The names of Russian cases in English. Possessive case of nouns in English

noun in English has two cases: Common Case and Possessive Case.

Common case have all nouns; this is the form in which it is given in the dictionary. In the common case, the noun has no special ending.

noun in possessive case denotes belonging, answers the question Whose? - Whose? and serves as a definition in relation to another noun.

Form possessive case usually have animate nouns that denote a living being to which some object, quality or attribute belongs. It is formed by the ending -s, preceded by an apostrophe: the girl girl—the girl 's bag girls bag. If the noun is expressed in plural, formed in the classical way, namely, by adding the ending -s or -es, then only added apostrophe -ʼ: her relatives' house- the house of her relatives.

According to the rules of English grammar, a noun in the possessive case takes place before the noun of which it serves as a modifier. In Russian it is transmitted through the genitive case or possessive adjective. Shown below various ways Possessive case expressions in English.

A noun can serve definition to another noun and in the case when it stands before it in the general case, that is, without any change in its form. Such a noun is translated into Russian by an adjective or noun in one of the indirect cases: cane sugar cane sugar, sugar cane sugar cane, life insurance life insurance, payment agreement payment agreement, cotton market cotton market, tin trade tin trade.

In many cases, a noun is preceded by not one, but two or more nouns as a modifier. Some of them are translated into Russian adjectives, and others — nouns in one of the indirect cases: home market prices domestic market prices, meat price decrease reduction in meat prices. Accordingly, if a sentence contains several nouns in a row, the last one is the main one, and the previous ones are its definitions: state power system —system state power.

Noun with antecedent numeral, serving as a definition, usually appears in the form singular:the five-year plan five year plan,a ten-year old girl ten year old girl,a ten-pound note ten pound note.

Join us onFacebook!

See also:

We suggest taking tests online:

Here you can find English cases, their names, examples of application.

CASE

1. In English, only two cases of nouns have been preserved: the Common Case and the Possessive Case.

A noun in the general case does not have a special ending. The function of a noun in the general case is determined by its place in the sentence:

After exams (adverb of time) students (subject) of the history faculty (definition) left for an archaeological expedition.
After the exams, students of the Faculty of History went on an archaeological expedition.

2. A noun in the possessive case expresses belonging, is a definition of another noun and is placed in front of it.

The possessive case form is formed by adding "s (apostrophe and s) to a singular noun in the common case. This ending is pronounced according to the same rules as the ending plural nouns, i.e. depending on the previous sound:

1. After voiceless consonants like [s]:
the cadet's book

2. After voiced consonants and vowels like [z]:
Frunze"s works ["frunzaz] - works of Frunze
the worker's profession - worker's profession

3. After hissing sounds like:
Bush's songs - Bush's songs

3. The possessive case form of nouns ending in the common case with the consonants -s, -ss, -x, is formed using only an apostrophe ("). In this case, the final consonants are pronounced as:

Dickens" ["dikinziz] works - works by Dickens

4. The possessive form of plural nouns with a plural ending -s is formed by adding only an apostrophe (") to the ending:

his brothers" teacher - his brothers' teacher

The possessive case form of nouns that do not have a plural ending is formed, as in the singular, by
additions "s:

her children's room

5. To form the possessive case form of compound nouns, "s is added to the stem of the last word:

editor-in-chief's room - office of the editor-in-chief

6. The following nouns can have the possessive case form:
a. All nouns denoting animate objects:

the cat's eyes - the eyes of a cat
his brother's name - his brother's name

b. Collective nouns:

party's policy - party policy
their family's pride - the pride of their family

c. Nouns denoting the concepts of time, distance, weight, cost:

an hour's walk - an hour's walk
at one mile"s distance - at a distance of one mile

d. Nouns denoting names
stars, planets, cities, countries, seas, etc.:

the moon's light - the light of the moon (moonlight)
the ocean's waves - ocean waves

e. Nouns denoting cars
parts of cars, ships, aircraft, etc.:

the plane's engine - aircraft engine
the steamer's name - the name of the steamer

f. Nouns that are geographical proper names:

New York's life - life of New York
Mont Blanc's peak - the top of Mont Blanc

g. Nouns meaning seasons,
days of the week, parts of the day, etc.

the spring's streams - spring streams
today's lesson - today's lesson

The form of the possessive case has been preserved in some expressions:

live by one's finger's ends - go to the extreme
for pity's sake - I beg you
a pin's head - pin head, etc.

