17. Case as the grammatical category

Case is the immanent morphological category of the noun manifested in the forms of noun declension and showing the relations of the nounal referent to other objects and phenomena.

English nouns denoting living beings and some nouns denoting lifeless things have two cases: the common case – the boy / the boys; the genitive case – the boy’s book / the boys’ school.

The category of case is expressed in English by the opposition of the form in -‘s, usually called the possessive case, or more traditionally, the genitive case, to the unfeatured form of the noun, usually called the common case. The apostrophized -s serves to distinguish in writing the singular noun in the genitive case from the plural noun in the common case. E.g.: the President’s decision, the boy’s ball, the Empress’s jewels.

The genitive of the bulk of plural nouns remains phonetically unexpressed: the few exceptions concern only some of the irregular plurals (men’s hats). Thereby the apostrophe as the graphic sign of the genitive acquires the force of a sort of grammatical hieroglyph. E.g.: the carpenters’ tools, the mates’ skates, the actresses’ dresses.

Functionally, the forms of the English nouns designated as “case forms” relate to one another in an extremely peculiar way. The peculiarity is that the common form is absolutely indefinite from the semantic point of view, whereas the genitive form in its productive uses is restricted to the functions which have a parallel expression by prepositional constructions. Thus, the common form is also capable of rendering the genitive semantics (namely, in contact and prepositional collocation), which makes the whole of the genitive case into a kind of subsidiary element in the grammatical system of the English noun.

18. Basic semantic types of the Genitive case in the English language

Basic semantic types of the genitive case in the English language can be pointed out as follows:

1. The form which can be called the "genitive of possessor". Its constructional meaning can be defined as “inorganic” possession of the genitive referent to the object denoted by the head-noun. E.g.: Christine’s living-room; the assistant manager's desk; Kate and Jerry's grandparents, etc..

2. The form which can be called the "genitive of integer". Its constructional meaning is defined as "organic possession", i.e. a broad possessional relation of a whole to its part. E.g.: Jane's busy hands; Patrick's voice; the patient's health; the hotel's lobby. A subtype of the integer genitive expresses a qualification received by the genitive referent through the head-word. This subtype of the genitive can be called the "genitive of received qualification". E.g.: Mr. Dodson's vanity, the computer's reliability.

3. The "genitive of agent" renders an activity or some broader processual relation with the referent of the genitive as its subject. E.g.: the great man's arrival; Peter's insistence; the councillor's attitude. A subtype of the agent genitive expresses the author, or, the producer of the referent of the head-noun. It receives the name of the "genitive of author". E.g.: Beethoven's sonatas; the committee's progress report.

4. The "genitive of patient" expresses the recipient of the action or process denoted by the head-noun. E.g.: the champion's sensational defeat; Erick's final expulsion; the meeting's chairman; the city's business leaders; the Titanic's tragedy.

5. The "genitive of destination" denotes the destination, or function of the referent of the head-noun. E.g.: women's footwear; children's verses; a fishers' tent.

6. The "genitive of dispensed qualification" is some characteristic or qualification, not received, but given by the genitive noun to the referent of the head-noun. E.g.: a girl's voice; a book-keeper's statistics. The subtype of the genitive of dispensed qualification, which expresses a comparison is called the "genitive of comparison". E.g.: the cock's self-confidence of the man; his perky sparrow's smile

7. The "genitive of adverbial" denotes adverbial factors relating to the referent of the head-noun, mostly the time and place of the event. E.g.: the evening's newspaper; yesterday's encounter; Moscow's talks.

8. The "genitive of quantity" denotes the measure or quantity relating to the referent of the head-noun. For the most part, the quantitative meaning expressed concerns units of distance measure, time measure, weight measure. E.g.: three miles' distance; an hour's delay; two months' time; a hundred tons' load.