Lesson 66 - 68: Possesive Nouns

Possessive with compound expressions.

66. In compound expressions,
containing words in apposition, a word with a phrase, etc., the
possessive sign is usually last, though instances are found with
both appositional words marked.

Compare the following examples of literary usage:-

Do not the Miss Prys, my neighbors, know the amount of my
income, the items of my son's, Captain Scrapegrace's,
tailor's bill-Thackeray.

The world's pomp and power sits there on this hand: on that,
stands up for God's truth one man, the poor miner Hans
Luther's son.-Carlyle.

They invited me in the emperor their master's
name.-Swift.

I had naturally possessed myself of Richardson the
painter's thick octavo volumes of notes on the "Paradise
Lost."-DE QUINCEY.

They will go to Sunday schools to teach classes of little
children the age of Methuselah or the dimensions of Og the king
of Bashan's bedstead."smcap">-Holmes.

More common still is the practice of turning the possessive into
an equivalent phrase; as, in the name of the emperor their
master, instead of the emperor their master's name.

Possessive and no noun limited.

67. The possessive is sometimes
used without belonging to any noun in the sentence; some such word
as house, store, church, dwelling,
etc., being understood with it: for example,-

Here at the fruiterer's the Madonna has a tabernacle of
fresh laurel leaves.-Ruskin.

It is very common for people to say that they are disappointed
in the first sight of St. Peter's."smcap">-Lowell.

I remember him in his cradle at St. James's."smcap">-Thackeray.

Kate saw that; and she walked off from the
don's.-De Quincey.

The
double possessive.

68. A peculiar form, a double
possessive, has grown up and become a fixed idiom in modern
English.

In most cases, a possessive relation was expressed in Old
English by the inflection -es, corresponding to 's.
The same relation was expressed in French by a phrase corresponding
to of and its object. Both of these are now used side by
side; sometimes they are used together, as one modifier, making a
double possessive. For this there are several reasons:-

Its advantages: Euphony.

(1) When a word is modified by a, the,
this, that, every, no, any,
each, etc., and at the same time by a possessive noun, it is
distasteful to place the possessive before the modified noun, and
it would also alter the meaning: we place it after the modified
noun with of.

Emphasis.

(2) It is more emphatic than the simple possessive, especially
when used with this or that, for it brings out the
modified word in strong relief.

Clearness.

(3) It prevents ambiguity. For example, in such a sentence as,
"This introduction of Atterbury's has all these advantages"
(Dr. Blair), the statement clearly means only one thing,-the
introduction which Atterbury made. If, however, we use the phrase
of Atterbury, the sentence might be understood as
just explained, or it might mean this act of introducing Atterbury.
(See also Sec. 87.)

The following are some instances of double
possessives:-

This Hall of Tinville's is dark, ill-lighted except where
she stands.-Carlyle.

Those lectures of
Lowell's had a great influence with me, and I used to like
whatever they bade me like."smcap">-Howells

Niebuhr remarks that no pointed sentences of
Casar's can have come down to us."smcap">-Froude.

Besides these famous books of Scott's and Johnson's,
there is a copious "Life" by Thomas Sheridan."smcap">-Thackeray

Always afterwards on occasions of ceremony, he wore that quaint
old French sword of the Commodore's.-"smcap">E. E. Hale.

Exercises.

(a) Pick out the possessive nouns, and tell whether each
is appositional, objective, or subjective.

(b) Rewrite the sentence, turning the possessives into
equivalent phrases.

1. I don't choose a hornet's nest about my ears.

2. Shall Rome stand under one man's awe?

3. I must not see thee Osman's bride.

4.

At lovers' perjuries,

They say, Jove laughs.

5. The world has all its eyes on Cato's son.

6. My quarrel and the English queen's are one.

7.

Now the bright morning star, day's
harbinger,
Comes dancing from the
East.

8. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore, let
him seasonably water the one, and destroy the other.

9.

'Tis all men's office to speak
patience
To those that wring under the load of
sorrow.

10.

A jest's prosperity lies in the
ear
Of him that hears it, never in the
tongue
Of him that makes it.

11. No more the juice of Egypt's grape shall moist his lip.

12.

There Shakespeare's self, with every
garland crowned,
Flew to those fairy climes his
fancy sheen.