In all other cases, the relation of belonging is conveyed by a noun with the preposition of. A noun with the preposition of is placed after the noun it modifies:

the center of the city - city center

EXPRESSION OF CASE RELATIONS

7. The relations of nouns to other words in a sentence, which in Russian are conveyed through case endings, namely the relations of the genitive, dative and instrumental cases, in English are conveyed by nouns in the general case in combination with prepositions.

8. Relations conveyed in Russian by the genitive case (answering the questions of whom? What?) are expressed using the preposition of:

Music is the universal language of mankind.
Music is the universal language of humanity.

9. Relations conveyed in Russian by the dative case (answering the questions to whom? to what?) are expressed in English using the preposition to:

The name of Zina Portnova, a young partisan from Leningrad was given to an ocean liner.
The name of Zina Portnova, a young partisan from Leningrad, was given to the ocean liner.

10. Relations conveyed in Russian by the instrumental case (answering the questions by whom? with what?) are expressed in English using the prepositions by or with. In this case, a noun with the preposition by means character, effective force, and a noun with the preposition with (except for cases when this preposition indicates the compatibility of an action and corresponds to the Russian prepositions с, с) denotes an instrument or instrument of action:

I have got many books written by J. London.
I have many books written by J. London.

We write with a pen or a pencil.
We write with a pen or pencil.

I"ll help you with great pleasure.
It will be my great pleasure to help you.

11. Case relations can be expressed by other prepositions:

On the way downstairs the nurse told me the story of my two friends.
On the way to the bottom floor, the nanny told me the story of two of my friends.

Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people.
Democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

In the case when in the general case it is used without a preposition, it the relationship to other words in a sentence is determined solely by the place occupied in the sentence. If the noun is located before the predicate, then it is subject and corresponds to the nominative case in Russian. If it's worth after the predicate, then it is direct object and is more often used in the accusative case.

• The student(Student: noun as subject) recognized the teacher (recognized the teacher).
• The teacher recognized student(student: direct object).

Between the predicate and the noun, which is a direct object, there can be another noun in the general case without a preposition, denoting a person. Such a noun is indirect object and corresponds to the dative case in Russian.

A noun in the possessive case answers the question whose? - whose? whose? whose?, serves as a definition denoting the ownership of an object. Only animate nouns are used in the possessive case.

Formation of the possessive case

In the singular, the possessive case is formed by adding the ending -"s.

• The girl's hat - Girl's hat
• The hourse's leg - Horse's leg

In the plural, the possessive case is formed by simply adding an apostrophe:

• The boys" books - Boys' books
• The workers" tools - Workers' tools

If there are two or more persons possessing the object, then the ending of the possessive case is added to the last noun:

• Mary and Helen's flat is large - Peter and Helen's apartment is large

Use of the possessive case

When a noun (friends), defined by a noun in the possessive case (Kate's), has with it other definitions (best), then the noun in the possessive case (Kate's) comes before them (best):

• Kate's friends - Katya's friends
• Kate's best friends - Katya's best friends

Along with a noun in the possessive case, a noun with a preposition is used to express ownership of.

