Higher Lessons in English by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg (small books to read TXT) 📖

+Caution+.—When several possessive nouns modify the same word and imply common possession, the possessive sign is added to the last only. If they modify different words, expressed or understood, the sign is added to each.

+Explanation+.—_William_ and Henry’s boat; William’s and Henry’s boat. In the first example, William and Henry are represented as jointly owning a boat; in the second, each is represented as owning a separate boat—_boat_ is understood after William’s.

+Remark+.—When the different possessors are thought of as separate or opposed, the sign may be repeated although joint possession is implied; as, He was his father’s, mother’s, and sister’s favorite; He was the King’s, as well as the people’s, favorite.

+Direction+.—_Correct these errors, and give your reasons_:—

1. The Bank of England was established in William’s and Mary’s reign. 2. Messrs. Leggett’s, Stacy’s, Green’s, & Co.‘s business prospers. 3. This was James’s, Charles’s, and Robert’s estate. 4. America was discovered during Ferdinand’s and Isabella’s reign. 5. We were comparing Caesar and Napoleon’s victories. 6. This was the sage and the poet’s theme.

+Explanation+.—If an article precedes the possessive, the sign is repeated.

7. It was the king, not the people’s, choice. 8. They are Thomas, as well as James’s, books.

+Caution+.—When a possessive noun is followed by an explanatory word, the possessive sign is added to the explanatory word only. But, if the explanatory word has several modifiers, or if there are more explanatory words than one, only the principal word takes the sign.

+Remarks+.—When a common noun is explanatory of a proper noun, and the name of the thing possessed is omitted, the possessive sign may be added either to the modifying or to the principal word; as, We stopped at Tiffany, the jeweler’s, or We stopped at Tiffany’s, the jeweler.

If the name of the thing possessed is given, the noun immediately before it takes the sign.

+Direction+.—_Correct these errors_:—

1. This is Tennyson’s, the poet’s, home. 2. I took tea at Brown’s, my old friend and schoolmate’s. 3. This belongs to Victoria’s, queen of England’s, dominion. 4. This province is Victoria’s, queen of England’s. 5. That language is Homer’s, the greatest poet of antiquity’s. 6. This was Franklin’s motto, the distinguished philosopher’s statesman’s. 7. Wolsey’s, the cardinal’s, career ended in disgrace.

+Direction+.–Tell which of the sentences above may be improved by using other forms to denote possession. (See the following Caution.)

+Caution+.—The relation of possession may be expressed not only by (_’s_) and by of but by the use of such phrases as belonging to, property of, etc. In constructing sentences be careful to secure smoothness and clearness and variety by taking advantage of these different forms.

+Direction+.—_Improve the following sentences_:—

1. This is my wife’s father’s opinion.

+Correction+.—This is the opinion of my wife’s father, or held by my wife’s father.

2. This is my wife’s father’s farm. 3. France’s and England’s interest differs widely. 4. Frederick the Great was the son of the daughter of George I. of England. 5. My brother’s wife’s sister’s drawings have been much admired. 6. The drawings of the sister of the wife of my brother have been much admired.

Of is not always equivalent to the (_’s_),

+Explanation+.—_The president’s reception_ means the reception given by the president, but the reception of the president means the reception given to the president.

+Direction+.—_Construct sentences illustrating the meaning of the following expressions_:—

A mother’s love, the love of a mother; a father’s care, the care of a father; my friend’s picture, a picture of my friend.

+Caution+.—Often ambiguity may be prevented by changing the assumed subject of a participle from a nominative or an objective to a possessive.

+Direction+.—_Correct these errors_:—

1. The writer being a scholar is not doubted.

+Correction+.—This is ambiguous, as it may mean either that the writer is not doubted because he is a scholar, or that the writer’s scholarship is not doubted. It should be, The writer’s being [Footnote: The participle may be modified not only, as here, by a noun in the possessive but by the articles a and the–as said in Lesson 37. Whether it be the imposing a tax or the issuing a paper currency.—Bagehot. Not a making war on them, not a leaving them out of mind, but the putting a new construction upon them, the taking them from under the old conventional point of view.—_Matthew Arnold_. Poltroonery is the acknowledging an infirmity to be incurable.—_Emerson_. The giving away a man’s money.—_Burke_. It is not the finding of a thing but the making something out of it, after it is found, that is of consequence.—_Lowell_.

As seen in this last quotation, the participle may be followed by a preposition and so become a pure noun (Lesson 38).] a scholar is not doubted, or That the writer is a scholar is not doubted.

2. I have no doubt of the writer being a scholar. 3. No one ever heard of that man running for office. 4. Brown being a politician prevented his election. 5. I do not doubt him being sincere. 6. Grouchy being behind time decided the fate of Waterloo.

*

LESSON 124.

NUMBER AND CASE FORMS.

Declension.

+DEFINITION.—_Declension_ is the arrangement of the cases of nouns and pronouns in the two numbers+.

+Direction+.—_Learn the following declensions_:—

Declension of Nouns.

