The category of case. The most typical combinability of the noun is its combinability with the article and the adjective because as a rule only nouns combine with articles and

The category of number

Combinability of the nouns

The most typical combinability of the noun is its combinability with the article and the adjective because as a rule only nouns combine with articles and adjectives. Nouns may also combine with adverbs, verbs, pronouns and prepositions.

The category of number of the noun is expressed by the opposition of the singular form and the plural form. The plural form is the marked member of the opposition, it is marked in form, as a rule, by the overt morpheme -s, it is marked in meaning because it denotes plurality. The singular form is the unmarked member of the opposition, it is not marked in form because it is characterized by the zero morpheme, it is not marked in meaning because its meaning is wider than the meaning of
the plural form. The singular may denote singularity and plurality:
There is a dog in the garden - singularity

A dog is a clever animal - plurality

I. Some nouns form the plural in other ways:

1. Some English nouns have preserved their OE plural inflexions, e.g. some nouns form their plural with the help of covered morphemes that is -with the help of sound interchange: man - men, goose - geese.

2. Some nouns form the plural with the help of a zero morpheme and have homogeneous forms of the singular and plural: sheep - sheep, deer - deer. OE

3. Some nouns form their plural with the help of the overt morpheme -en: ox – oxen, child - children, brother – brethren (brothers). All these nouns belong to the oldest part of the English vocabulary.

II. Some English nouns which were, borrowed from Greek and Latin not long ago are not completely assimilated and they have preserved their Greek and Latin plural endings: phenomenon – phenomena (Greek), criterion -criteria, datum – data (Latin), radius - radii, radiuses. These nouns have a tendency to get assimilated in the English language and form the plural with the help of the overt morpheme -s.

With regard to the category of number into two subclasses: countables the uncountables. The countables have the category of number, the uncountables have no category of number. Uncountable nouns include nouns which have no plural form: sugar, chemistry, milk and nouns which have no singular forms: goods, clothes. These nouns are outside the category of number expressed by the opposition of the singular and the plural. But on the analogy of the majority of the English nouns they are understood as singular and plurals: The milk is hot - singular. The goods are on the platform – plural.

The category of case of the noun expresses relations-between the thing denoted by the noun and other things, properties or actions by means of the grammatical morphemes. The most usual view is that the category of the common case of the modern English noun is expressed by the opposition of the common case and the possessive case: father – father’s. The possessive case is the marked member of the opposition. It is marked in form by the overt morpheme apostrophe ‘s. It is marked in meaning because its meaning is rather narrow and is connected with the idea of possession, belonging. The common case is the unmarked member of the opposition. It is formed by means of the zero morpheme and it is not marked in meaning because its meaning is very wide. e.g. The meaning of the English common case corresponds to the meaning of the 6 cases of the Russian noun:

The students are writing — им.п.

Look at that student – вин.п.

I came here with the student — ТВ.п.

He likes to speak about his students — пр.п

Look at this exercise-book of this student — род.п

Not all the nouns can form the possessive case with regard to the category of case. There are two groups of nouns: declinables and undeclinables. The group of declinables is rather limited. It includes: 1. Nouns which denote living beings - my father’s sister, the dog’s tail

1. Some inanimate nouns which denote organizations that is groups of people - the company’s success, the government’s decision Nouns which denote units of time and space - a week’s holiday, a two miles’ distance

2. Nouns denoting places that is masses of towns, cities and countries – Britain’s system of government, Moscow’s population

3. Nouns denoting names of newspapers - The Timers’ editorial

4. Some substantivized adverbs – yesterday’s quarrel, tomorrow’s exam

5. Nouns in some set-expressions - the water’s edge, at a stone’s throw, at the arm’s length

6. Nouns denoting transport – ship’s captain

In ME there is a tendency to widen the number of declinable nouns: such nouns as ship, car, room, building, telephone may also be used in the possessive case - He was surprised by the room’s simplicity. The ship’s crew liked him. The building’s initiator was wonderful. The telephone’s ringing was an interruption.

Though the meaning of the possessive case is rather narrow it is possible to point out a number of meanings of the possessive case.

They are the following (Бархударов – «очерки по морфологии»):

• The relations of possession or belonging - my friend’s flat, Nick’s bag

• Personal or social relations - my friend’s wife, Peter’s parents, the dean's secretary, the professor’s assistant. In this case we have relations between the members of the family or between people in the process of work.

• The relations of the whole to its part - the dog’s tail

• Subjective relations. The relations are called subjective because they remind us of the relations between the subject and the predicate -my father’s arrival - the father arrives. The noun in the possessive case denotes a living being who performs some action.

• The relations of authorship- Byron’s poems, Sheldon’s novels, her pupil's composition.

• Adverbial relations - their yesterday’s quarrel - time of the action

• Quantitative relations - a week’s holiday

• Qualitative relations – men’s clothes, death’s face.

Most often the possessive case denotes the relations of the whole to its part, personal relations and subjective relations.

Due to the fact that the possessive case expresses not only the relations of possession but a number of other relations some linguists call this case the genetive case. So the term the genetive case is used in the textbook "An English grammar" by Кобрина, Корнеева, in the book of Grammar of the English language by Каушанская, in the book «Очерки по морфологии современного английского языка» by Бархударов.

In textbooks for secondary schools the term possessive case is used.

This term shows the difference between the Russian genetive case and the English possessive case. There is also a theory according to which there is no category of case of the English noun. This theory is based on the fact that in ME the apostrophe‘s may be joined not only to nouns but to groups of words - Peter and Nick’s friends. This phenomenon is called group possessive. We have the following examples of group possessive in ME:

1. The apostrophe’s is joined, to two nouns connected by the conjunction and - Jane and Nick’s wedding

2. The apostrophe ’s may be joined to a group - a noun and a pronoun-somebody else’s business. The apostrophe ’s may be joined to a group of words ending in a numeral - He answered my question after a minute or two’s pause. Very seldom the apostrophe ‘s may be joined to a phrase which contains a clause - The man I saw yesterday’s son is a singer. Due to the existence of the so-called group possessive some linguists say that the apostrophe ‘s is not a case inflexion. Professor Vorontsova writes that the apostrophe,s is a purely syntactical element which resembles the preposition and she called it the postposition /послелог / Professor Ilyish thinks that the apostrophe ‘s morpheme is gradually developing into a kind of particle which denotes possession. Prof. Bloch considers that the apostrophe ‘s can hardly be called a postposition, it is most often joined to nouns, not to groups of words. According to the latest investigation’s in 96% of examples the apostrophe ‘s is added to nouns and only in 4% it is added to a group of words. Still it is clear that the apostrophe ‘s has its own peculiarities and is different from the case morpheme in other languages – жена брата