grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

, an adverbial genitive is a

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

declined in the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...

that functions as an

adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a determiner, a clause, a preposition, or a sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, or level of certainty by ...

English

In Old and

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

, the genitive case was productive, and adverbial genitives were commonplace. While

Modern English Modern English, sometimes called New English (NE) or present-day English (PDE) as opposed to Middle and Old English, is the form of the English language that has been spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England England is a Count ...

does not fully retain the genitive case, it has left various relics, including a number of adverbial genitives. Some of them are now analyzed as ordinary adverbs, including the following: * ''always'' (from ''all way'') * ''afterwards'', ''towards'', and so on (from their counterparts in ''-ward'', which historically were adjectives) * ''once'', ''twice'', and ''thrice'' (from the roots of ''one'', ''two'', and ''three'') * ''hence'', ''thence'', and ''whence'' (related to the roots of ''here'', ''there'', and ''where'') Some words were formed from the adverbial genitive along with an additional

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ent ...

''-t'': * ''amidst'' (from ''amid'') * ''amongst'' (from ''among'') * ''midst'' (from ''mid'') * ''whilst'' (from ''while'') The adverbial genitive also survives in a number of stock phrases; for example, in "I work days and sleep nights", the words ''days'' and ''nights'' are analyzed as plural nouns but are in fact derived historically from the genitive or instrumental cases of ''day'' and ''night''. (That they function as adverbs rather than as direct objects is clear from the rephrasing "I work during the day and sleep at night.") The modern British expression "Of an afternoon I go for a walk" has a similar origin, but uses the

periphrasis In linguistics and literature, periphrasis () is the use of a larger number of words, with an implicit comparison to the possibility of using fewer. The comparison may be within a language or between languages. For example, "more happy" is periph ...

"of + ''noun''" to replace the original genitive. This periphrastic form has variously been marked as used "particularly in isolated and mountainous regions of the southern United States" and as having "a distinctly literary feel".Entry of.3, page 680, ''Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'', Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 1994

German

German uses the genitive as a productive case, in addition to adverbial genitive expressions. The adverbial suffix ''-erweise'' added to adjectives is derived from the feminine singular genitive adjective ending ''-er'' agreeing with the noun ''Weise'' 'manner'. For example, the adverb ''glücklicherweise'' 'fortunately' can be analyzed as ''glücklicher Weise'' 'fortunate way enitive, i.e. 'in a fortunate way' or more explicitly ‘in a manner of good fortune’ (which also hints at the possessive role of the case). The conjunction ''falls'' ('if') is the genitive of ''Fall'' 'case'. Likewise for ''keinesfalls''/''keineswegs'' ('by no means of'), ''andernfalls'' ('otherwise' i.e. ‘another way of’). The preposition ''angesichts'' ('in view of') is the genitive of ''Angesicht'' ('face'). The time expressions ''morgens'', ''mittags'', ''abends'', ''nachts'', ''eines Tages'' (one day) and ''eines Nachts'' (one night; analogized with ''eines Tages'', though ''Nacht'' is feminine) use the adverbial genitive.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adverbial Genitive Genitive construction Parts of speech Adverbs English grammar German grammar

English

German

See also

References