13.

What supports me? dost thou
ask?
The conscience, Friend, to have lost them
[his eyes] overplied
In liberty's
defence.

14.

Or where Campania's plain forsaken
lies,
A weary waste expanding to the
skies.

15.

Nature herself, it seemed, would
raise
A minster to her Maker's
praise!

Lesson 61 - 65: Declension or inflection of nouns

61. This last-named possessive
expresses a variety of relations. Possession in some sense
is the most common. The kind of relation may usually be found by
expanding the possessive into an equivalent phrase: for example,
"Winter's rude tempests are gathering now" (i.e., tempests
that winter is likely to have); "His beard was of several days' growth" (i.e., growth which
several days had developed); "The forest's leaping panther
shall yield his spotted hide" (i.e., the panther which the forest
hides); "Whoso sheddeth man's blood" (blood that man
possesses).

How the possessive is formed.

62. As said before (Sec. 56),
there are only two case forms. One is the simple form of a word,
expressing the relations of nominative and objective; the other is
formed by adding 's to the simple form, making the
possessive singular. To form the possessive plural, only the
apostrophe is added if the plural nominative ends in -s; the
's is added if the plural nominative does not end in
-s.

Case Inflection.

Declension or inflection of
nouns.

63. The full declension of nouns
is as follows:-

	SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
1. Nom. and Obj.	lady	ladies
Poss.	lady's	ladies'
2. Nom. and Obj.	child	children
Poss.	child's	children's

A suggestion.

NOTE.-The difficulty that some students have in writing
the possessive plural would be lessened if they would remember
there are two steps to be taken:-

(1) Form the nominative plural according to Secs 39-53

(2) Follow the rule given in Sec. 62.

Special Remarks on the Possessive Case.

Origin of the possessive with its
apostrophe.

64. In Old English a large number
of words had in the genitive case singular the ending -es;
in Middle English still more words took this ending: for example,
in Chaucer, "From every schires ende," "Full worthi was he in his lordes werre
[war]," "at his beddes syde," "mannes herte [heart],"
etc.

A false theory.

By the end of the seventeenth century the present way of
indicating the possessive had become general. The use of the
apostrophe, however, was not then regarded as standing for the
omitted vowel of the genitive (as lord's for lordes):
by a false theory the ending was thought to be a contraction of
his, as schoolboys sometimes write, "George Jones his
book."

Use of the apostrophe.

Though this opinion was untrue, the apostrophe has proved a
great convenience, since otherwise words with a plural in -s
would have three forms alike. To the eye all the forms are now
distinct, but to the ear all may be alike, and the connection must
tell us what form is intended.

The use of the apostrophe in the plural also began in the
seventeenth century, from thinking that s was not a
possessive sign, and from a desire to have distinct forms.

Sometimes s is left out in the
possessive singular.

65. Occasionally the s is
dropped in the possessive singular if the word ends in a hissing
sound and another hissing sound follows, but the apostrophe remains
to mark the possessive; as, for goodness' sake, Cervantes'
satirical work.

In other cases the s is seldom omitted. Notice these
three examples from Thackeray's writings: "Harry ran upstairs to
his mistress's apartment;" "A postscript is added, as by the
countess's command;" "I saw what the governess's
views were of the matter."

Exercise: Nominative and Objective Nouns

Exercise.

Pick out the nouns in the nominative case, and tell which use of
the nominative each one has.

1. Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead; excessive
grief, the enemy of the living.

2.

Excuses are clothes which, when asked
unawares,
Good Breeding to naked Necessity
spares.

3. Human experience is the great test of truth.

4. Cheerfulness and content are great beautifiers.

5. Three properties belong to wisdom,-nature, learning,
and experience; three things characterize man,-person, fate,
and merit.

6.

But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy
wrath can send,
Save, save, oh save me from the
candid friend!

7. Conscience, her first law
broken, wounded lies.

8. They charged, sword in hand and visor down.

9.

O sleep! O gentle sleep!

Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted
thee?

Exercise.

