- •Introduction 220
- •§ 2. The phoneme, the morpheme, the word and the sen-Ic-nce are units of different levels of language structure. The phoneme is a unit of the lowest level, the sentence — of the highest.
- •Morphology
- •Introduction
- •The structure of words
- •§ 8. The word books-can be broken up in two parts: book-and -s. The content of the first part can be rendered by the
- •§ 10. The morphemes book- and -s differ essentially:
- •§ 13. Besides lexical and grammatical morphemes there exist some intermediate types.
- •§ 18. In accordance with their structure the following four types of stems are usually distinguished:
- •§ 70. A noun may be used in the function of almost any part of the sentence, though its most typical functions are those of the subject and the object. (See Syntax.) The Category of Number
- •§ 73. Since the 'singular' member of a number opposeme is not marked, the form of the opposeme is, as a rule, determined
- •§ 75. As a matter of fact, those nouns which have no number opposites are outside the grammatical category of number. But on the analogy of the bulk of English nouns they acquire
- •§ 77. As we have already seen (§62), variants of the same lexeme may belong to different subclasses of a part of speech.
- •§ 79. Nouns like police, militia, cattle, poultry are. Pluralia tantum, judging by their combinability, though not by form 3.
- •§ 80. Sometimes variants of a lexeme may belong to the same lexico-grammatical subclass and yet have different forms of number opposemes.
- •§ 82. Case is one of those categories which show the close connection (a) between language and speech, (b) between morphology and syntax.
- •Noun Grammemes in Speech
- •§ 88. The frequency of the occurrence of different grarn-rnemes in speech ' is different. We have analysed several
- •§ 90. The representatives of 'singular' grammemes constitute the bulH of nouns found in an English text (more than
- •§91. Nouns representing 'plural' grammemes may denote:
- •§92. Nouns represent ing 'common case' grammemes express a wide range of meanings, the exhaustive examination of which is hardly feasible. Here are some of them.
- •§ 93. As we have seen, 'possessive case' nouns occur a great deal less frequently than their opposites *.
- •§ 97. In the Russian language a noun in the genitive case may be adnominal and adverbial, I. E. It can be attached to a noun and to a verb.
- •§ 101. Let us compare the English noun with its Rir«ian ro'interpart. The five properties we use as criteria for distinguishing parts of speech will serve as the basis of comparison.
- •The adjective
- •§ 101. Adjectives are a part of speech characterized by the following typical features:
- •§ 104. Suppletive opposemes are few in number but of very frequent occurrence.
- •§ 111. The table below shows the relative frequency of the occurrence of the four grammemes in some literary texts
- •§ 113. In certain speech environments adjectives can be used .To communicate meanings in some respect different from those of the grammemes they belong to.
- •§ 115. Following is a brief comparison of the basic features of English and Russian adjectives.
- •The adverb
- •§ 116. The adverb is a part of speech characterized by the following features: *
- •§ 123. Quantitative adverbs like very, rather, too, nearly, greatly, fully, hardly, quite, utterly, twofold, etc. Show the degree, measure, quantity of an action, quality, state, etc.
- •§ 124. Circumstantial adverbs serve to denote various circumstances (mostly local and temporal) attending an action. Accordingly they fall under two heads:
- •§ 127. Circumstantial adverbs are mostly used in the function of adverbial modifiers of time and place.
- •§ 128. The words of an adverb lexeme like soon — sooner— soonest represent three grammemes with one actual grammat-
- •The numeral
- •§ 130. The numeral as a part of speech is characterized by
- •§ 131. The lexico-grammatical meaning of 'number' is not to be confused with the grammatical meaning of 'number'.
- •§ 133. In our opinion, the pair ten — tenth forms an oppo-seme of the grammatical category of numerical qualification.
- •§ 135. As to their stem structure English numerals fall into
- •§ 136. Numerals are easily substantivized, acquiring noun features.
- •Pronouns
- •4 Хаймович и др
- •§ 143. Since pronouns form a class chiefly on the basis of their semantical peculiarities, it is but natural that the
- •§ 144. The personal pronouns "are the nucleus of the class. They are: / (me), thou (thee)1, he (him), she (her), it, we (us), you, they (them).
- •§ 155. Like the personal and the possessive pronouns, the reflexive pronouns distinguish the lexico-grammatical meanings of person, number and gender.
- •§ 157. Se//-pronouns are often used in apposition for emphasis. Dickson's view on the Middle Ages themselves would have to wait until another time. (Amis).
