Re: Re[2]: [tied] Evening/Night (was Re: The "Mother" Problem)

From: petegray
Message: 36200
Date: 2005-02-10

>> "Bill's hat" is possible in English, but *"hat Bill's"
> > is not. The other construction is a prepositional phrase,
> > not a genitive.
> It's still a genitive *construction*.

It has the same meaning as a genitive case, so I suppose you're right. But
if you call it a "genitive", tout simple, and pretend that all descriptions
of the genitive case apply to it, you will make mistakes. You will also
have no way of explaining why the form "Bill's" must come before the noun,
but the form "of Bill" must come after - unless you do make some formal
distinction between them!

Peter