新编英语语法教程大学生用书6 Noun and Noun Phrases.ppt

Discussion: acceptable or unacceptable the house’s roof the world’s best universities Africa’s first arts festival the Cabinet’s greatest mistake Marginally acceptable Acceptable Acceptable Acceptable As central determiner, genitive nouns are sometimes interchangeable with of-phrases, eg: An elephant’s trunk= the trunk of elephant the prime minister’s arrival=the arrival of the prime minister the criminals punishment=the punishment of the criminal Newton’s law= the law of Newton The relationship between genitive and of-phrases Discussion: Formal vs. informal When the genitive noun and the of-phrase are both possible, the latter sounds more formal, eg: Shakespeare’s sonnets the sonnets of Shakespeare When used as classifiers, only genitive noun can be used, eg: children’ pictorial * pictorial of children men’s clothing * clothing of men In some idioms only genitive noun can be used, eg: at one’s wits’ end at swords’ points a hair’s breadth Be careful with this! However, on some occasions only of-phrase can be used, for example: the opinion of the chairman appointed a moth ago the income of the rich the struggle of the exploited the city of Rome Be careful with this! On some occasions, the genitive forms are preferred, for example: The head noun is followed by a PP, eg: I do not know the students’ opinion of him. We must closely follow the government’s policy in education. Mary’s view on your article falls in with ours. Be careful with this! The head noun is followed by a relative clause, eg: We just saw Nancy’s brother who arrived from Birmingham the other day. All the students have attended the engineer’s report, which is most instructive. Be careful with this! The coordinate head nouns, eg: The old poor peasant’s childhood and early life were clear proof of ruthless feudal oppression in the old days. The machine was designed by the plant’s technicians and workers. Be careful with this! In the noun phrases used as objects after the verbs such as ask, r