- •§ 159. Demonstrative pronouns can be:
- •§ 162. The pronoun who is the only interrogative pronoun which has a case opposite, whom, as in Whom did you meet?
- •§ 163. The interrogative pronouns are used to form a definite type of sentence — special questions.
- •§ 181. Here belonged/- (others, other's, others'), another (another's) and otherwise.
- •§ 182. The pronoun one stands somewhat apart, outside the classification discussed above.
- •§ 183. As an indefinite pronoun it is usually a pro-adjective with the meaning "a certain" and refers to both living beings and inanimate things.
- •§ 184. As an indefinite or generalizhig personal pronoun one indicates only a person. It is a pro-noun. It has a case opposite one's and is correlated with the reflexive pronoun oneself.
- •§ 186. Summing up, we may say that the pronouns ere not united by any morphological categories, or syntactical functions. So they cannot be regarded as a part of speech.
- •The verb
- •§ 187. Analysing the verb in Modern Russian, V. V. VI-nogradov characterizes it as "the most complex and capacious part of speech" j. Likewise, a. I. Smirnitsky 2 stresses the
- •§ 188. As a part of speech the verb is characterized by the following properties:
- •§ 194. Semantically verbs divide into notional and semi-notional (see § 50).
- •§ 196. Modal verbs are characterized:
- •§ 200. As usual, variants of a verb lexeme may belong to different subclasses (see § 62).
- •§ 201. Verbs can be classified in accordance with the aspective nature of their lexical meanings into terminative and non-terminative 1.
- •§ 202. As usual, variants of the same lexeme may belong to different subclasses. When meaning '(to) engage in physical or mental activity', the verb (to)work is non-terminative.
- •§ 208. Participle II may have left-hand connections with link-verbs.
- •§ 213. Linguists disagree as to the category the 'perfect' belongs to.
- •§ 216. Let us take an extract from j. Galsworthy's novel To Let:
- •The Category of Aspect
- •§ 219. The problem of aspect is controversial in English grammar. There is but little consensus of opinion about this category in Modern English.
- •§ 220. The categories of tense and aspect characterize an action from different points of view. The tense of a verb shows 1 the time of the action, while the aspect of a verb deals with
- •§ 222. Besides those properties that characterize the verb as a whole, the finites possess certain features not shared by the verbids.
- •§ 224. Mood is the grammatical category of the verb reflecting the relation of the action denoted by the verb to reality from the speaker's point of view.
- •The Indicative Mood
- •§ 229. The indicative mood is the basic mood of the verb. Morphologically it is the most developed system including all the categories of the verb.
- •§ 233. The correlation of time and tense is connected with the problem of the absolute and relative use of tense gram-memes.
- •§ 236. In Modern English the category of person has certain peculiarities.
- •The Subjunctive Mood
- •§ 239. Probably the only thing linguists are unanimous about with regard to the subjunctive mood is that it represents an action as a 'non-fact', as something imaginary,
- •§ 240. The development of the modal verbs and that of the subjunctive mood — the lexical and morphological ways of expressing modality ] — have much in common.
- •§ 243. The 'passive voice' and 'continuous aspect' meanings are expressed much m the same way as in the indicative mood system.
- •§ 245. The difference between the two sets of opposemes /had written (order)
- •§ 246. What unites all the grammemes above and distinguishes them from the homonymous grammemes of the indicative mood as a system is
- •The Imperative Mood
- •Verb Grammemes in Speech
- •§ 252. The systems of different moods, as we know, contain different grammemes. We shall therefore discuss the grammemes of the indicative, subjunctive and imperative moods separately.
- •Indicative Mood Grammemes
- •§ 254. The action it denotes may either coincide with the moment of speech or cover a more or less lengthy period of time including the moment of speech.
- •§ 255. In a context showing that reference is made to the past, the present non-continuous non-perfect may be used to denote past events, mostly presented as the speaker's reminiscences.
- •§ 274. The present non-continuous perfect js regularly found in adverbial clauses of time and condition when the connotation of priority is implied.
- •§ 275. What makes the present non-continuous perfect fundamentally different from the past non-continuous non-perfect can be briefly summarized as follows:
- •§ 276. As a unit of the language system it presents an act in the past (past tense) unspecified as to its character (non-continuous aspect) and preceding some situation (perfect order).
- •§ 277. When used with terminative verbs it may acquire a distinct connotation of resultativity, as in
- •§ 278. The past non-continuous perfect may be inclusive in meaning if supported by the context.
