By Uncountable nouns, Genitives

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.

Hi BelieverIn all your examples, of is not a part of the co-called of-genitive and thus does not require the.Knowledge is an exceptional uncountable noun, it can take the indefinite article although it is never used in the plural:He has a working knowledge of English.I have a poor knowledge of...

Hello, I need help on how to put nouns in plural in genitive cases. In my sentence "Are you talking about hypnotizers’voice", I’m talking about the voices of the hypnotizers. There are many hypnotizers, but each of them has only one voice. Should I write my sentence this way "Are you talking...