2. Point out the nouns in the nominative case absolute:

Hearts agreeing, heads may differ. The rain having ceased, we may proceed on our way. These matters having been arranged, the company separated. His horse being unmanagable, he dismounted. The master being absent, the business was neglected. I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted.-Shakespeare. I'll rhyme you so eight years together, dinners and suppers and sleeping-hours excepted.—Id. The jarring states, obsequious now, View the patriot's hand on high, Thunder gathering on his brow, Lightning flashing from his eye.

[Rem. 1.] Self-love and reason to one end aspire,

Pain their aversion, pleasure their desire.-Pope.
Fire in each eye and papers in each hand,
They rave, recite, and madden round the land.-Id.
Far in a wild, unknown to public view,
From youth to age a reverend hermit grew;
The moss his bed, the cave his humble cell,

His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well;
Remote from men, with God he passed his days,

Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise.—Parnell.

[Remark 2.] Excluding the officers, there were fifty men. Regarding the condition of his troops, he succeeded as well as could be expected. Granting him ability, where is his honesty? Seeing gentle words will not prevail, assail them with the army of the king.—Shakespeare.

[Remark 3.] During the trial, he showed no excitement. Pending the discussion, I will give no opinion. Valerian resolved, notwithstanding his advanced age, to march in person to the defense of the Euphrates.- Gibbon. Save his good broadsword, he weapon had

none. -Scott. How his audit stands who knows, save Heaven.Shakespeare. A year ago, I saw him in Rome. You can not take from me any thing that I will more willingly part withal, except my life, except my life, except my life.-Shakespeare.

That mortal dint,

Save He who reigns above, none can resist.-Milton. [Remark 4.] That he is of sound mind being granted, he has power to do this. Provided that you will furnish him with money enough, he will go. Admitted that your statement is correct, it does not relieve you from blame. I accept your statement, notwithstanding that there are so many against you. He has every thing in his favor, except that

he is so indolent. Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.-English Bible.

3. Correct the errors:

[Remark 5.] Him destroyed, the rest will yield. Her having told me, I must believe it. Them being absent, the cause can not be

decided.

RULE IV.

A noun in the possessive case modifies another noun; as, "John's book has his name in it."

Here the noun John's modifies or limits the application of the noun book; the word book itself is applicable to any book, but the possessive John's limits the application to a particular book.*

Remarks.-1. The modified noun is sometimes omitted; as, "This book is Henry's [book];" "This is a book of Henry's [books];" "He is at the governor's [house];" "He admires St. Paul's [church]."

With the pronouns ours, yours, hers, theirs the modified noun is never expressed, these forms being appropriated for use when the modified nouns are omitted; as, "This book is yours [book];" "This is a book of yours [books]." At present mine and thine are seldom used with the modified noun expressed; they were formerly used before words beginning with a vowel or h; as, "Mine own tears."-Shakespeare. "Thine eye shall be instructed, and thine heart," etc.-Cowper. (See Remarks 1, 2, 3, p. 50.)

2. Pronouns never take the apostrophe. Write yours, not your's.

3. When two or more nouns are employed to designate one object the possessive sign is added to the last noun; as, "General Washington's tent;" "Paul the apostle's advice;" "Smith the bookseller's house;" "The Duke of Wellington's army." Here Wellington's is not in the possessive case, but in the objective after the preposition of; but the whole title is given as one name, and the possessive sign is placed at the end.

The possessive sign is placed thus only when the words are so closely connected as to be in effect one name. It is correct to say, "John Brown of Haddington's Works," because the adjunct of Haddington is generally employed as part of the designation of a particular John Brown; but if this adjunct were employed merely to point out the place of residence, it would not be correct to place the possessive sign after it. We should then say, "The Works of John Brown, of Haddington." If the modified noun is not expressed, we may say either "At Smith the bookseller's" or "At Smith's, the bookseller." In the latter case there is a comma between the two nouns; and if the modified noun is expressed after the nouns denoting the possessor, there should be a comma before it; as, “Mr. Good, the tailor's, servant" "servant of Mr. Good, the tailor." Without the

*Some have absurdly contended that the possessive case is not a noun, but an adjective. "That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter."-Shakespeare. If man's is an adjective, this and old must be adverbs!

comma before servant the expression would represent Mr. Good as being the tailor's servant-" Mr. Good, the tailor's servant."