- •§ 280. As a part of the verb system it presents a future action (future tense), unspecified as to its character (non-continuous aspect) and prior to some situation in the future (perfect order).
- •§ 281. As a language unit it presents an action associated with the present (present tense), viewed in its development (continuous aspect) and preceding some situation in the present (perfect order).
- •§ 285. The past continuous perfect has much in common with the present continuous perfect, the main difference between them being that of tense.
- •§ 286. Like the present continuous perfect it may be inclusive if supported by the context or else exclusive as in
- •§ 287. The future perfect continuous is actually nonexistent.
- •Voice Grammemes
- •§ 292. It has often been claimed that passive structures can be regarded as transforms of certain active structures 1.
- •§ 295. Representatives of subjunctive' I grammemes can be distinguished from their indicative and imperative mood homonyms as follows.
- •§ 296. Following are some types of clauses in which should grammemes and their synonyms are regularly used 1.
- •§ 297. The invited, wrote, were, etc. Grammemes of the subjunctive mood system and all the grammemes containing
- •Imperative Mood Grammemes in Speech
- •§ 303. Besides the features common to the English verb as a whole (see § 188) the verbids have certain features of their own distinguishing them from the finite verb.
- •§ 306. The verbids do not possess many of the categories of the finite verb, such as number, person, tense and mood.
- •§ 307. Here is a table presenting the paradigms of the verbids
- •§ 309. The functions of the verbids in the sentence are different from those of the finite verb. The latter regularly
- •§ 311. The infinitive is a verbid characterized by the following features:
- •§ 317. The participle is a verbid characterized by the following properties:
- •§ 319. As we have already mentioned, the adjectival and the adverbial features of the participle are connected with its combinability.
- •§ 321. The gerund is a verbid characterized by the following features:
- •§322. The gerund, like the infinitive, combines verbal and noun features, yet the gerund is more of a noun than the infinitive, which is to some extent explained by the fact
- •§ 324. The gerund, which is a peculiarity of the English language, is very extensively used as the centre of complexes (nexuses) synonymous with subordinate clauses. Compare:
- •§ 326. In compliance with the system adopted we shall now work out the comparison of the basic features of the English verb with those of the Russian verb.
- •The adlink (the category of state)
- •§ 327. In Modern English there exists a certain class of words such as asleep, alive, afloat, which is characterized by:
- •The modal words* (modals)
- •§ 329. As a part of speech the modals are characterized by the following features:
- •§ 331. The relatively negative combinability of modal words manifests itself in various ways.
- •§ 332. Functioning as a parenthetical element of a sentence, a modal word is usually connected with the sentence as a whole.
- •§ 333. The usage of modals depends upon the type of sentence. They are found almost exclusively in declarative sentences, very rarely in interrogative and almost never in imperative sentences.
- •The response words
- •§ 334. The response-words yes and no are characterized as a separate class by
- •§ 335. Practically every notional word can alone make a sentence in a certain situation of speech.
- •The interjection
- •The preposition
- •§ 345. As elsewhere the lexico-grammatical meaning of prepositions is an abstraction from their individual lexical meanings. Let us compare the following combinations of words:
- •§ 348. Bilateral combinability is typical not only of prepositions but of other linking words as well: conjunctions, link-verbs and modal verbs. But the combinability of prepo-
- •§351. The combinability of at in th'e last example resembles, to some extent, that of an adverb. Cf. To be laughed away (off).
- •The conjunction
- •§ 359. The combinability of subordinating conjunctions is somewhat different from that of coordinating ones.
- •§ 360. The division of conjunctions into coordinating and subordinating ones is chiefly based on their lexio-al meanings and the types of units they connect.
- •§ 361. According to their meanings coordinating conjunctions are divided into
- •§ 362. Though for and so are considered coordinating conjunctions, they are in fact intermediate between coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.
- •§ 363. The conjunctions are not numerous, but of very frequent occurrence in speech.
- •The article
- •§ 364. The two words a(n), the form a separate group or class characterized by
- •§ 367. Some grammarians speak of the 'zero article' 1 or the 'zero form of the indefinite article' 2. We are definitely against these terms.
- •§ 369. In accordance with its meaning 'one of many' the indefinite article is used to denote one thing of a class .And is therefore a classifying article.
- •The particle
- •§ 376. As a rule, the combinability of particles is unilateral and variable. They can specify different classes of words or clauses. Most of them precede the unit they specify, but some
- •§ 377. Like most particles not can be used with different classes of words or clauses (not he, not the student, not beautiful, not forty, not yesterday, not to see, not seeing, not when he comes).
