A Dictionary of Cont..

ook. In the child’s teacher, it refers to child’s.
(The simple form of the noun cannot be freely
substituted for this genitive, although the same
relation exists in many word combination.s, such
as fire screen.)
5. Meusures and other adverbial genitives. At
one time the genitive was used to make adverbs
from nouns or adjectives. This genitive survives
today in a few set phrases and expressions of
measure. See adverbial genitives and meiasures.
6. Survivals. There are a few gcnitives in
English that are survivals of an old genitive of
source, such as hen’s eggs. These are like the
genitive of purpose in that they are attached to
the noun and can be preceded by adjectives and
definitive words such as a, the, this, and other
genitives, as in my six hen’s eggs. Actually they
are a kind of compound noun, though th[ey are
usually written as two words. They do not justify
setting up another class of genitives because
this is not a living form. It belongs to a few
individual words and cannot be transferred to
other words of almost identical meanin.g. We
may speak of a dozen hen’s eggs, but we (cannot
speak of a dozen ostrich’s eggs.
I. Partitive and appositive genitive. In Latin,
and in some European languages toda.y, the
relation of whole to part is shown by a genitive.
This is called the partitive genitive. It does not
exist in English, but we express the same relation
by means of an of-phrase, as in one of us, some
of it. When two nouns, or phrases, stand together
and the second merely describes the first,
as president in the title president, the second is
called an appositive. In Latin the genitive was
sometimes used to indicate this relation and was
then called an appositive genitive. The genitive
is not used for this purpose in English, Ibut we
can use an of-phrase to show the same relation,
as in the title of president, the state of Ohio.
SPECIAL PROBLEMS
1. Joint possession. When one thing is owned
jointly by more than one person, the genitive s
may be placed after the last name and not after
the preceding ones, as in Stan, Jeann,e, and
Ann’s home. But the genitive s may also be
placed after the preceding names and still indicate
joint possession, as in Stan’s, Jeanne’s, and
Ann’s home. When separate ownership is meant,
the genitive s always follows each name, as in
Jeanne’s and Ann’s clothes.
It would be neater if the middle form described
above did not exist, and some grammarians
claim that it should not exist, that it is
wrong to use two genitive forms to indicate
joint possession. But there is no doubt that this
form does exist and that it is used by educated
people. What keeps it alive is the fact that the
personal pronouns have to be used in this way.
We cannot say he, she, and Ann’s home but are
compelled to say his, hers, and Ann’s. And very
often we have both nouns and pronouns in the
same statement.
2. Appositives. When two words or phrases
stand together and refer to the same person
there may be a question about where to place
199 genius
the genitive s. Formerly it was placed after each
element, as in his chaplain’s, Mr. Sampson’s,
careless life. In contemporary English it is
placed after the element that stands immediately
before the qualified word and not after the
others, as in by Mahomet my kinsman’s sepulcher.
When the genitive is used absolutely and
the qualified word does not appear, the genitive
s may be placed after each element, as in would
you tell us where Gaudy’s the grocer’s is?, or
only after the final one, as in she may have a
bed at her cousin the saddler’s.
3. Phrases and clauses. In English the genitive
s is not necessarily attached to the noun
it actually belongs with. It may follow a prepositional
phrase, as in the king of Spain’s daughter.
This peculiar use of the s is thoroughly
understood and phrases of this kind are almost
never ambiguous. But it is possible to construct
a sentence in which they are misleading. For
example, it is quite true that theson of Pharaoh’s
daughter is the daughter of Pharaoh’s son. See
also double genitives.
Traditionally, a descriptive phrase that contains
no preposition and no verb form might
stand between a noun and the genitive s, as in
Peter: the Hermit’s teaching, or it might be
placed after the completed genitive construction,
as in it is Othello’s pleasure, our noble and
valiant general and the words were Cicero’s, the
most eloquent of men. A full clause qualifying
a genitive or possessive form is more difficult
to handle. In literary English it never stands
before the qualified word but it sometimes follows
the completed thought, as in his words who
sent me and it is his who finds it. In longer sentences
this construction is a dangerous one because
the clause is likely to attach itself to the
qualified word rather than to the genitive. Some
grammarians say that the construction is always
improper. But it has been used successfully by
many great writers, including D. G. Rossetti,
Browning, Holmes, Thackeray, George Eliot.
In the United States today it is possible in
speaking to place a full clause between the ‘s
and the word it actually belongs with. It is possible
to say the man you said was coming here
from Chicago’s son jzlst called. Fifty years ago
this was considered an indecorous way of speaking
and only young and foolish people used it.
Today it is heard everywhere. There is no literary
tradition for it, but there probably will be
in time.
genius; talent. A genius in its original meaning
was an attendant spirit, allotted to every person
at birth to watch over him and shape his character
and fortunes. It is in this sense that Macbeth
uses the word when he says of Banquo
There is none but he/ Whose being Z do fear;
and under him/ My genius is rebuk’d, as it is
said/ Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. Then it
came to mean a natural endowment or aptitude,
inclination, the sort of thing with which one’s
genius would endow one or towards which it
would guide (Different men have different geniuses.
The squire, whose active genius was al-