RULE XIX.—POSSESSIVES.

A noun or a pronoun in the possessive case is governed by the name of the thing possessed: as,

"And Zion's daughters pour'd their lays,
With priest's and warrior's voice between."
Sir W. Scott.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XIX.

Obs. 1.—Every possessive is governed by some noun expressed or understood, except such as (without the possessive sign) are put in apposition with others so governed; and for every possessive termination there must be a separate governing word. The possessive sign may and must be omitted in certain cases; but it is never omitted by ellipsis. Note 2d, in the next page, is sufficient to shew, in every instance, when it must be used, and when omitted.

Obs. 2. The possessive case generally comes immediately before the governing noun; as, "All nature's difference keeps all nature's peace." —Pope. Lady! be thine [i. e. thy walk] the Christian's walk." to this general principle there are some exceptions: as,

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I. When an adjective intervenes; as, "Flora's earliest smells."— Milton. "Of Will's last night's lecture."—Spectator.

II. When the possession is affirmed or denied; as, "The book is mine, and not John's."

III. When the case occurs without the sign; as, "David and Jonathan's friendship."- "Adam and Eve's morning hymn."

Obs. 3.—Where the governing noun cannot be easily mistaken, it is often omitted by ellipsis; as, "At the alderman's" [house].--" A book of my brother's" [books].

Obs. 4.—When two or more nouns of the possessive form are in any way connected, they usually refer to things individually different, but of the same name; and when such is the meaning, the governing noun is understood wherever the sign is added without it: as,

"From Stiles's pocket into Nokes's" [pocket],—S. Butler.

"Add Nature's, Custom's, Reason's, Passion's strife."—Pope. Obs. 5. The possessive sign is sometimes annexed to that part of a compound name, which is of itself in the objective case; as, "The captain-of-the-guard's house.—Bible. "The Bard-of-Lomond's lay is done."—Hogg. Such compounds ought always to be written with hyphens, and parsed together as possessives governed in the usual way. Obs. 6.—To avoid a concurrence of hissing sounds, the s is sometimes omitted, and the apostrophe alone retained to mark the possessive singular; as, "For conscience' sake."—"Moses' minister."—" Achilles'

wrath."—Pope.

Obs. 7. Whatever word or term gives rise to the direct relation of

property, and is rightly made to govern the possessive case, must be a noun—must be the name of some substance, quality, state, or action. When, therefore, other parts of speech assume this relation, they become nouns; as, 66 Against the day of my burying."—John xii. 7. "Of my whereabout."—Shakspeare.

NOTES TO RULE XIX.

Note I. In the use of the possessive case its appropriate form should be observed: thus, write men's, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs; and not mens', her's, it's, our's, your's, their's.

Note II.—When nouns of the possessive case are connected by conjunctions, or put in apposition, the sign of possession must always be annexed to such, and such only, as immediately precede the governing noun, expressed or understood; as," For David my servant's sake."—Bible. "Lost in love's and friendship's smile."—Scott.

Note III.—The relation of property may also be expressed by the preposition of and the objective: as, "The will of man," for "man's will." Of these forms, we should adopt that which will render the sentence the most perspicuous and agreeable; or, by the use of both, avoid an unpleasant repetition of either.

Note IV. A noun governing the possessive plural, should not be made plural, unless the sense requires it. Thus say, "We have changed our mind," if only one purpose or opinion is meant.

Obs.—A noun taken figuratively may be singular when the literal meaning would require the plural: such expressions as "Their face"— "Their neck"- "Their hand"—" Their head"- -"Their heart"—" Our mouth"—" Our life"— -are frequent in the Scriptures, and are not im

proper.

Note V.—The possessive case should not be prefixed to a participle, that is not taken in all respects as a noun. The following phrase is therefore wrong: "Adopted by the Goths in their pronouncing the Greek."—Walker's Key, p. 17. Expunge their.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XIX.

Examples under Note 1.

Thy progenitors virtue is not thine.

[Not proper, because the noun progenitors, which is intended for the possessive plural, has not the appropriate form of that case. But, according to Note 1st under Rule 19th, "In the use of the possessive case, its appropriate form should be observed." An apostrophe is required after progenitors; thus, Thy progenitors' virtue is not thine.] Mans chief good is an upright mind. Moses rod was turned into a serpent. They are wolves in sheeps clothing. The tree is known by it's fruit.

The privilege is not their's any more than it is your's.

Under Note 2.

