Higher Lessons in English Part 61

+Remark+.--When the singular and the plural are alike in the nominative, some place the apostrophe after the _s_ in the plural to distinguish it from the possessive singular; as, singular, _sheep's_; plural, _sheeps'_.

+Direction+.--_Study the Rule and the Remarks given above, and then write the possessive singular and the possessive plural of each of the following nouns_:--

Actor, elephant, farmer, king, lion, genius, horse, princess, buffalo, hero, mosquito, negro, volcano, junto, tyro, cuckoo, ally, attorney, fairy, lady, monkey, calf, elf, thief, wife, wolf, chief, dwarf, waif, child, goose, mouse, ox, woman, beau, seraph, fish, deer, sheep, swine.

Compound names and groups of words that may be treated as compound names add the possessive sign to the last word; as, a _man-of-war's_ rigging, the _queen of England's_ palace,[Footnote: In parsing the words _queen_ and _England_ separately, the ('_s_) must be regarded as belonging to _queen_; but the whole phrase _queen of England's_ may be treated as one noun in the possessive case.] _Frederick the Great's_ verses.

+Remark+.--The possessive plural of such terms is not used.

The preposition _of_ with the objective is often used instead of the possessive case form--_David's_ Psalms = Psalms _of David_.

+Remarks+.--To denote the source from which a thing proceeds, or the idea of belonging to, _of_ is used more frequently than ('_s_).

The possessive sign (_'s_) is confined chiefly to the names of persons, and of animals and things personified. We do not say the _tree's_ leaves, but the leaves _of the tree_.

The possessive sign however is often added to names of things which we frequently hear personified, or which we wish to dignify, and to names of periods of time, and to words denoting value; as, the _earth's_ surface, _fortune's_ smile, _eternity's_ stillness, a _year's_ interest, a _day's_ work, a _dollar's_ worth, _two cents'_ worth.

By the use of _of_, such expressions as _witness's statement_, _mothers-in-law's faults_ may be avoided.

+Direction+.--_Study carefully the principles and Remarks given above, and then make each of the following terms indicate possession, using either the possessive sign or the preposition of, as may seem most appropriate, and join an appropriate name denoting the thing possessed_:--

Father-in-law, William the Conqueror, king of Great Britain, aid-de-camp, Henry the Eighth, attorney-at-law, somebody else,[Footnote: In such expressions as _everybody else's business_, the possessive sign is removed from the noun and attached to the adjective. (See Lesson lai.) The possessive sign should generally be placed immediately before the name of the thing possessed.] Jefferson, enemy, eagle, gunpowder, book, house, chair, torrent, sun, ocean, mountain, summer, year, day, hour, princess, Socrates.

LESSON 123.

CONSTRUCTION OF POSSESSIVE FORMS.

As the possessive is the only case of nouns that has a distinctive inflection, it is only with this case that mistakes can occur in construction.

+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 princ.i.p.al 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 princ.i.p.al 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 ill.u.s.trating 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 a.s.sumed 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_.