rown’s =one of the portraits owned or collected by Mr Brown

a portrait of Mr Brown =a picture of Mr Brown himself

a criticism of Mr H amilton’s =one of the criticisms made by Mr Hamilton a criticism of Mr Hamilton =Mr Hamilton is criticized