3) The limited case theory (h. Sweet, o. Jespersen).

It has since been radically developed by the Soviet scholars A. I. Smirnitsky, L. S. Barkhudarov and others.

This theory recognises a limited inflexional system of two cases in English:

1. The Common/Non-Genitive Case (unfeatured) and

2. The Possessive/Genitive Case (featured).

This opposition is effected in full with animate nouns and in a restricted use with inanimate nouns.

4) The theory of the possessive postposition (postpositional theory)

According to it the English noun has completely lost the category of case in the course of its historical development. All the nounal cases are considered as extinct, and the ‘genitive case’ is in reality a combination of a noun with a postposition.

The solution of the problem is a critical synthesis of the positive statements of the two theories: the limited case theory and the possessive postposition theory.

A two case declension of nouns is recognised in English:

1. The common case (the direct case)

2. The genitive case (the only oblique case).

The case system in English is founded on a particle expression. The particle nature of -'s is evident from the fact that it is added in post-position both to individual nouns and to nounal word-groups of various status, rendering the same essential semantics of appurtenance. Within the expression of the genitive in English, two not inflexional, but particle case-forms subtypes are to be recognised:

1. The word genitive;

2. The phrase genitive.

The semantic types of the English genitive:

1) The ‘genitive of possessor’ (The Possessive Genitive)

Christine’s living-room; the assistant manager’s desk; Dad’s earnings; Kate and Jerry’s grandparents.

The diagnostic test: Christine’s living-room – the living-room belongs to Christine (the idea of possession inherent in the form).

2) the ‘genitive of integer’/ the genitive of organic possession.

Jane’s busy hands; Patrick’s voice; the patient’s health; the hotel’s lobby.

Test: ...– the busy hands as part of Jane's person; ...– the health as part of the patient's state; ...– the lobby as a component part of the hotel, etc.

Its subtype is the ‘genitive of received qualification’(expresses a qualification received by the genitive referent through the headword).

Mr. Dodson’s vanity; the computer’s reliability.

3) The ‘genitive of agent’ (Subjective Genitive)

This form renders an activity or some broader processual relation with the referent of the genitive as its subject.

the great man's arrival; Peter's insistence; the councillor's attitude; Campbell Clark's gaze; the hotel's competitive position.

Test: ...→ the great man arrives; ...→ Peter insists; ...→ the hotel occupies a competitive position, etc.

A subtype of the agent genitive is the ‘genitive of author’ (expresses the author, the producer of the referent of the head-noun).

Beethoven's sonatas; John Galsworthy's "A Man of Property"; the committee's progress report.

Test: ...—» Beethoven has composed (is the author of) the sonatas; ...→ the committee has compiled (is the compiler of) the progress report, etc.