Point out the nouns in the objective case in these sentences,
and tell which use each has:-

1. Tender men sometimes have strong wills.

2. Necessity is the certain connection between cause and
effect.

3. Set a high price on your leisure moments; they are sands of
precious gold.

4. But the flood came howling one day.

5. I found the urchin Cupid sleeping.

6. Five times every year he was to be exposed in the
pillory.

7. The noblest mind the best contentment has.

8. Multitudes came every summer to visit that famous natural
curiosity, the Great Stone Face.

9.

And whirling plate, and forfeits
paid,
His winter task a pastime
made.

10.

He broke the ice on the streamlet's
brink,
And gave the leper to eat and
drink.

Lesson 56 - 60: Noun, Nominative, Objective, Possesive

56. In the general wearing-away of inflections, the number of case forms has been greatly reduced.

Only two case forms.

There are now only two case forms of English nouns,—one for the nominative and objective, one for the possessive: consequently the matter of inflection is a very easy thing to handle in learning about cases.

Reasons for speaking of three cases of nouns.

But there are reasons why grammars treat of three cases of nouns when there are only two forms:—

(1) Because the relations of all words, whether inflected or not, must be understood for purposes of analysis.

(2) Because pronouns still have three case forms as well as three case relations.

57. Nouns, then, may be said to have three cases,—the nominative, the objective, and the possessive.

I. Uses of the Nominative.

58. The nominative case is used as follows:—

(1) As the subject of a verb: "Water seeks its level."

(2) As a predicate noun, completing a verb, and referring to or explaining the subject: "A bent twig makes a crooked tree."

(3) In apposition with some other nominative word, adding to the meaning of that word: "The reaper Death with his sickle keen."

(4) In direct address: "Lord Angus, thou hast lied!"

(5) With a participle in an absolute or independent phrase (there is some discussion whether this is a true nominative): "The work done, they returned to their homes."

(6) With an infinitive in exclamations: "David to die!"

II. Uses of the Objective.

59. The objective case is used as follows:—

(1) As the direct object of a verb, naming the person or thing directly receiving the action of the verb: "Woodman, spare that tree!"

(2) As the indirect object of a verb, naming the person or thing indirectly affected by the action of the verb: "Give the devil his due."

(3) Adverbially, defining the action of a verb by denoting time, measure, distance, etc. (in the older stages of the language, this took the regular accusative inflection): "Full fathom five thy father lies;" "Cowards die many times before their deaths."

(4) As the second object, completing the verb, and thus becoming part of the predicate in acting upon an object: "Time makes the worst enemies friends;" "Thou makest the storm a calm." In these sentences the real predicates are makes friends, taking the object enemies, and being equivalent to one verb, reconciles; and makest a calm, taking the object storm, and meaning calmest. This is also called the predicate objective or the factitive object.

(5) As the object of a preposition, the word toward which the preposition points, and which it joins to another word: "He must have a long spoon that would eat with the devil."

The preposition sometimes takes the possessive case of a noun, as will be seen in Sec. 68.

(6) In apposition with another objective: "The opinions of this junto were completely controlled by Nicholas Vedder, a patriarch of the village, and landlord of the inn."

III. Uses of the Possessive.

60. The possessive case always modifies another word, expressed or understood. There are three forms of possessive showing how a word is related in sense to the modified word:—

(1) Appositional possessive, as in these expressions,—

The blind old man of Scio´s rocky isle.—Byron.

Beside a pumice isle in Baiæ´s bay.—Shelley.

In these sentences the phrases are equivalent to of the rocky isle [of] Scio, and in the bay [of] Baiæ, the possessive being really equivalent here to an appositional objective. It is a poetic expression, the equivalent phrase being used in prose.

(2) Objective possessive, as shown in the sentences,—

Ann Turner had taught her the secret before this last good lady had been hanged for Sir Thomas Overbury´s murder.—Hawthorne.

He passes to-day in building an air castle for to-morrow, or in writing yesterday´s elegy.—Thackeray

In these the possessives are equivalent to an objective after a verbal expression: as, for murdering Sir Thomas Overbury; an elegy to commemorate yesterday. For this reason the use of the possessive here is called objective.

(3) Subjective possessive, the most common of all; as,—

The unwearied sun, from day to day,
Does his Creator´s power display.

—Addison.

If this were expanded into the power which his Creator possesses, the word Creator would be the subject of the verb: hence it is called a subjective possessive.