4. After the possessive sign the ear requires the name of the thing possessed to be in close connection with it; therefore no term merely explanatory, nothing that requires to be set off by the comma should come between them. "They condemned King Corney's, as he was called, dissipated habits" should be "They condemned the dissipated habits of King Corney, as he was called."

"Warming his hands as if they were somebody else's."-Dickens. Here, in order to have it immediately before the modified noun, the possessive sign is removed from the noun in the possessive case and placed after the adjective belonging to the noun.

5. When we say, "These are John's and Eliza's books," using the possessive sign with both nouns, we mean that some of the books belong to John and some to Eliza; when we say, "These are John and Eliza's books," using the possessive sign with the last noun only, we mean that all the books are owned in common by John and Eliza. "Can you tell me whether he has been informed of Sir Anthony and Miss Melville's arrival?"-Sheridan. Sir Anthony and Miss Melville arrived in company with each other. "Requesting his consent to Sam and Mr. Winkle's remaining at Bristol."-Dickens. The remaining was to be common to both.

6. Goold Brown and others maintain that such expressions as "Johnson's and Richardson's Dictionaries" are incorrect, because we can not say, "Johnson's Dictionaries and Richardson's Dictionaries." Of course we do not say, "Johnson's Dictionaries," for the very good reason that we are thinking of but one thing; but we do say, "Johnson's and Richardson's Dictionaries," for the equally good reason that we are thinking of two things. We say, "The Old and New Testaments," because we are thinking of two Testaments. A person holding in his hand a knife belonging to John and another knife belonging to William would hardly venture to say, "These are John's and William's knife," even though he might have "Brown's Grammar of English Grammars" open before him.

The attempt to better the English by using the form "Johnson's Dictionary and Richardson's" is a failure; for this form is stiff and pedantic. A speaker may say, "I have consulted Johnson's Dictionary," and then add, "and Richardson's," as the result of a second thought; but if he sets out to mention both, this form is contrary to the English idiom.

"He had his father's and mother's advice" is correct, because advice is an abstract noun, having no plural in the sense in which it is here used.

7. The relation of possession may be denoted by the preposition of with the objective; as, The house of my father"-"My father's house." This form is sometimes called the Norman genitive (possessive).

This form does not always denote possession. "A crown of gold" signifies a crown made of gold; "A house of representatives" signifies a house composed of representatives. In these expressions the possessive could not have been used.

When the idea may be expressed by either of these forms we should use that which will tend most to produce smoothness and clearness. Instead of "His son's wife's sister" we should say, "The sister of his son's wife;" instead of "The distress of the son of the king" we should say, "The distress of the king's son.'

What is the error in "They condemned
King Corney's, as he was called, dissi-
pated habits"?
Explain "These are John's and Eliza's
books."
"These are John and Eliza's
books."
Should we say "Johnson's and Richard-

son's Dictionaries or "Johnson and Richardson's Dictionary"?

In what other way may the relation of possession be denoted?

What should we say instead of "His son's wife's sister"? Instead of "The distress of the son of the king"?

"My

"The love of God" may mean either the love that God feels or the love that is felt toward God; but "God's love" denotes only the love that God feels. father's picture" means a picture owned by my father; "a picture of my father" means a likeness of my father, whether he owns it or not; a picture of my father's" means one of several pictures owned by my father.

Coleridge and others have maintained that none but nouns denoting persons or personified objects should take the possessive case, and that it is only in modern usage that nouns denoting objects of any other kind do take it. But, to say nothing of Anglo-Saxon, the names of objects other than persons or personified objects take the possessive case in the writings of old English authors. In the cauldron of the witches in "Macbeth" are

"Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

"Lizard's leg and owlet's wing."

The names of even inanimate objects often take the possessive case; as, "Summer's day, winter's cold, cannon's mouth." "Tears of compassion," however, is better than 66 compassion's tears."

8. In the form "This book is Henry's" the word book, modified by the possessive Henry's, is supplied by the context; but in such expressions as "Thou art Freedom's now and Fame's"-"Thou belongest to Freedom now and Fame," the modified noun is not supplied by the context. It is some such word as property or possession.

