THE ARTICLE. The independent (absolute) genitive

The independent (absolute) genitive

A noun in the genitive may be used without a head-word. It is used:

a) to avoid repetition: “Whose hat is that?” — “ Virgina’s ”;

b) to denote places where business is conducted: a t the hairdresser’s, at the butcher’s;

c) People’s houses can be referred to in this way when we are talking about the host-guest relationship: We hold a lovely evening at Peter and Helen’s. Roger was at the Watsons’ last night;

d) Firms and institutions, hospitals, churches and cathedrals often have names, ending in -s genitive. The names of firms are often written without an apostrophe: Harrods, Selfridges, Bank of Berkley’s (or Barkleys), McDonald's (or McDonalds), Marks and Spencer's (or Marks and Spencers), St Paul’s (Cathedral), St John’s (College).

There is also the double genitive. It is used when a noun is modified by two successive nouns one of which is in the genitive case and the other with the “of”- phrase: a friend of my father’s.

The noun in the genitive case must be both definite and personal: a story of Agatha Christie’s, a story of my father’s, but not: a story of a writer’s.

Note alsothat the noun preceding the “of” - phrase cannot be a proper noun: Mrs Brown’s Mary but never Mary of Mrs. Brown.

It is importantto remember that the noun preceding the “of” - phrase is premodified with the indefinite article as the meaning of the double genitive is “one of many”: a friend of Mrs White’s, but not the friend of Mrs White’s.

It is also possible to use demonstrative pronouns which presuppose familiarity: t his wife of John’s, that idea of Ann’s.

The article is a structural word specifying the noun. There are two articles in English — the definite article the and the indefinite article a.

The indefinite article conveys the idea of indefiniteness. The definite article conveys the idea of definiteness. Definiteness suggests that the object presented by the noun is individualized and singled out from all the other objects of the same kind, while indefiniteness means a more general reference to an object.

Both the definite and the indefinite articles have developed from notional parts of speech, whose influence is traced in their meaning and use.

The definite article developed from demonstrative pronouns this, that, which account for its meaning of definiteness. The demonstrative force remains in many phrases, such as at the time, of the kind.

The indefinite article developed from the cardinal numeral one. The numerical meaning is evident in such phrases as at a time, in a moment, not a sound.

Since the choice of articles is determined by the context or the general situation we should pay attention to different attributes modifying nouns. All attributes are generally divided into restrictive (or limiting) and descriptive.

A descriptive attribute is used to describe an object (or a group of objects) or give additional information about it:

He wore a large straw hat.

A restrictive attribute indicates such a quality or characteristic of an object which makes it distinct from other objects of the class:

She accepted the coffee he offered her.

Both descritive and restrictive attributes can be premodifying (occupying the position before the noun), and postmodifying (used after the noun).

Nouns modified by restrictive attributes are used with the definite article, nouns modified by descriptive attributes are mainly used with the indefinite article.

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