What is the double genitive?
Definition of double genitive : a syntactic construction in English in which possession is marked both by the preposition of and a noun or pronoun in the possessive case (as in “A friend of Bob’s is a friend of mine”) — called also double possessive.
Why do we use double genitive?
As we’ve talked about before, the possessive, or genitive, case isn’t just about possession; it can also show that someone or something controls or is associated with someone or something else. The double possessive, or double genitive, serves to separate the possessive genitive from other functions of the genitive.
How do you make a double genitive?
We form the possessive case with double genitive by putting the preposition of before a noun which also takes apostrophe and -s (‘s). Its structure in the sentence is: Subject + verb + (object) + of + noun + possessive (‘s)…
Is double genitive correct?
The combination of the preposition of and a possessive form—either a noun ending in -‘s or a possessive pronoun—is called a double genitive (or double possessive). And while it may appear overly possessive, the construction has been around for centuries and it’s perfectly correct.
How do you write double possessive?
If two people possess the same item, put the apostrophe + s after the second name only. Example: Cesar and Maribel’s home is constructed of redwood. However, if one of the joint owners is written as a pronoun, use the possessive form for both.
What is a genitive case?
In the grammar of some languages, the genitive, or the genitive case, is a noun case which is used mainly to show possession. In English grammar, a noun or name with ‘s added to it, for example ‘dog’s’ or ‘Anne’s,’ is sometimes called the genitive form.
What are double forms of possessives?
The “double possessive” is so called because the preposition of, the possessive pronouns hers and theirs, and the ‘s all signal possession. The construction is also called “double genitive” and “post genitive.” The objection to “friends of Sue’s” and “friends of mine” is that the of ought to be sufficient.
How do you write two possessives?
The standard pattern is to treat the two partners as a single unit—a couple—and put an apostrophe only after the last name: “John and Jane’s villa,” “Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.” Add more owners and you still use only one apostrophe: “Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice’s party.”
How do you use two possessives in a sentence?
Where two or more people own one item together, place an apostrophe before an “s” only after the second-named person. For example: Incorrect: Bill’s and Mary’s car was a lemon, leading them to seek rescission of their contract under the state’s lemon law.
Can we use apostrophe twice?
No, there is no rule in English that says you cannot have more than 3 apostrophes in a sentence or any such number. Just as there is no rule that says you cannot say “of” more than some number of times, or you cannot have more than so-many distinct clauses, etc etc.
How do you use genitive case?
The basic use of the genitive case is to express a relationship between one noun and another noun, e.g. possession. It thus usually forms a noun phrase, hence my nickname, the “gregarious genitive, ” because it likes to hang out with other nouns. I use the color orange for the genitive.
How do we translate a genitive form?
The genitive case is most familiar to English speakers as the case that expresses possession: “my hat” or “Harry’s house.” In Latin it is used to indicate any number of relationships that are most frequently and easily translated into English by the preposition “of”: “love of god”, “the driver of the bus,” the “state …
What is double plural give an example?
A double plural is the plural form of a noun with an additional plural ending (usually -s) attached; for example, candelabras (singular, candelabrum; plural, candelabra) or sixpences (singular, penny; plural, pence).
How do you show possession with two subjects?
If you’re trying to write about possession and you have two subjects that are nouns, you have to decide if the two people possess something together or separately. If the two people have the thing together, they can share the apostrophe-S. If they don’t share the thing, then they can’t share the apostrophe-S either.
Is Y’s correct?
To show possession when a noun ending in y becomes plural, write ies’. Do not write y’s. Exception: Names and other proper nouns ending in y become plural simply by adding an s. They do not form their plurals with an apostrophe, or by changing the y to ies.
What is meant by genitive case?
1 : of, relating to, or being a grammatical case (see case entry 1 sense 3a) that typically marks a person or thing that possesses someone or something else or the source from which someone or something comes — compare possessive.
What is genitive case ending?
Thus, the genitive always ends with a vowel, and the singular genitive is sometimes (in a subset of words ending with a vocal in nominative) identical in form to nominative.
What is a genitive and examples?
How do you identify a genitive case?
If you have a part of something, the thing that’s the whole is in the genitive case. The fractional part can be a pronoun, adjective, noun or numeral designating quantity, with a noun or pronoun showing the whole to which the “some” (or “many”, etc.) belongs.
How do you use double plural in a sentence?
You can use two plurals in a single sentence if there is verb agreement between them. Verb agreement simply means that the subject in a sentence and the verb in a sentence must be in agreement in quantity. Let’s look at two examples: The duck is swimming in the pond.
What is a double genitive (and is there anything wrong with it)?
What Is a Double Genitive (And Is There Anything Wrong With It)? The phrase “a toy of the child’s” is an example of a double genitive. (Carlo A/Getty Images) Dr. Richard Nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University and the author of several university-level grammar and composition textbooks.
What does the double genitive in (59B) mean?
On the other hand, the double genitive in (59b) would most naturally be understood to mean that the speaker saw a statue that once belonged to Queen Victoria but which depicted someone else.
How do you use a double genitive to indicate possession?
A double genitive indicates possession by the preposition of followed by the possessive form of a noun, pronoun, or name. As soon as you use of, as in many of, the of indicates possession: of mine, one of his, many of the school’s.
What is the difference between ‘this is a picture of Bill’?
There was one of your examples that made the difference clear to me (split by me to better facilitate my explanations below): In the first case, ‘This is a picture of Bill’, using the single genitive, it is a genitive of quality, ɔ: that which describes what the picture is; in other words, it is a picture showing Bill.