[Grammar] possessive with the time signifiers

Status
Not open for further replies.

Kotfor

Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Ukrainian
Home Country
Belarus
Current Location
Ukraine
1) yesterday's newspaper but yesterday morning (why not - yesterday's morning)

2) this morning's newspaper but a morning newspaper (why not - a morning's newspape)
 

philo2009

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
1) yesterday's newspaper but yesterday morning (why not - yesterday's morning)

2) this morning's newspaper but a morning newspaper (why not - a morning's newspape)

I'm not sure that I, or indeed anyone, can really tell you 'why' usage has developed in this way, but the simple fact is that possessive 's' is not appended to the words 'yesterday' and 'tomorrow' when they determine nouns that denote times of day (morning, afternoon, etc.), while the 's' is obligatory where they determine other, ordinary nouns.

As regards the nouns 'morning, afternoon' etc. themselves, when they function as modifiers (i.e. typically following an article), they are, like adjectives, invariable, and therefore do not take the possessive termination. When, however, they form part of a determiner phrase (as in this morning's, yesterday afternoon's...), the possessive termination is, once again, obligatory.
 

Kotfor

Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Ukrainian
Home Country
Belarus
Current Location
Ukraine
I see. Thank you. It's a difficult subject. What is better?

1) yesterday's morning newpaper or 2) yesterday morning's newpaper
 

bhaisahab

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Ireland
I see. Thank you. It's a difficult subject. What is better?

1) yesterday's morning newspaper or 2) yesterday morning's newspaper

They are both possible.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
1) yesterday's morning newpaper or 2) yesterday morning's newpaper
Both are possible with different meanings. #1 refers to the morning newspaper, as opposed to the evening newspaper, that appeared yesterday. #2 refers to the newspaper that appeared yesterday morning.
 

Kotfor

Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Ukrainian
Home Country
Belarus
Current Location
Ukraine
#1 refers to the morning newspaper, as opposed to the evening newspaper, that appeared yesterday. (Was it published yesterday morning?)

#2 refers to the newspaper that appeared yesterday morning. (I don't understand what you mean here. Was it published yesterday morning or a person got a hold of it yesterday morning but ut had been published before?)

Sorry for being a bit slow on the uptake.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
#1 refers to the morning newspaper, as opposed to the evening newspaper, that appeared yesterday. Was it published yesterday morning?
Yes. Daily newspapers generally appear on the day of their publication.

#2 refers to the newspaper that appeared yesterday morning.
I don't understand what you mean here. Was it published yesterday morning or a person got a hold of it yesterday morning but it had been published before?


It was published yesterday morning.

There is little significant difference between the two sentences, exept that the first implies more strongly that there may be afternoon/evening newspapers.
 

philo2009

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
Both are possible with different meanings. #1 refers to the morning newspaper, as opposed to the evening newspaper, that appeared yesterday. #2 refers to the newspaper that appeared yesterday morning.

And, more to the point, with different structures:

[[Yesterday's] [morning newspaper]] realizes the structure [[DET] [ADJ+N]]while

[[Yesterday morning's] [newspaper]] realizes the structure [[(compound) DET][N]]
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top