- •Introduction
- •§ 381. Within a sentence, the word or combination of words that contains the meanings of predicativity may be called the predication.
- •§ 384. The main parts of the sentence are those whose function it is to make the predication. They are the subject and the predicate of the sentence.
- •§ 389. In the sentence Birds fly, as we have seen, the syntactical and the lexical meanings of the subject and the predicate go together. But English has a system of devices to separate them.
- •§391. Let us now consider the grammatical word-morphemes do, does, did in sentences like Does she ever smile"? We do not know him, etc.
- •§393. Every predication can be either positive or negative.
- •Ial complex»
- •§ 396. As defined (§ 3), when studying the structure of a unit, we find out its components, mostly units of the next lower level, their arrangement and their functions as parts of the unit.
- •§ 397. The development of transform grammar (Harris, Chomsky) and tagmemic grammar (Pike) is to a great extent
- •§ 401. Depending on their relation to the members of the predication the words of a sentence usually fall into two groups — the group of the subject and the group of the predicate 1.
- •A. As to Their Structure
- •§ 403. Sentences with only one predication are called simple sentences. Those with more than one predication have usually no general name 3. We shall call them composite sentences.
- •§ 404. The clauses of a composite sentence may be joined with the help of connective words (syndetically) or directly, without connectives (asyndetically).
- •§ 405. A simple sentence or a clause containing some words besides the predication is called extended. An unextend-ed sentence (clause) contains no other parts but the subject and the predicate.
- •§ 409. Not all interrogative sentences are syntactical opposites of declarative sentences.
- •§ 411. The sentences below form opposemes of some syntactical category.
- •§ 415. Let us compare the following pairs of sentences:
- •Combinations of Sentences
- •§ 418. We find no predication in the second sentence of the following dialogue.
- •§ 419. The sentence-words yes and no are regularly used as adjuncts of some head-sentences.
- •The simple sentence parts of the sentence
- •§ 421. The traditional classification of the parts of the sentence is open to criticism from the point of view of consistency.
- •§ 425. The subject of a simple sentence can be a word, a syntactical word-morpheme or a complex.
- •§ 430. The predicate is the member of a predication con taining the mood and tense (or only mood) components of predicativity. "
- •§ 431. The predicate can be a word or a syntactical word-morpheme. When it is a notional word, it is not only the structural but the notional predicate as well.
- •Predicative Complements (Predicatives)
- •Objective Complements (Objects)
- •§ 448. Like other parts of a simple sentence (clause), objective complements may be expressed by complexes and are then called complex objects.
- •Adverbial Complements (Adverbials)
- •§ 454. Below are some specimens of quantitative adverbial complements.
- •§455. Circumstantial adverbials, or as a. I. Smirnitsky calls them, adverbials of situation, comprise:
- •§ 457. As follows from the string of examples given above, in simple sentences adverbial complements are usually adverbs, nouns (mostly with prepositions), verbids and verbid complexes.
- •§ 458. Comparing English adverbials with those in Russian one can see that despite some common features (meaning, types), they are in a number of points different.
- •Attributes
- •§ 459. Attributes are secondary parts of the sentence serving to modify nouns or noun-equivalents in whatever functions they are used in the sentence.
- •§ 460. Attributes are formally indicated only by the position they occupy, save the demonstrative pronouns this, these, that, those which, besides, agree in number with the uord they modify.
- •§ 466. We do not dwell here on the so-called loose appositions because the latter (as well as other loose (detached) parts of the sentence) are discussed in detail elsewhere. 2 Extensions
- •Connectives
- •§ 469. Connectives are linking-words considered as a secondary part of the sentence. They are mostly prepositions and conjunctions.
- •9 Хаймовнч и др.
- •§ 473. Parenthetical elements are peculiar parts of the sentence.
- •§ 474. In accordance with their meanings parenthetical elements fall into four major groups:
- •§ 475. In a simple sentence parenthetical elements may be expressed by individual words (modal words, adverbs, nouns) and word-combinations of different nature.
- •§ 476. In most cases parenthetical elements are connected, in sense with the sentence as a whole, that is why they have no fixed position in the sentence.
- •§ 477. We have already dwelt upon the fact that in Modern "English syntactical relations of words in the sentence are very often indicated by the position the words occupy in the sentence.
- •II. The Position of the Object
- •§ 479. The direct object is usually placed after the verb unless the indirect object precedes it.
