Case-government in Russian

[philena.livejournal.com]

I am looking for examples of verbs which can assign multiple cases to their nominal complements. I've come up with the following examples using the verb писать. Are they correct? If not, could you give me examples of one verb which can take different cases for its object? I would like to stay away from prepositions, so it should be just verb+noun.

1. Я писала.
I wrote.

2. Я писала письмо.
I wrote a letter.

3. Я писала подруге (об этом).
I wrote to my friend (about it).
[Can you leave out об этом, and say only Я писала подруге?]

4. Я писала карандашом.
I wrote with a pencil.

5. Я писала письмо подруге.
I wrote my friend a letter.

6. Я писала письмо карандашом.
I wrote а letter with a pencil.

7. Я карандашом писала письмо подруге.
I wrote a letter to my friend with a pencil.
[If there's a better word order, please let me know!]

It would be particularly great if there's a use of писать that allows a genitive noun complement, because then I would have a verb that can take a noun complement in every case that does not require a preposition (or nominative case, but that doesn't count for complements). Is there another verb that can take a noun complement in accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental? I'm having a hard time thinking of one.


Thank you very much. It might not seem so, but it is of vital importance to my paper on participles.

Comments

[crimeanelf.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I got you. Are you looking for a verb for which an object noun could be in different cases? If so, almost any verb will go. Делать, рассказывать, играть, читать, думать, показывать, ...

[archaicos.livejournal.com]

Genitive would be something like:
Я писала карандашом сестры/подруги/брата/друзей. (sister's/friend's/... pencil)
У меня нет сестры/подруги/брата/друзей. (I've got no ...)
Я выпил воды/съел хлеба. (drank/ate some ...)
Я написала шесть книг. (the use of the case depends on the cardinal number)

There're a bunch of verbs taking direct objects in genitive (w/o a preposition):
(ис)пугаться, бояться, стыдиться, добиваться, достигать, касаться, желать.

Then, as you know, there're prepositions requiring the genitive.

[oryx_and_crake]

I cannot think of any construction where писать would take a genitive noun complement.

[archaicos.livejournal.com]

Of course.

[joliecanard.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're going to find a verb in Russian that assigns both genitive and accusative. It seems impossible (and, I think, would also likely have prevented the G/A syncretism for animates that Russian displays.)
I also disagree that pisat' is really assigning instrumental case. It's been a while since I did syntax, so let me think about why and get back to you. Or you can think about why I might say that, play devil's advocate with yourself, since you're closer to the material and might be faster. :)

[philena.livejournal.com]

Good point! It's as if the semantics of the sentence needs some way to interpret the fact that the pencil is the instrument of the action, and that's where the case is coming from. It's definitely a different kind of instrumental from the instrumental that is used with a verb like владеть, which absolutely requires the complement to be instrumental. I suppose you could argue that the presence of карандаш in my examples is some sort of adjunct, which you get often in English prepositional adjuncts, rather than a true case assignment coming from the verb.

I suppose the evidence I need to disprove that claim is some verb which requires that an adjoined noun which indicates the instrument of the action does not, in fact, take instrumental case. Can you think of any? I can't, but then, my Russian is not terrific.