6. A property or characteristic of some substance.
The house committee was ready to act. (Daily Worker).
7. A person or thing as an object of comparison.
That monster of a dog.
As we have seen, 'possessive case' nouns occur a great deal less frequently than their opposites Some linguists regard the possessive case as a disappearing case (see, for instance, M. Bryant. A Functional English Grammar. Boston, 1945, p. 36). Others (Ch. Barber. Linguistic change in Present-Day English. Edinburgh, 1964, p. 132) speak of "the spreading of the 's-genitive at the expense of the of-genitive"..
The range of meaning of the possessive case is incomparably narrower than that of the common case. Yet linguists point out a number of meanings a 'possessive case' noun may express in speech See Г. Н. Воронцова, op. cit, p. 40..
a) possession, belonging (Peter's bicycle)
b) personal or social relations (Peter's wife)
c) authorship (Peter's poem)
d) origin or source (the sun's rays)
e) kind or species (ladies' hats)
f) the relation of the whole to its part (Peter's hand)
g) subjective relations (Peter's arrival)
h) objective relations (Peter's being sent)
i) characteristic (her mother's care), (rather rare)
j) measure (a night's reflection; a mile's distance).
Sometimes the relations of a 'possessive case' noun are ambiguous. The relation in her daughter's loss may be interpreted either as subjective or as objective. This can be accounted for by the fact that her daughter's loss may be regarded as a transformation (or a transform) of two different sentences.
Her daughter lost == daughter's loss
Her daughter was lost == daughter's loss
In other words, having no voice distinctions, the noun loss may correspond to both the active and the passive voice of the verb.
Since both 'possessive case' and 'common case' nouns may have right-hand connections with other nouns, it is interesting to see the difference between the two combinations in speech. This is what W. N. Francis writes on the subject The Structure of American English. New York, 1958.: "Nouns make up a considerable number (as many as 25 per sent) of the single-word modifiers of nouns
Possessive Noun-adjunct
child's play child psychology
a dog's life the dog days
a day's work the day shift'
my father's house a father image
that woman's doctor that woman doctor
The last pair illustrates vividly the difference in meaning there may be between these two structures of modification. The formal difference between them may be described as follows: a construction with of may be substituted for the possessive construction, and the determiner Article, possessive or demonstrative pronoun, etc. attached to the noun. (if there is one) will then go with the modifying noun; on the other hand, some other kind of construction must be substituted for the noun-adjunct, and the determiner goes with the head noun. In the following illustrations the symbol > means "transforms into"
My father's house > house of my father
that father image > that image like (a) father
that woman's doctor > doctor of that woman
that woman doctor > that doctor who is a woman.
As we see, the relations expressed by a 'possessive case' noun can usually be rendered by its 'common case' opposite preceded by of (the so-called 'of-phrase'). The 'possessive case' noun and the corresponding of-phrase are synonymous, but to a certain extent only.
Unlike the possessive case, the o/-phrase is freely used with all nouns irrespective of their lexical meanings. Its range of meaning is much wider than that of the possessive case. Thus, besides the 'possessive case' relations already mentioned it may show the relations of appraisal (a man of strong will), of material (a table of oak), of composition (a group of children), etc.
The of-phrase is believed to sound more formal than the possessive case. In formal style it is more common than the possessive.
E. g. Head of a girl (in a picture or sculpture exhibition programme), not a girl's head.
In the Russian language a noun in the genitive case may be adnominal and adverbial, i.e. it can be attached to a noun and to a verb.
E.g. дом отца, боюсь грозы.
The possessive case is practically adnominal, as in Tom's departure.
In sentences like The idea is George's, where George's is not followed by a noun, it is sometimes called the 'independent possessive'. But in reality it is not independent, as it refers to some noun, usually mentioned previously (the word idea in the sentence above). Therefore such possessives are called 'anaphorical'. But this term would be misapplied in cases like George's was a brilliant idea, where the noun idea follows the possessive.