- •§ 480. Sometimes the object is pushed to the front of the sentence. It occurs:
- •§ 482. The indirect object cannot be used in the sentence without the direct object. The indirect object is regularly put before the direct object as in That gave me a new idea.
- •§ 483. In most cases they follow the direct object, though for stylistic purposes, I. E. For emphasis and expressiveness, they may be placed at the head of the sentence.
- •§ 487. The position of an attribute depends both on the head-word a nd on the attribute. If the head-word is a pronoun, the attribute is, as a rule, postpositive.
- •§ 488. In postposition attributes often acquire what we might call a 'semi-predicative' connotation.
- •§ 489. If there are two or more prepositive attributes to one and the same noun their order is dependent upon a number of factors which appear to be semantic and stylistic rather than grammatical. :
- •§ 491. As to the position of the other parts of the sentence, see the combinability of the corresponding parts of speech.
- •The compound sentence
- •§ 497. The compound sentence usually describes events in their natural order, reflecting the march of events spoken of in the sequence of clauses. '2
- •The complex sentence
- •§ 498. The principal clauses of complex sentences are usually not classified, though their meanings are not neutral with regard to the meanings of the subordinate clauses.
- •§ 502. Subordinate clauses are connected with the principal clause by conjunctions, conjunctive and relative pronouns or asyndetically.
- •§ 506. The mood of the predicate verb of a subordinate clause depends on the principal clause to a greater extent than its tense.
- •§ 507. The subject clause is the only one used in the function of a primary part of the sentence.
- •Complement Clauses
- •§ 519. A variety of attributive clauses is the appositive clause, which formally differs from an attributive clause in being introduced by a conjunction (that, if, whether].
- •Extension Clauses
- •§ 520. Extension clauses are postpositive adjuncts of adjectives, adverbs and adlinks.
- •Parenthetical Clauses
- •§ 521. Most authors who do not regard parenthetical elements as parts of the sentence treat It is past ten, I think as a simple sentence 1. We do not find this view convincing. -
- •§ 522. In most cases parenthetical clauses are introduced asyndetically, though now and again the conjunctions as, if, etc, are used.
- •§ 523. Sometimes subordination and coordination may be combined within one sentence, in which case we may have compound-complex and complex-compound sentences.
- •Direct and indirect speech
- •§ 524. Among the composite sentences of English and other languages we find a peculiar type differing from the rest.
- •§ 525. There is no agreement as to the syntactical nature of a sentence like He said, "I love you".
- •§ 527. The introductory part of direct speech may precede the quotation, follow it, or be inserted in it.
- •§ 528. The so-called 'indirect speech' does not differ grammatically from the conventional types of sentences.
- •§ 529. The "rules for changing from direct into indirect speech" found in most English grammars are rules for reducing two predicative centres to one — that of the author.
- •§ 532. The abundant use of grammatical word-morphemes compensates the English verb system for the scarcity of inflexions. This is another striking feature of English, as com-
- •§ 537. The role of grammatical word-morphemes is even greater in English syntax than in morphology.
- •§ 539. It is owing to most of the features described above that Modern English is spoken of as an analytical language.
§ 90. The representatives of 'singular' grammemes constitute the bulH of nouns found in an English text (more than
3' 07
70 per cent of the total number). Following is a brief summary of what a 'singular' noun may denote in speech.
One object. The plane struck a seagull. (Daily Worker).
A unique object. Shakespeare's name will live forever. (Ib.).
A whole class ol objects. The English gen.tleman is dead. (Walpole). „
In this sense 'singularity' gets very close to 'plurality'. So close indeed, that sometimes 'singular' and 'plural' nouns are actually interchangeable.
Cf The polar bear lives in the North. Polar bears live in the North.
Here as elbewhere extremes meet.
A 'singular' collective noun stands for a group of beings or things viewed as an integrated whole, e. g. peasantry, humanity, mankind.
A 'singular' abstract or material noun may show some abstract concept or substance which is not associated with any idea of singularity.
/ have accepted with tolerance the establislied conventions of syntax. (Vailins).
§91. Nouns representing 'plural' grammemes may denote:
1. Two or more homogeneous objects.
Molly was very proud to be able to decide such q*u e s -t i о п s. (Steinbeck).
2. A whole class of objects.
The Hindus and the Muslims liked and trusted him. (Maugham).
Foreigners on the whole were very dangerous people. (I b).
3. A number of objects similar, though not identical (the plural of approximation).
A woman in her late thirties.
4. Individual objects.
His trousers looked shabby.
5. A mass of some substance.
A lion does not live on leavings. (Maxwell).
