المرجع الالكتروني للمعلوماتية
المرجع الألكتروني للمعلوماتية

English Language
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Generic  
  
979   04:42 مساءً   date: 2023-03-25
Author : R.M.W. Dixon
Book or Source : A Semantic approach to English grammar
Page and Part : 211-7


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Generic

Generic (or habitual) is a timeless statement, whose core noun phrases generally have generic form. For example: Crows are black, Dogs bark, Ducks like water, Italians eat lots of noodles, Mosquitoes spread malaria, Well-brought-up children know how to behave, Gods hate liars.

 

A marginal type of generic may have as transitive subject a noun with singular reference (but the object noun phrase should be generic). For instance, a monotheistic speaker could opine: God hates liars. On a par with this is My mother hates liars.

 

The subject noun phrase may have singular form, but generic meaning, as in Lead is heavy. And an NP can have singular form but a generic sense, as in The mosquito spreads malaria and Gods/God/My mother hate(s) a liar (that is, they hate anyone who is a liar). Note that verbs from the LIKING and ANNOYING semantic types typically have a generic sense.