• My friend's father = The father of my friend - My friend's father

1. The concept of grammatical category in English.

The grammatical category is one of the basic concepts of any language, including English. A grammatical category is a union of two or more grammatical forms that are opposed or correlated in grammatical meaning. This grammatical meaning is assigned to a given set of forms (paradigm). There is no grammatical category outside of constant formal indicators. A grammatical category includes at least two opposed forms, but possibly more. Thus, there are three forms of time - present, past and future, four verb categories - basic, continuous, perfect and perfect-continuous, but two forms of the number of nouns, two voices, etc. There are no categories that have only one form: not there may be one article, one voice, etc. Opposition within a category is necessary, although not necessarily binary.

2. Case category. Correlation of cases of Russian and English languages.

In contrast to the clearly defined category of number (the contrast between singularity and plurality of objects), the problem of case comes down to the question of whether case exists at all in the English language. The answer to this question depends primarily on whether case is considered as a form or only as content conveyed by one means or another. We proceed from the position that case is a morphological category that conveys the relationship of a name in a sentence. It follows that certain relations conveyed by case must be conveyed by the form of the name itself. All other means not contained in the form of a name (prepositions, word order) are not morphological and therefore cannot be considered as case forms. It also follows that there cannot be less than two cases. Unlike the Russian language, which has six cases, in English it is usually customary to talk about exactly two cases of nouns in the English language: the common case (Common Case) and the possessive case (Possessive Case).

2.1 General case.

The common case is the dictionary form of a singular noun or the plural form of a noun:

student - students student - students

man - men

I am a student. I have a friend. My friend is a student too. We are a students. I am a student. I have a friend. He is also a student. We are both students.

A noun in the general case without a preposition, depending on the place it occupies in the sentence, conveys the relationship expressed in Russian by nouns in the nominative, accusative or dative case: The student answered well. (This) student answered well. The teacher asked the student about his work. (This) teacher asked (this) student about his work.

2.2 Possessive case.

The suffixes -‘s and - s‘ are signs of the possessive case of a noun. Nouns in the possessive case express the relation of an object's belonging to a person or another object. And for comparison:
Mr. Ford's cars. - Cars belonging to Mr. Ford.
The cars of Ford. - Ford cars, their brand.
Ann's photo. - a photograph of Anna that belongs to her, but this photo may not depict Anna.
The photo of Ann. - a photograph of Anna in which she is depicted, but this photo may not belong to Anna.
Tolstoy’s books - books by Tolstoy (belonging to him)
The books by Tolstoy - books by Tolstoy (written by him)
For an unambiguous expression of belonging and possession, the possessive case form is preferable.

The possessive case sign can form the entire group of a noun:
The Prime Minister of England’s residence. - Residence of the Prime Minister of England.
A noun in the prepositional case in Russian usually corresponds to a noun in the genitive case:
The Earth's rotation. - Rotation of the Earth.
Marx's works. - Works of Marx.
A noun in the possessive case can also be translated into Russian as an adjective:
Woker's parties - workers' parties.
Today's level - modern level.
In the possessive case, nouns can be used to denote:
a) Persons: you friend’s name - the name of your friend;
b) Animals: the dog’s head - the head of a dog;
c) Time and other units of measurement: a month’s term - a period of one month;
d) names of countries, months, seasons, astronomical concepts:
Great Britain's territory - territory of Great Britain. Nouns denoting inanimate objects, as a rule, are not used in the possessive case.


2.3 Possessive constructions.

Nouns with the suffix - 's (-s') together with the noun that follows them form a possessive construction, in which the noun with the suffix - 's (-s') is a determiner to the noun that follows it and answers the questions Whose? Whom? What? Jack’s room - Jack’s room (whose?).

Typical situations in which the possessive construction is used:
1) Designation of ownership of a given thing by a person:
Ivanov’s pen - Ivanov’s pen.
2) Designation of a person’s ownership of ideas, theories, works, etc.:
George Byron's poems - poems by George Byron 3) Designation of actions, properties, states and their relationship with the person as a performer or bearer:
The doctor’s arrival - the doctor’s arrival
The old woman’s story - the old woman’s story
The ship's departure - departure of the ship.