6, Boundless extension or repetition. The^isage is aimed al producing a stylistic effect.
The s n о w s of the Polar Region. The waters of the Danube.
§92. Nouns represent ing 'common case' grammemes express a wide range of meanings, the exhaustive examination of which is hardly feasible. Here are some of them.
1. A doer of an action or the carrier of some property.
The young worker challenged the Prime Minister to go and meet Britain's ^obless young people. (Daily Worker).
2. A recipient of some action.
He wanted to employ the a x i о т s of arithmetic. (Whitta-ker).
3. The person (or thing) for whom something is done.
He gave M a r у no time to change her mind. (Daily Worker).
4. An instrument. When so used, the 'common case* noun is mostly associated with a preposition,
e. g. to cut with a knife.
5. Circumstances of different events. When so used, the 'common case' noun is mostly introduced by a preposition.
Time: Every Saturday night she bought a joint of meat. (Coppard).
Place: / arrived at P a r k Lane. (\\'ilde).
Manner: Everything went off without a h i t с h. (Hornby), etc.
6. A property or characteristic of some substance.
The house committee was ready to act. (Daily Worker). 1. A person or thing as an object of comparison. That monster of a dog.
§ 93. As we have seen, 'possessive case' nouns occur a great deal less frequently than their opposites *.
1 Some linguists regard the possessive case as a disappearing case (see, for instance, M. Bryant. A Functional English Grammar. Boston,
69
The range of meaning of the possessive case is incomparably narrower than that of the common case. Yet linguists point out a number of meanings a 'possessive case' noun may express in speech д.
possession, belonging (Peter's bicycle)
personal or social relations (Peter's wife)
authorship (Peter's poem)
origin or source (the sun's rays)
kind or species (ladies' hats)
the relation of the whole to its part (Peter's hand)
g) subjective relations (Peter's arrival) h) objective relations (Peter's being sent)
i) characteristic (her mother's care) (rather rare) j) measure (a night's reflection; a mile's distance).
§ 94. Sometimes the relations of a 'possessive case' noun are ambiguous. The relation in her daughter's loss may be interpreted either as subjective or as objective. This can be accounted for by the fact that her daughter's loss may be regarded as a transformation (or a transform) of two different sentences.
Her daughtei lost ... Her daughter was lost
her daughter's loss
In other words, having no voice distinctions, the noun loss may correspond to both the active and the passive voice of the verb.
§ 95. Since both 'possessive case' and 'common case' nouns may have right-hand connections with other nouns, it is interesting to see the difference between the two combinations in speech. This is what W. N. Francis writes on the subject 2: "Nouns make up a considerable number (as many as 25 per sent) of the single-word modifiers of nouns ...
1945, p. 36) Others (Ch. Barber. Linguistic change in Present-Day English Edinburgh, 1964, p. 132) speak of "the spreading of the 's-genitive at the expense of the ^/-genitive".
1 See Г. H. Воронцова, op. cit., p. 40.
2 The Structure of American English. New York, 1958.
70
Possessive
child's play a dog's life a day's work my father's house that woman's doctor
Noun-adjunct
child psychology the dog days' the day shift a father image that woman doctor
The last pair illustrates vividly the difference in meaning there may be between these two structures of modification. The formal difference between them may be described as follows: a construction with of may be substituted for the possessive construction, and the determiner * (if there is one) will then go with the modifying noun; on the other hand, some other kind of construction must be substituted for the noun-adjunct, and the determiner goes with the head noun. In the following illustrations the symbol > means -"transforms into".
but but
My father's house > that father image > that woman's doctor > that woman doctor >
house of my father
that image like (a) father
doctor of that woman
that doctor who is a woman".
§ 96. As we see, the relations expressed by a 'possessive case' noun can usually be rendered by its 'common case' opposite preceded by of (the so-called 'o/-phrase'). The 'possessive case' noun and the corresponding o/-phrase are synonymous, but to a certain extent only.
Unlike the possessive case, the o/-phrase is freely used with all nouns irrespective of their lexical meanings. Its range of meaning is much wider than that of the possessive case. Thus, besides the 'possessive case' relations already mentioned it may show the relations of appraisal (a man of strong will), of material (a table of oak), of composition (a group of children), etc.
The of-phrase is believed to sound more formal than the possessive case. In formal style it is more common than the possessive.
E. g. Head of a girl (in a picture or sculpture exhibition programme), not a girl's Iwad.
1 Article, possessive or demonstrative pronoun, etc. attached to the noun.
71