genitive

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Hela

#191244 Wed, 01 Feb 06 12:24 AM

Thank you very much for your answer. That's great.

1) The example which was given under "human activity" (it would be better to find another explanation or heading perhaps) is "science's influence" and "my life's aim". But what is "a duty's call"?

2) I didn't really understand the following point, what do you mean by "objects exerting INDEPENDENT INFLUENCE?"

The car's door is open. Cars, ships, planes, trains seem to have some rights to the genitive. I suppose it's because they appear to exert independent influence.

3) In which context might your sentence "I walked through the valley of the shadow of death" appear, please? Could you give me an example?

4) Should my sentence be left as it is --with no change:

The success of personal computing is the accomplishment of Bill Gates.

or can it be changed into :

a) The success of personal computing is Bill Gates’s accomplishement.
b) Personal computing's success is Bill Gates's accomplishment.

Sweet dreams,

Hela

Hela

Joined on Mon, Nov 15 2004

Tunisia

Regular Member (831)

Genitives

Hela

#191364 Wed, 01 Feb 06 09:58 AM

Hi Paco, since you're good at maths, would you please explain this to me?

"The angle between the earth's equator and the plane of its orbit is 23 degrees 27 minutes."

Do we need to capitalise "earth" here? Anyone could tell me when I should capitalize "earth" or not?

All the best,

Hela

paco2004

#191393 Wed, 01 Feb 06 11:42 AM

Your question is not a grammatical one. It's an issue of writing style, and in English, there is no authority (like I'Academie Francaise) to fix writing style. But The Chicago Manual of Style is a kind of authority and it says about the style of celestial bodies as follows:

Names of other planets and stars are proper nouns and begin with a capital letter: "The planet Mars can be seen tonight in the constellation Gemini, near the star Pollux".

The words sun, earth, and moon are proper nouns when used in an astronomical context, but not elsewhere: so "The Sun is a main sequence star, with a spectral class of G2"; but "It was a lovely day and the sun was warm". Note that these terms are only proper nouns when referring to a specific spectral body (our Sun, Earth and Moon): so "The Moon orbits the Earth"; but "Pluto's moon Charon".

So in your context, "the Earth" would be better.

paco

paco2004

Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004

Senior Member (4,095)

In Japan today even dogs are learning how to bow-wow in English.

Capital letters, Nouns, Writing styles

MrPedantic

#191600 Wed, 01 Feb 06 11:28 PM

Hello again Hela

1) The example which was given under "human activity" (it would be better to find another explanation or heading perhaps) is "science's influence" and "my life's aim". But what is "a duty's call"?

— no article: just "duty's call", i.e. "the call of duty" ("l'appel du devoir"?).

2) I didn't really understand the following point, what do you mean by "objects exerting INDEPENDENT INFLUENCE?"

The car's door is open. Cars, ships, planes, trains seem to have some rights to the genitive. I suppose it's because they appear to exert independent influence.

— A cup or a table exerts no influence. But a car or a train or a computer has an effect on its surroundings: it "does" something. Or an object may have a strong magnetic field, for instance. It seems to me that such objects are somewhere between the animate and the inanimate; they seem more likely to be used in the genitive. (We call ships "she", for instance; people give names to their cars; your pc gives you advice when you're typing, etc.)

3) In which context might your sentence "I walked through the valley of the shadow of death" appear, please? Could you give me an example?

— This is a quote from the 23rd Psalm: "Yea, though I walk through the v. of the s. of d., I will fear no evil". So it would appear mostly as an allusion.

4)...

— It doesn't seem quite idiomatic, as it stands. Maybe: "Bill Gates' great achievement has been to make a success of personal computing".

MrP

MrPedantic

Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004

Veteran Member (12,047)

...opella forensis / adducit febris...

Articles, Genitives

Hela

#191712 Thu, 02 Feb 06 06:49 AM

Dear Paco,

Thank you for your advice about capitalization but you forgot to tell me what these sentences mean exactly (I hopeless at maths and astronomy!):

1) The Sun is a main sequence star, with a spectral class of G2.

2) The angle between the earth's equator and the plane of its orbit is 23 degrees 27 minutes.

Dear MrP,

Would you have a better heading for "human activity" mentioned above?

Have a nice day,

Hela

paco2004

#191720 Thu, 02 Feb 06 07:50 AM

Hela wrote:
2) The angle between the earth's equator and the plane of its(=the Sun's) orbit is 23 degrees 27 minutes (=nearly 23.5 degrees) .

paco

paco2004

Images

MrPedantic

#191725 Thu, 02 Feb 06 08:02 AM

Hela wrote:

Would you have a better heading for "human activity" mentioned above?

Hello Hela

I would tentatively proffer "important abstractions"; but there may be a hole in it somewhere.

MrP

MrPedantic

Hela

#192104 Fri, 03 Feb 06 04:45 AM

Dear MrP, why should we write "Bill Gates' achievements" and not "Bill Gates's achievements" and still pronounce /geitsiz/? Is it the same for "James' house" (or "James's house")?

Dear Paco, thank you for the picture! That helped. But if you were to put that in words what would you say? How would you explain "the plane of its orbit"? Would you also explain this sentence to me, please?

" The Sun is a main sequence star, with a spectral class of G2."

Best wishes,

Hela

paco2004

#192145 Fri, 03 Feb 06 07:45 AM

Hello Hela

The plane of its orbit is "the plane on which the Sun goes around the Earth". You can explain the picture yourself in your mother tongue and try to translate it into English. Then we might correct the translation. As for "a main sequence star" and "a spectral class of G2", I don't know what they are. I'm not an astronomer. If you want to know about them, try to look for them in some online encyclopedic sites yourself or try to ask them in any sites for QAs on astronomy. Please know this place is for General English Grammar Questions. It's wrong if you are thinking you can get here everything you want to know.

Best wishes

paco

paco2004

Grammar, English grammar, Translation

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