PartitiveCase expresses the partial nature of the referent of the noun it marks, as opposed to expressing the whole unit or class of which the referent is a part. This case may be found in items such as the following: existential clauses, nouns that are accompanied by numerals or units of measure, or predications of material from which something is made. It often has a meaning similar to the English word 'some'. [Pei and Gaynor 1954: 161; Richards, Platt and Weber 1985: 208; Quirk et al. 1985: 249; Sebeok 1946: 1214]