What is it called when instead of saying, for example, an "English book," you say a "book of English"?

Question

I couldn't find this sort of question anywhere, but this is similar to possession, like when you say "Amanda's book" instead of "the book of Amanda," but those two have slightly different meanings. What's it called when you make the noun go after the word "of" and it describes the first noun?

HippoSawrUs yeah my mistake but i mean like the latter noun describes the former noun so its kind of like an adjective — Adrian Miller-Castaño, Jul 22 '23 at 03:46
It's just a possessive construction "It is the horse of the king" vs "The king's horse" P.S What's it called when you make the noun go after the word "of" and it describes the first noun? The king does not describe the "first noun" i.e. horse — Mari-Lou A, Jul 22 '23 at 03:51
Book of English by itself doesn't have a clear meaning - only as part of a title such as The Oxford Book of English Verse. — Kate Bunting, Jul 22 '23 at 08:07
These answer your question: Can one explain the different distributions of the Saxon and the analytic (Norman) (periphrastic, 'of') genitive // Attributive nouns vs of-genitives: the analytic or Norman or periphrastic or 'of'-genitive. — Edwin Ashworth, Jul 22 '23 at 15:19

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 22 '23 at 15:16

0

Compare:

A recipe book

and

A book of recipes

If you look in either book you will find recipes. Attributive adjectival recipe book indicates the category in which the book belongs and book of recipes refers to its contents in the plural.

answered Jul 22 '23 at 15:16

TimR

21,116

This doesn't answer the question since you're not providing a term for phrases like "book of recipes". – Laurel Jul 22 '23 at 15:42
@Laurel - you may want to see this in case you'd like to respond. The poster seems to want you to see it. – Heartspring Jul 22 '23 at 20:52

What is it called when instead of saying, for example, an "English book," you say a "book of English"?

1 Answers1