Learning grammatical rules is one of the most difficult things associated with mastering a new language. Grasping the rules governing words, pronunciation of sounds, construction of sentences, vocabulary, and interpretation of words can pose a great challenge for non-English speakers. This paper, therefore, will explore the nominal and pronominal rules governing English grammar and possessive constructions of ‘s-genitive, of-genitive, and possessive pronouns. The paper will also explain how the rules pose a challenge to Danish learners of English
Rules in Constructing S’-genitive
Forming of S’-genitives follows the rules for forming the possessive apostrophes in English. An s’-genitive is formed by adding an -s’ to nouns that are in a singular state (Hjulmand, and Schwarz, 95). For instance, A cat’s face has been deformed or the girl’s ring has been found in the sand. This shows that the s’-genitive only refers to a single noun as its subject. Another rule followed in the formation of s’-genitive is by adding an apostrophe on nouns that have regular plurals (Hjulmand, and Schwarz, 95). For example, in a sentence; the boys’ football match is on Saturday or the students’ report cards are being issued by the class teacher. From the sentences, it is clear that the -s ending on the nouns form a plural ending, hence, the apostrophe will appear immediately after the plurality of the nouns has been shown.
The third rule in constructing s’ genitive is by adding -s’ to the nouns with irregular plurals. For example, in a sentence; the new men’s shirts have been printed or the children’s meals schedule has been issued out. This implies that a possessive apostrophe can be added in plural nouns irrespective of them not ending in -s. A rule followed when constructing s- genitives is when compound nouns are involved in a sentence. According to Hjulmand, and Schwarz, an ‘s genitive is added to the last element of a compound noun when writing it (95). An example is, ‘that is her mother-in-law’s car on the parking lot’ or ‘Amanda won a first runners-up’s trophy. This shows that when compounds nouns are used in a sentence, the s-genitive is usually added at the end of the noun.
Rules in Constructing the Of-Genitive
The of-genitive is usually used depending on various situations when speaking English. For instance, if the noun in the sentence refers to human beings, higher animals, collective nouns, proper nouns usually referring to a country, city, or town then an of-genitive can be used (Hjulmand, and Schwarz, 97-98). Similarly, an of-genitive can be used when referring to time, value, or distance nouns. For example, in a sentence where human beings are being referred is Picasso is the treasurer of the club. When referring to higher animals an example can be, the paws of the cat have been injured. When collective nouns have been used, an example of of-genitive in a sentence can take the form, this is the market value of the company, or is this the last budget of the committee? When using proper nouns, an example in a sentence can be, Ellen DeGeneres one of America’s most famous TV hosts. Therefore, for instance, when of-genitive is used, depends on the meaning of the sentence, pronunciation of the nouns, end-weight and focus of nouns, and syntax.
Possessive pronouns
These are one of the distinct types of pronouns used in writing and speaking the English language. According to Bache, and Davidsen-Nielsen, possessive pronouns take the form my or mine, an example in a sentence being, this is my pen or this pen is mine (400). When constructing sentences using possessive pronouns, your or yours is used. An example is, this is your pen or this pen is yours. Possessive pronouns can also take the form his, hers, her, its, our, ours, their, and theirs (Bache, and Davidsen-Nielsen, 400). There are two sets of possessive pronouns, that is determinative and autonomous (Bache, and Davidsen-Nielsen, 413). When using autonomous pronouns, a suffix -s is added to the determinative pronoun. For example, suffix -s is added to your, their, her, and our to make them yours, theirs, hers, and ours respectively. Therefore, determinative pronouns take the form, my, your, his, her, its, their, our, and your, while autonomous pronouns take the form his, hers, its, theirs, yours, mine, or ours.
The challenge to Danish Learners of English
The Danes experience two types of challenges when using the genitives in English. First, Danes encounter difficulties in forming genitives appropriately when it comes to the apostrophe and its position (Hjulmand, and Schwarz, 100). For instance, in singular nouns supposed to end in – ‘s, Danes use -s instead. The second problem the Danes encounter is in providing a classification of genitives in English. When compound nouns are used in a sentence, Danes face the challenge of classifying which genitive to use (Hjulmand, and Schwarz, 99-100). For example, the Danes would say the bird nest instead of the bird’s nest and this is due to the remodifying the genitive difficulty they encounter. Transference of English genitive apostrophe sometimes is incorrectly done to the genitives in Danish misusing the phrases. Consequentially, genitive nouns ending in -s, -z, and -x are formed in Danish through adding only +s apostrophe. Therefore, from the paper, it is clear that there are rules governing construction of English phrases using the s-genitive, of-genitive, and possessive pronouns. These rules, however, affect how Danes speak as they face challenges due to the integration of English and Danish.
Works Cited
Bache, Carl, and Niels Davidsen-Nielsen. Mastering English: An Advanced Grammar for Non-Native and Native Speakers. De Gruyter Mouton, 1997.
Hjulmand, Lise-Lotte, and Helge Schwarz. A Concise Contrastive Grammar of English for Danish Students. Samfundslitteratur, 2017.