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The following is a question from the university entrance examination held in 1994 using the DNC Japan Test.

Can you tell the difference between rice grown in Japan and ?

  1. American one, 2) American rice, 3) one of America, 4) rice of America

Correct answer is 2. I'd like to know why 4 is incorrect. If there were another option 4',

4') the rice of America

would 4' be also the correct answer? The reason why I think 4' might be right is that there is a book called The Wines of America by Leon D. Adams.

Aki
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  • Neither 4 nor 4' is idiomatic. We speak of 'the plains of America', 'the people of America', but we don't refer to a country's produce in that way. – Kate Bunting Jun 04 '21 at 14:36
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    The answers are awful, if that helps for you to know. If we get to invent better answers, use "rice grown in Japan and that in America." (The) rice of America is not normal. – Yosef Baskin Jun 04 '21 at 14:38
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    We don't tend to use of in relation to countries. We're more likely to to use either in or from: rice in America or rice from America. Similarly the most famous person in America, not the most famous person of America etc. – Araucaria - Him Jun 04 '21 at 14:40
  • @Araucaria-Nothereanymore: There are plenty of notable exceptions, not to mention the obvious one. I think it's probably truer to say that "of America" is only (or mostly) used in specific circumstances. – psmears Jun 04 '21 at 15:35
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    Does this answer your question? Can one explain the different distributions of the Saxon and the analytic (Norman) (periphrastic, 'of') genitive Or Are people using 'of' differently today than they were 20 years ago? Basically, one just has to learn idiomatic preferences. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 04 '21 at 16:18
  • @KateBunting, what about ‘the wines of America’? It is the title of Leon D. Adams’s book. – Aki Jun 05 '21 at 02:19
  • @EdwinAshworth, my question is about the difference between an adjective and of-genitive. – Aki Jun 05 '21 at 02:20
  • OK, you've found an exception; perhaps because wines are special products linked to a particular district, rather than a generic product like wheat or rice. – Kate Bunting Jun 05 '21 at 08:30
  • But the answer is the same: there is no easy way to determine which of apparently equally grammatical alternatives is going to be what is at times the much more idiomatic (often to the point of being the only acceptable) wording. English team, England team, England's team, team of England. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 05 '21 at 12:03
  • @psmears Yes, it's more complicated and involves several factors, including definiteness and indefiniteness, and whether they can be seen as a list of individual definite things, animacy etc and more. So, in short, I agree with you (why there's a well placed tend to in there!) – Araucaria - Him Jun 05 '21 at 22:33
  • Why, oh why, oh why is this is linked to such an inapt question? – Araucaria - Him Jun 05 '21 at 22:47
  • @KateBunting, is 'American rice' more acceptable? I found many examples of 'Japanese cars' in Corpus of Contemporary American English. – Aki Jun 06 '21 at 00:59
  • @EdwinAshworth, the difference between genitive and adjective is not discussed in the posts you mentioned. The similarity of the answer does not mean the similarity of the reasoning, does it? In fact, Quirk analyses the difference between 'the history of Europe' and 'European history' in his book. – Aki Jun 06 '21 at 01:06
  • You have already mentioned that option 2 is the correct one. – Kate Bunting Jun 06 '21 at 07:46
  • @KateBunting, yes. But, some comments above says all of the four options are not good. – Aki Jun 06 '21 at 10:50
  • 'European mountains are subtly different from the mountains of America' sounds as good as if not stylishly better (a loftier style?) than 'European mountains are subtly different from American mountains', while using 'ones' would sound totally underwhelming, awkward, used standalone. // Your 4' similarly works, but rice being less inspirational than mountains (or wine) to most people, the loftier style is perhaps overblown. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 06 '21 at 16:19
  • @EdwinAshworth, where does that loftiness come from? From its definiteness? – Aki Jun 07 '21 at 06:57
  • It's possibly related to origins, Norman-origin usages (pork, beef) usually being perceived as in a classier register than Anglo-Saxon (pig, cow). The Norman genitive is the periphrastic of construction. 'The bridges of Paris' sounds more literary, more flowery, than the clinical 'the Paris / Parisian bridges'. This works also with related periphrastic of constructions. 'The Flies Lord' probably wouldn't have received as much acclaim as 'The Lord of the Flies'. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 07 '21 at 16:40

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