By Genitives, Countable nouns

CalifJim wrote: Light from several lanterns filled the room with a soft glow. Laughter of children was heard on the playground. Hmm. Do these have to be The light ... and The laughter ... ? I certainly don't want to criticize Steinbeck's English at all. I dealt with the of-genitive in...

Hi, You are not asking an easy question. The 'apostrophe ess' form is called the Saxon genitive, which is derived from 'Old English', so it's a very old feature of the English language. It indicates possession or close association. Perhaps it's easier to see/feel close association when you are...

Thank you, Clive. Can you give me the reason why it is not attractive to form the genitive out of an uncountable noun? What is it about an uncountable noun that makes it less attractive or make it less popular in terms of its usage in the genitive form?

Thanks Clive. That's an excellent example of what I was thinking about. So, I was wrong.

Hi, You mean something like 'He stood at the water's edge'? This is fine. Clive

Is it correct that you cannot have a genetive ('s or ') case of an uncountable noun? I think this is true but I have not seen it written anywhere. TIA. CSV.

Believer wrote:Can a gerund function as a countable noun? If so, can you show me how it is done in simple terms?Hi BelieverOf course a gerund can form a plural: his comings and goings.As you see, the plural is formed by adding an s to the word. Some grammarians distinguish between a gerund and a...

Thank you, CalifJim, Khoff and Eimai_Anglos. I think I made a mistake -- yes, it should be a "gerund" and not "genitive." I did some reseach on my own and I think I have gotten the following Google search results: "a cutting of" 29,200 hits "a shaking of" 29,700 hits "a mixing of" 275,500...

Thank you, Eimai_Anglos. Are you saying a genitive cannot be made a countable noun or used as a countable noun? I think a guru has delivered expert advice on that aspect of grammar and I think it has been said a construction like "a shaking of a ground" means "an instance of shaking of a...

Hi, I think it has been noted in this forum that a genitive (I think it means a noun that has or is from a verbal root) can be (made it to be) a countable noun, possibly like this "a barking of a dog need not be heeded." Here, a barking can be said to be an instance of barking. 1. Why has the...