9. "This is a book of Henry's"-"This is one of Henry's books," implies that Henry has several books of which this book is one; but such forms have been perverted so as to be used in familiar language when there is no thought of more than one; as, "That face of his is enough to condemn him."

10. A gerund, either alone or modified by other words, may be modified by a noun in the possessive case; as, "I am opposed to John's writing;" "I am opposed to his devoting himself to that subject."

This is one of the most common idioms of the language, and no case but the possessive should be used in such sentences as the preceding. "I am opposed to John writing can mean nothing if it does not mean that I am opposed to John who is writing.

Brown calls this form "questionable English:" but his objections arise from his failure to distinguish the gerund, the noun, from the participle, the adjective. A proper conception of the distinction would have saved him the labor of writing several pages of confusion. The following are examples of this idiom: "The cause, sir, of my standing here."-Shakespeare. "His clearly predicting the future revelation of this doctrine."-Dr. Barrow. "That point of your seeming to be fallen out with God."-Sir William Temple. "Whose mauling them about their heads."-Thos. Fuller. "Upon the fellow's telling him he would warrant it.”— Addison. "The truth of Mrs. Bargrave's seeing Mrs. Veal's apparition."-Defoe. "His living thus in a course of flattery."-Pope. "You will have heard of Marshal Belleisle's being made a prisoner."-Horace Walpole. "An account of his Catholic Majesty's having agreed to the neutrality."-Hume. "The opportunity of Gauntlet's being alone with him."-Smollett. "This she imputed to Joseph's having discovered to her what passed."-Fielding. "Upon my landlord's leaving the room."—Goldsmith. "I put a positive interdict on my room's being exhibited."-Irving. "The old story of Sir Walter Raleigh's looking from his prison-window."-Carlyle. Some modern writers drop the 's; but what they would say about the case of the noun that is left it is hard to tell. "Not a morning passes without Garibaldi

being seen at this chosen spot." Without he being seen, or without him being seen? If the writer of the following passage is authority on the subject of this neologism, it should seem that the noun used with the gerund is in the nominative case: "He told Mr. Welch about he and Charlie getting the pig.”—Rev. Elijah Kellogg. But it is seldom that any writer forgets English so much as to use any case of pronouns but the possessive.

Dickens and Scott use both the form with 's and the form without 's; as, "The probability of Miss Nickleby's arriving at this happy consummation."-Dickens. "He had given his gracious consent to the young couple commencing housekeeping."-Id. "The probability of Lord Evandale's becoming a mediator."-Scott. "The motto alludes to the author returning to the stage repeatedly.-Id. The second passage from Dickens might mean that the person had given his consent about something to the young couple who were commencing housekeeping. The motto to which Sir Walter refers in the second passage does not allude to the author, but to the author's returning.

"There was no opportunity for his zeal displaying itself."-Scott. "I have some sense of suspicion and distrust being poor qualities in one of my years."— Dickens. In neither of these passages should the gerund have been used at all. The first sentence should be, "There was no opportunity for his zeal to display itself;" the second should be, "I have some sense that suspicion and distrust are poor qualities in one of my years."

EXERCISES.

1. Point out the nouns modified by nouns in the possessive case: One man's loss is sometimes another's man's gain. John's book was found on James's table. This man was taken by the Duke's officers, who, in obedience to their master's directions, had driven him from all his hiding-places.

[Remark 1.] This desk is William's. He went to Mr. Smith's. He visited St. Peter's. Edward's books are not Peter's. My books are not yours. Your books are not mine. Thy father's virtue is not thine. That flower is Mary's. That flower is hers. This pen is one of James's. That pen is one of yours.

[Remark 3.] I saw him in Colonel Thomson's field. The Earl of Orford's son was very ill. They remember Judge Owen's charge. I read General Jackson's letter. The Duke of Ormond's daughter was married.

[Remark 5.] These are John's and William's books. These are John and William's books. He lives north of Mason and Dixon's line. Let us go to Johnson and Fletcher's factory.

[Remark 6.] Smith's and Jones's wives were there. I have consulted Webster's and Worcester's Dictionaries.

[Remark 8.] Thou art Glory's now. Gay hope is theirs. The sunshine of the breast is hers. The present moment alone is ours.

[Remark 10.] Upon his advancing towards me with a whisper I expected to hear some secret piece of news.-Addison. My sensations were too violent to permit my attempting her rescue.—Goldsmith.