2.4 Ways of expressing grammatical relations of a noun.

The relationships between nouns and other words in a sentence are expressed as follows:
I. Relations conveyed in Russian by a noun in the nominative case, which performs the function of the subject, are expressed in English by a noun in the general case, which occupies first place in the sentence.
The nurse brought him a glass of water. - The nurse brought him a glass of water.
II. Relations, which in the Russian language are conveyed by a noun in the genitive case, expressing belonging, part of a whole, etc., are most often conveyed in English through the preposition of in combination with a noun, which acts as a right definition.
The face of the clock - clock dial;
The hands of the clock - the hands of the clock.
III. Relations, which in Russian are conveyed by nouns in the dative case, are expressed in English by combining a noun with the preposition to. Give the newspaper to Father. - Give the newspaper to your father. I am often invited to him. - I am often invited to see him.
IV. Relations that in Russian are conveyed by nouns in the accusative case are usually expressed in English by a noun placed after a transitive verb.
The boy is writing a letter. - The boy is writing a letter.
Take the skates to my brother. - Take these skates to my brother.
V. Relations, which in Russian are conveyed by nouns in the instrumental case, are expressed in English through the preposition by in combination with a noun, or the preposition with. A noun with the preposition by (with) is a prepositional object.
The dishes were washed by Mary. - The dishes were washed by Mary.
VI. Relations, which in Russian are conveyed by nouns in the prepositional case, are expressed in English by various prepositions (in, on, at, from, etc.) in combination with a noun.
The ship was sailing in the ocean. - The ship was sailing in the ocean.
The teacher put the books on my desk. - The teacher put the books on my desk.

2.4 Correspondence of English and Russian cases when translating a noun without a preposition.

A noun without a preposition, occupying first place in a sentence (1), i.e. standing before the personal form of the verb (2), is grammatically related to it and expresses the attitude conveyed in Russian nominative case(Who? What?).
(1) (2) The work advanced well. - The work was going well.
A noun without a preposition, occupying third place in a sentence (3), i.e. standing after a verb in the personal form (2), or after a transitive verb, is grammatically related to it and expresses an attitude usually conveyed in Russian accusative case(Who? What?).
(2) (3) He stopped the car. - He stopped the car.
A noun without a preposition that comes between transitive verb(2) and another noun (3), can express a relationship conveyed in Russian by the dative case (To whom? To what?).
(2) (3) (3) The teacher showed the student the map. - The teacher showed the student the map.

2.5 Correspondence of English and Russian cases when translating a noun with a preposition.

Prepositions before nouns express grammatical relations conveyed in Russian by indirect cases, i.e. any except nominative and accusative.
The answer of the student was excellent. - The answer from (who?) the student was excellent.
I covered the drawing with a sheet of paper. - I covered the drawing with (what?) a sheet of paper.


3. Case of pronouns

In English, personal pronouns, as well as interrogative pronoun who have, in addition to the nominative, also the objective case.
I am a student. - I'm a student. (Nominative)
Please send him a letter. - Send him a letter, please (Objective case)

4. Problems associated with determining case in English.

There are no problems with determining the general case. The most big problem associated with the definition of the possessive case in oral speech. The English practically do not use the plural possessive case in oral speech, because by ear it is impossible to distinguish this form from the singular form. For comparison: the boy’s room and the boys’ room. Of course, there may be cases of unambiguous interpretation of his mother’s voice, the boys’ heads, but they do not determine the overall picture. It is explained by the homonymy of forms such as boy’s, boys, boys’. The only exception is the forms men’s, children’s, which retain the internal inflection in the plural, and in the case of children - also a non-standard internal formant. However, these two cases are outside the general model.

English grammar does not have a system of cases similar to Russian, but it does have its own special case, which has no analogue in Russian. More precisely, there are such constructions in our language, but they relate to a completely different part of speech - adjective. What is this? As you probably already guessed, today we will talk about the possessive case of nouns in English. Let's study this branch of the English language system and learn how to use it correctly by working on this skill with the help of an exercise.