LADY. BOY. MAN. Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Nom. lady, ladies, boy, boys, man, men, Pos. lady’s, ladies’, boy’s, boys’, man’s, men’s, Obj. lady; ladies. boy; boys. man; men.

Declension of Pronouns.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

FIRST PERSON. SECOND PERSON— SECOND PERSON— common form old form. _Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Nom. I, we,* you, you, thou, ye(++) or you Pos. my or our or your or your or thy or ye(++) or you mine,+ ours, yours, yours, thine, yours, Obj. me; us. you; you. thee; you.

[Footnote *: Strictly speaking, we can hardly be the plural of I, says Professor Sweet, for I does not admit of plurality. We means I and you, I and he, I and she, or I and they, etc.]

[Footnote +: The forms mine, ours, yours, thine, hers, and theirs are used only when the name of the thing possessed is omitted; as, Yours is old, mine is new = Your book is old, etc. Mine and thine were formerly used before words beginning with a vowel sound; as, thine enemy, mine honor.

The expression a friend of mine presents a peculiar construction. The explanation generally given is, that of is partitive, and that the expression is equivalent to one friend of my friends.

It is said that this construction can be used only when more than one thing is possessed such expressions as This heart of mine, That temper of yours are good, idiomatic English. This naughty world of ours.—Byron. This moral life of mine.—Sheridan Knowles. Dim are those heads of theirs.–Carlyle.

Some suggest that the word possessing or owning is understood after these possessives; as, This temper of yours (your possessing); others say that of simply marks identity, as does of in city of (=viz.) New York (see Lesson 34). They would make the expression = This temper, your temper.

The s in ours, yours, hers, and theirs is the s of his and its extended by analogy to our, your, her, and their, forms already possessive. Ours, yours, hers, and theirs are consequently double possessives.]

[Footnote ++: Ye is used in Chaucer and in the King James version of the Bible exclusively in the nominative, as was its original ge_ in the Saxon. Shakespeare uses you in the nominative. You (the Saxon accusative eow) has now taken the place of ye, and is both nominative and objective.

THIRD PERSON—_Mas_. THIRD PERSON—_Fem_. THIRD PERSON—_Neut_. Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural. Nom. he, they, she, they, it, they, Pos. his, their or her or their or its,* their or theirs, hers, theirs, theirs, Obj. him; them. her; them. it; them.

[Footnote *: The possessive its is our only personal pronoun form not found in Saxon. His, the possessive of the masculine he, was there the possessive (genitive) of the neuter hit also—our it. But it came to be thought improper to employ his to denote inanimate things as well as animate. The literature of the 16th and 17th centuries shows a growing sense of this impropriety, and abounds with of it, thereof, her, it, the, and it own in place of his as the possessive of it. The first appearance of the new coinage its is placed in 1598. Long after its introduction many looked askance at its, because of the grammatical blunder it contains—the_ t_ in its being a nominative neuter ending, and the s a possessive ending. But no one thinks now of shunning what was then regarded as a grammatical monstrosity.]

COMPOUND PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural. Nom. and Nom. and Nom. and Nom. and Nom. and Nom. and Obj. Obj. Obj. Obj. Obj. Obj.

myself* thyself himself; or ourselves. or yourselves. herself; themselves. ourself; yourself; itself;

[Footnote *: The compound personal pronouns are used (1) for emphasis; as, I myself saw it: and (2) as reflexives, to turn the action of the verb back upon the actor; as, He found himself deserted by his friends. They are not the only words used in this last relation; where no obscurity would arise, we may use the simple personal pronouns instead. And millions in those solitudes … have laid them down in their last sleep.—_Bryant_. My uncle stopped a minute to look about him.—_Dickens_.

The compound personal pronouns should not be used as subjects.]

+Remark+.—The possessive of these pronouns is wanting.

Ourself and we are used by rulers, editors, and others to hide their individuality, and give authority to what they say.

+Relative Pronouns+.

Sing. and Plu. Sing. and Plu. Sing. and Plu. Sing. and Plu. Nom. who, which, that, what, Pos. whose, whose, ––, ––, Obj. whom. which. that. what.

+Remark+.—From the composition of which—_hwa:_-lic, or hwaet-lic = who-like, or what-like, it is evident that whose is not formed from which. It is, in fact, the possessive of what transferred to which. Much has been said against this whose, but it is in general use. Those who regard usage as the final arbiter in speech need not avoid this form of the pronoun.

+Interrogative Pronouns+.

The interrogative pronouns who, which, and what are declined like the relatives who, which, and what.

+Compound Relative Pronouns+.

Singular and Plural. Singular and Plural. Nom. whoever, whosoever, Pos. whosever, whosesoever, Obj. whomever. whomsoever.

Whichever, whichsoever, whatever, and whatsoever do not change their form.

+Adjective Pronouns+.

This and that with their plurals, these and those, have no possessive form, and are alike in the nominative and the objective. One and other are declined like nouns; and another, declined like other in the singular, has no plural. Either, neither, former, and latter sometimes take the apostrophe and s (‘