t suppletive combinations specific to the plural form of the noun , which exist alongside of the suppletive combinations specific to the singular form of the noun shown above. Here belong collocations with such words as pair, set, group, bunch and some others. Cf.: A pair of pincers; three pairs of bathing trunks; a few groups of police; two sets of dice; several cases of measles; etc. p align="justify"> The absolute plural, by way of functional oppositional reduction, can be represented in countable nouns having the form of the singular, in uncountable nouns having the form of the plural, and also in countable nouns having the form of the plural.
The first type of reduction, consisting in the use of the absolute plural with countable nouns in the singular form, concerns collective nouns, which are thereby changed into "nouns of multitude". Cf.: p align="justify"> The family were gathered round the table. The government are unanimous in disapproving the move of the opposition. p align="justify"> This form of the absolute plural may be called "multitude plural".
The second type of the described oppositional reduction, consisting in the use of the absolute plural with uncountable nouns in the plural form, concerns cases of stylistic marking of nouns. Thus, the oppositional reduction results in expressive transposition. Cf.: The sands of the desert; the snows of the Arctic; the waters of the ocean; the fruits of the toil; etc,
This variety of the absolute plural may be called "descriptive uncountable plural".
The third type of oppositional reduction concerns common countable nouns used in repetition groups. The acquired implication is indefinitely large quantity intensely presented. The nouns in repetition groups may themselves be used either in the plural ("featured" form) or in the singular ("unfeatured" form). Cf.: p align="justify"> There were trees and trees all around us. I lit cigarette after cigarette. p align="justify"> This variety of the absolute plural may be called "repetition plural". It can be considered as a peculiar analytical form in the marginal sphere of the category of number (see Ch. III, В§ 4). p align="justify"> VIII. NOUN: CASE
Case is the immanent morphological category of the noun manifested in the forms of noun declension and showing the relations of the nounal referent to other objects and phenomena. Thus, the case form of the noun, or contractedly its "case" (in the narrow sense of the word), is a morphological-declensional form. p align="justify"> This category is expressed in English by the opposition of the form in - 's [-z,-s,-iz], usually called the "possessive" case, or more traditionally, the " ; genitive "case (to which term we will stick in the following presentation *), to the unfeatured form of the noun, usually called the" common "case. The apostrophised-s serves to distinguish in writing the singular noun in the genitive case from the plural noun in the common case. Eg: the man's duty, the President's decision, Max's letter; the boy's ball, the clerk's promotion, the Empress's jewels. p align="justify"> The genitive of the bulk of plural nouns remains phonetically une xpressed: the few exceptions concern only some of the irregular plurals. Thereby the apostrophe as the graphic sign of the genitive acquires the force of a sort of grammatical hieroglyph. Cf.: The carpenters 'tools, the mates' skates, the actresses 'dresses. p align="justify"> Functionally, the forms of the English nouns designated as "case forms" relate to one another in an extremely peculiar way. The peculiarity is, that the common form is absolutely indefinite from the semantic point of view, whereas the genitive form in its productive uses is restricted to the functions which have a parallel expression by prepositional constructions. Thus, the common form, as appears from the presentation, is also capable of rendering the genitive semantics (namely, in contact and prepositional collocation), which makes the whole of the genitive case into a kind of subsidiary element in the grammatical system of the English noun. This feature stamps the English noun declension as something utterly different from every conceivable declension in principle. In fact, the inflexional oblique case forms as normally and imperatively expressing the immediate functional parts of the ordinary sentence in "noun-declensional" languages ​​do not exist in English at all. Suffice it to compare a German sentence taken at random with its English rendering:
Erhebung der Anklage gegen die Witwe Capet scheint wГјnschenswert aus Rucksicht auf die Stimmung der Stadt Paris (L. Feuchtwanger). Eng.: (The bringing of) the accusation against the Widow Capet appears desirable, taking into considera...
