Nominalizations describing a result

A nominalization may describe the result of an activity, a Result-nom. This is generally formed from a transitive verb. A Result-nom relates to the original O of the verb by means of a preposition—most often of, sometimes to or on or out of. For example:

All of the nominalizations could be preceded by the or a(n). For (24a–g), the possessor X’s could be added before the Result-nom: X’s imitation of Van Gogh, X’s arrangement of flowers, and so on. This shows that the forms imitation, arrangement, etc.—in (24a–g)—function both as Result-nom and as Unit-nom. From this list, just wound and injury are restricted to a Result-nom sense.

The question now arises as to whether a possessive relation should be recognized between a Result-nom and the erstwhile O. Generally, the original O does not have human reference and would be expected to be marked by of rather than ’s. We do get of in (24a–f); but to may be used as an alternative to of in (24f) and different prepositions are required in (24g– i). It seems that the use of of in (24a–f) is coincidental, and that it would not be useful or appropriate to consider any of (24a–i) as a kind of possessive construction. One can, of course, say John’s wound and Mary’s injury (as an alternative to the wound on John or the injury to Mary); however, these are possessive constructions of type (c) where wound and injury are inalienable aspects of the possessor, on a par with mouth and pimple— rather than being related to the nominalization.