Lesson 4: Non-Verbal Modifiers
Possessives in English
We have briefly mentioned possessive forms and something called the Genitive in previous lessons. What are the possessive forms in English? What is the genitive? How do these relate to each other? Let’s start by understanding the different possessive forms in English.
In English, there are two different possessive forms that we are concerned with: possessive adjectives and the “of” preposition.
We also have possessive personal pronouns in English (“mine,” “yours,” “hers,” “theirs,” etc.), which we learned in lesson two. These always serve the function of predicate adjectives after a linking verb in English (e.g. “It is mine.”). However, there is no equivalent genitive form for this in Hebrew or Greek, and so we will not include possessive personal pronouns under the banner of genitive in this course.
Possessive Adjectives
Possessive adjectives are...well...not actually adjectives! They are technically possessive noun adjectives or possessive pronoun adjectives. That is, they are nouns or pronouns acting adjectivally (like an adjective).
“This is my house.”
The word “my” is a pronoun. However, it does not replace a noun, as pronouns normally do, but rather modifies a noun in the same way an adjective does. It tells us more about the noun, namely whose it is.
Here are two other examples:
“Your map is getting wet.”
“Has he brought his umbrella?”
The other “possessive” adjective is the possessive noun adjective. For example:
“This is Jenny's sister.”
”Jenny” is a proper noun. When we add an apostrophe and an ‘s,’ we make the noun ”Jenny” into the possessive ”Jenny’s,” and we expect that it is talking about something that belongs to (or is related to, in the case of family) Jenny. When ”Jenny’s” is modifying a noun, it is acting like an adjective. Jenny's sister. A noun, showing possession, and acting adjectivally is a possessive noun adjective.
The Preposition “of”
Prepositional phrases beginning with the preposition “of” are (almost always) also possessives. We don’t use this form much in modern spoken English, however it is common in literature, and very common in the Bible.
The mountain of the Lord = The Lord’s mountain
As far as the English language goes, that is the sum total of the possessive forms. They are fairly straight forward, and we do not differentiate between different types of possession (like owning something verses being related to someone). In a regular English grammar, the possessive adjectives would be labeled Adj when parsing, and diagrammed in the same way as other adjectives. The preposition “of” would be labeled and parsed like other prepositions.
But this is not a regular English grammar course! We are learning grammar with the Bible and its original languages in view, and in the original languages, the possessive forms fit into an important category called the genitive. Let’s examine this further on the next step.