In fact, English nominally has three case forms: subject, object and possessive. Why nominal? Because in practice, visible changes to the word occur only in the possessive case . The remaining two cases are a kind of marker for revealing the syntactic role of the word.

The subject form, as the name suggests, always belongs to the subject, that is, the subject performing the action. The objective case of nouns indicates that these words play the role of a complement in a sentence. But, again, we repeat, this theoretical knowledge will be of little use in practice, because in both cases the noun will have the same dictionary form. Putting a noun in the possessive case is another matter. Here the form changes, and a special grammatical sign appears. But we'll talk about this in more detail in the next section.

Meaning and formation of the possessive form

To express the belonging of objects to a person or other entity, the possessive form of words is used. In Russian it is given by adjectives, and in English by nouns. There are several ways to form this case.

Singular

Singular words are characterized by two constructions. If we are talking about describing an animate person, then the stem of the word undergoes changes: an apostrophe ‘ and ending s are added to its ending.

• Sheneeds Jack 's phonenumber – She needs Jack's phone number.
• Itis mother 's birthdaytoday - Today is mother's birthday.

This rule applies even when words end in –s or similar sounds.

• Liz 's exercisesweresimpler – Lisa’s exercises were simpler.
• It is hard, but it is such an actress's life –Thishard,Butthat's how it islifeactresses.
• It is Mr. Fox's letter -ThisletterMr.Fox.

It is important to note that this ending has different pronunciations. When it is preceded by a voiceless consonant, it is read as Russian S, and if the last letter of the base is a voiced consonant or vowel, then s is pronounced as Russian Z. A separate case is when the word ends in –s and similar combinations (-sh, - ch, -se, -x). In such a situation, the ending is voiced in Russian IZ. To quickly remember these rules, it is recommended to follow small exercises to read examples aloud with correct pronunciation.

As for the inanimate category, it is possible to form the possessive case of nouns in English only with the help of a preposition. Let us immediately note that there are several exceptions from the total, but they will be discussed separately.

For most inanimate nouns, the possessive construction consists of several components.

• I forgot the end (1) of (2) the story (3) – Iforgotendthishistory.

Let's look at a few more examples to test this scheme.

• This page of the book is yellow –Thispagebooksyellow.
• I heard the sound of the train – Iheardsoundtrains.
• My friend sat at the end of the hall – MyFriendsatVendhall

Plural

For animate nouns, the formation of possessive forms has some nuances.

Those words that already have the ending –s in the plural, when putting them in the possessive case, add only an apostrophe to the ending of the stem.

• There are boys' toys in the box –INthisboxlietoysboys.
• The actresses' dresses are very expensive –DressesactressesVerydear ones.
• The Browns' house was built in 1986 –HouseBrownswasbuiltin 1986.

Nouns that have a special plural form form the possessive form using the combination '+s.

• There are a lot of women's shops in the street –Onthisstreetmanywomen'sshops.
• He bought the deer's horns at the souvenir shop –INsouvenirshopHeboughtthesedeerhorns.
• The children's pictures are simple and bright –Thesechildren'sdrawingssimpleAndbright.

The possessive case of inanimate nouns is identical in construction to the singular form.

• The legs of the chairs were broken –Legsthesechairswerebroken.
• I often walk on the roofs of the buildings – IoftenI'm walkingByroofsbuildings.
• My wife likes the flowers of the fields – mywifelike itfieldflowers.

As can be seen from the examples, the formation of possessive forms does not cause any particular difficulties. But before solving the exercises, it is necessary to understand the exceptions already mentioned.

Possessive case of nouns in English - table of exceptions

It so happened historically that some inanimate nouns form possessive forms like animate persons, i.e. adding an apostrophe and s. Let's look at such situations using a table.

Now we have fully examined the construction of the possessive case of nouns and are prepared to successfully complete the practical exercise. See you in new classes!

Views: 300