This hat is John or James's.

Were Cain's occupation and Abel the same?
Were Cain and Abel's occupation the same?
Were Cain's and Abel's occupations the same?

Under Note 3.

The nation's government is sometimes left to chance.
He was Louis the Sixteenth's son's heir.

We met at my brother's partner's house.

An account of the proceedings of the court of Alexander.

Under Note 4.

"Their healths, perhaps, may be pretty well secured."— Locke.

We all have talents committed to our charges.

We are, for our parts, well satisfied.

Under Note 5.

Have you a rule for your thus parsing the participle?
He errs in his giving the word a double construction.
By our offending others we expose ourselves.

RULE XX.—OBJECTIVES.

Active-transitive verbs, and their imperfect and pluperfect participles, govern the objective case: as, I found him writing it."—" Having finished the lesson, let us revise it."

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XX.

Obs. 1.—Every objective is governed by some verb or participle, according to this Rule, or by some preposition, according to Rule 22d; except such as are put in apposition with others, according to Rule 3d, or after an infinitive or participle, according to Rule 21st; as, him of Gath, Goliah."—" They took me to be her."

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OBS. 2.—The objective case generally follows the governing word; but when it is emphatic, it often precedes the nominative; as, "Me he restored to mine office, and him he hanged."—Gen. xli. 13. Home he had not."—Thomson. In poetry it is sometimes placed between the nominative and the verb; as, His daring foe securely him defied."— Milton. A relative or an interrogative pronoun is commonly placed at the head of its clause, and of course it precedes the verb which governs it; as, "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest."—Acts. "Whom will the meeting appoint?"

Obs. 3. All active-transitive verbs have some noun or pronoun for their object. Though verbs are often followed by the infinitive mood, or a dependent clause, yet these terms, being commonly introduced by a connecting particle, do not constitute such an object as is contemplated in our definition of a transitive verb.

Obs. 4.—Active-transitive verbs are often followed by two objectives in apposition; as, "Thy saints proclaim thee king."—Cowper. "And God called the firmament Heaven."—Bible. And, in such a construction, the direct object is sometimes placed before the verb; as, " And Simon he surnamed Peter."—Mark iii. 15.

Obs. 5. When a verb is followed by two words in the objective case, which are neither in apposition nor connected by a conjunction, one of them is governed by a preposition understood; as, "I paid [to] him the money." "They offered [to] me a seat."

Obs. 6.-In expressing such sentences passively, the object of the preposition is sometimes erroneously assumed for the nominative; as, "He was paid the money," instead of, "The money was paid [to] him."

NOTES TO RULE XX.

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NOTE I.—Those verbs and participles which require an object, should not be used intransitively; as, "She affects [kindness], in order to ingratiate [herself] with you." "I will not accept of it." Expunge of, that accept may govern the pronoun it.

"He

NOTE II. Those verbs and participles which do not admit an object, should not be used transitively; as, sat him down." Expunge him.

OBS. Some verbs will govern a kindred noun, or its pronoun, but no other; as, "He lived a virtuous life."—" Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed,"—Gen. xxxvii. 6.

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NOTE III. The passive verb should always take for its subject the direct object of the active-transitive verb from which it is derived; as, (Active) They refused me this opportunity."—(Passive), "This opportunity was refused me,"—not, "I was refused this opportunity."

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XX.

He I shall more frankly accept.

[Not proper, because the pronoun he is in the nominative case, and is used as the object of the active-transitive verb shall accept. But according to Rule 20th, "Active-transitive verbs, and their imperfect and pluperfect participles, govern the objective case." Therefore he should

be him; thus, Him I shall more frankly accept.]

Thou only have I chosen.

Who shall we send on this errand?

My father allowed my brother and I to accompany him.
He accosts whoever he meets.

Whosoever the court favours, is safe.

Who do you think I saw the other day?

Under Note 1.

The ambitious are always seeking to aggrandize.
I must premise with three circumstances.

This society does not allow of personal reflections.

Under Note 2.

We endeavoured to agree the parties.

Being weary, he lay him down.

Go, flee thee away into the land of Judah.

Under Note 3.

They were refused the benefit of their recantation.
We were shown several beautiful pictures.

RULE XXI.—SAME CASES.

Active-intransitive, passive, and neuter verbs, and their participles, take the same case after as before them, when both words refer to the same thing: as,

friend, who came a foe.”—Pope.

"He returned a "It could not be he."