GENITIVE

With basic meanings of or from;
sometimes a retreating context.

 

ADJECTIVAL GENITIVE:

A genitive functioning much as an adjective.

 

GENITIVE OF CONTENTS – Denoting or showing what the contents contain. Denoting or showing the contents as full of or containing, but not of what it is made.
Key to Identification: Replace of with full of or containing.
      a  jar of wine

a cargo of gold (in terms of the contents that cargo contains or is full of rather than made of)

men of wisdom and knowledge

 

GENITIVE OF MATERIAL – Denoting or showing the material, thing, or people of which a noun is made or consists. (Close to Genitive of Contents and Partitive Genitive) .
Key to Identification: Replace of with made out of or consisting of.

a temple of stone

a cargo of gold (in terms of the material that cargo consists or made of rather than full of)

an army of men

 

GENITIVE OF POSSESSION – Denotes possessionDenoting or showing the person or thing to which an object, quality, feeling, or action belongs to or is possessed or owned by. (Used only in the third person.)
Key to Identification: Replace of with belonging to or possessed by.

a temple of Apollo

the strength of Hercules

a love of country

the cruelty of the tyrant

 

PARTITIVE GENITIVE (Genitive of the Whole) – Expresses the whole of which a portion is stated. Expressing the whole or a larger group after words denoting or naming a part of; a larger group or from which something is derived or belongs.
Key to Identification: Replace of with which is a part of.

six of the men

many of the women
Note:  (all of the x) is not a Partitive Genitive since all is not a part.

 

 

ABLATIVE GENITIVE:
A genitive functioning with the notion of separation.


GENITIVE OF COMPARISON
– Showing comparison usually used with than. Indicating comparison and used generally with a comparative adjective or adverb.
Key to Identification: Requires the word than before the genitive instead of the word of.

He is younger than his brother.

The red apple tastes better than the green apple.

Your life is worth more than money.

GENITIVE OF SEPARATION (a type of Ablative Genitive) – Expresses separation out of, (away) from some verb, noun, or adjective. Denoting the point of departure, a separation of the genitive noun from the dependent verb, noun, or adjective.
Key to Identification: Replace of with out of, away from, or from.

We ceased from work.

free them from evil men

shake the dust from your feet

 

VERBAL GENITIVE:
A genitive related to a verbal noun.


OBJECTIVE GENITIVE – Denotes or functions as the direct object of the action or verbal idea implied by the dependent nounTry asking "for/about/concerning/toward what" or "against what". Can you transform the genitive into the object?
Key to Identification: Replace the verbal noun into a verbal, and replace the genitive into the object. e.g. "a perception of truth..." becomes "perceiving truth...".

my love of my mother (my love for what?)

the receptivity of the king (the receiving toward what?)

the demonstration of his anger (the demonstrating concerning what?)

SUBJECTIVE GENITIVE – Denotes or functions as the subject of the action or verbal ideal implied by the dependent noun. Try asking "what/who" does the actionCan you transform the genitive into a subject?
Key to Identification: Replace the verbal noun into a verbal, and replace the genitive into the subject. e.g. "a perception of truth..." becomes "truth perceives...".

my mother's love for me or the love of my mother for me (who/what loves?)

the coming of the king (who comes?)

the obedience of the slaves (who obeys?)

 

 

ADVERBAL GENITIVE:
A genitive functioning as adverbially, (syntactically as an adverb).


GENITIVE OF AGENCY (PERSONAL OR IMPERSONAL AGENT) – Indicates the agent by whom the action is done. Used to indicate from under or by the personal or impersonal influence.
Key to Identification: Replace of with by.

sent by the king

from under the law

GENITIVE OF EXTENT (MEASURE) – Denoting space, time, or degree of a noun. Attempts to ask how far (extent of space) or for how long (extent of time).
Key to Identification: Replace of with for the extent of or for the duration of.

a wall of seven feet

a march of seven days

GENITIVE OF PLACE (WHERE OR WITHIN WHICH)
– Place where or within somewhere.
Key to Identification: Replace of with in, at, or sometimes through.

nowhere in all of the land

a finger in water

he passes through that way

GENITIVE OF PRICE – Expresses price or value.  Denoting price, evaluation, and estimation of things. Can be used with verbs of buying, selling, cost, value, or exchange.
Key to Identification: Replace of with for (how much?).

He is worthy of a large gift.

She bought a house for much money.

He earned a prize of honor.

GENITIVE OF TIME (WITHIN WHICH OR DURING WHICH) – Denotes a kind of timeDenotes a time within which or during which an action takes place.
Key to Identification: Replace of with during, at, or within.

during the time of winter

of/within a week

working night and day

 

 

GENITIVE AFTER CERTAIN PREPOSITIONS:
A genitive governed by certain prepositions.

 

GENITIVE OF PLACE FROM WHICH – Expresses a place from which someone or something comes; whence.
Key to Identification: Before the genitive noun, insert away from, at, or out of.

They came from Troy.

She came out of the house.

 

 

Copyright 2008 by Beth Piepenburg. All rights reserved.

 

HOME

 

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1