Seeing that there is exact parallelism with the use of the so-called absolute possessive pronouns (The idea is mine. Mine was a brilliant idea), we shall call such possessives absolute.
In Modern English there exists a peculiar construction which is a combination of the possessive case and the of-phrase. The construction makes it possible to place an article, a demonstrative pronoun, etc. before the modified noun. Cf. John's friend and a (the, that) friend of John's. The possessive case in the construction is absolute. Cf. a (the, that) friend of yours.
The construction usually has a partitive meaning. A friend of Mary's -- one of Mary's friends. It may also be used for stylistic purposes mostly with ironic colouring. That long nose of John's.
In cases like I dined at my aunt's or a garden party at Brown's the possessive case is really independent. It does not refer to any other noun, and does not correspond to an absolute possessive pronoun. The meaning of the independent possessive is that of locality. It denotes the house, shop, cathedral, place of business, etc. of the person denoted by the noun. E. g. the baker's, draper's, watchmaker's, etc., also St. Paul's .
2.3.2 The use of Articles with Nouns in Some Set Expessions
a) The use of indefinite article with nouns in some set expressions. В.Л. Каушанская и др. Грамматика английского языка (на английском языке). 1973 M. Стр. 36
1. in a hurry -- второпях
Things done in a hurry are done badly.
2. to have a mind to do some thing (a great mind, a good mind) -- иметь желание что-либо сделать, быть склонным что-либо сделать
I have a great mind to have a serious talk with her.
3. to fly into a passion -- прийти в бешенство
If you contradict him, he will fly into a passion.
4. to get in a fury (in a rage) -- прийти и ярость
If you contradict him, he will get in a fury (in a rage).
5. to take a fancy to (chiefly with names of living beings) -- проникнуться симпатией, по чувствовать расположение
I wonder why she took a fancy to the little girl.
6. in a low (loud) voice -- тихо (громко)
Don't speak in a low voice.
7. a great many (with countables) -- много
I have spoken to him a great many times.
8. a great deal (with uncountables) -- много
We can't skate to-day, there is a great deal of snow on the ice.
9. it is a pity --жаль
It is a pity you did not go to the concert last night
10. it is a shame -- стыдно
It is a shame not to know these elementary things.
11. it is a pleasure -- приятно
It is a pleasure to read beautiful poetry.
12. as a result --в результате
As a result of the inhabitants' strenuous efforts the damaged city
13. to have a good time -- хорошо провести время
Last night we went to an evening party and had a very good time.
14. to be at a loss --быть в недоумении
She was at a loss what to say.
15. at a glance -- сразу, с первого взгляда
She saw at a glance that something had happened.
b) The use of definite article with nouns in some set expressions.
1. it is out of the question --об этом не может быть и речи
'Will you go to the theatre tonight?" "It's out of the question. I have lots of things to do."
2. to take the trouble to do something -- потрудиться
You had a difficult text to translate and you did not take the trouble to consult the dictionary.
3. in the original -- в оригинале
You know English well enough to read Dickens in the original.
4. to play the piano (the violin, the harp) -- играть на рояле (скрипке, арфе)
She plays the piano very well.
5. to keep the house -- сидеть дома
She has a cold and will have to keep the house for a couple of days.
6. to keep the bed -- соблюдать постельный режим
She has a bad cold and will have to keep the bed for a couple of days.
7. on the whole -- в целом
On the whole Tom is a pleasant fellow, but sometimes he has whims.
8. the other day (refers to the past) -- па днях
I met him the other day.
9. on the one hand…on the other hand -- с одной стороны...с другой стороны
On the one hand he certainly excites suspicion, but on the other hand we have not enough evidence against him. (Oppenhe'un)
10. to tell (to speak) the truth -- говорить правду; to tell the truth -- no правде говоря
He always speaks (tells) the truth. To tell the truth, I don't like the girl.
11. to be on the safe side --для верности
I am almost sure of the pronunciation of this name, but to be on the safe side let us consult the pronouncing dictionary.
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