Plain English Part 14

The possessive form of nouns is made by adding an apostrophe and _s_, ('s); thus, _day's_, _lady's_, _girl's_, _clerk's_.

To plural nouns ending in _s_ add only an apostrophe; thus, _days'_, _ladies'_, _girls'_, _clerks'_.

When plural nouns do not end in _s_, their possessive forms are made by adding the apostrophe and _s_, the same as singular nouns, thus:

They make _men's_ and _women's_ shoes.

+90.+ In words which end with a sound that resembles that of _s_, the apostrophe with _s_ forms an additional syllable. Thus:

James's (p.r.o.nounced James-ez.) Mr. Lynch's (p.r.o.nounced Lynch-ez.)

The only exception to the rule occurs when the addition of another _s_ would make too many hissing sounds, then we add the apostrophe alone.

Thus:

For goodness' sake.

In Jesus' name.

+91.+ In forming the possessive of compound nouns, the possessive sign is always placed at the end, thus:

My son-in-law's sister.

The man-of-war's cannon.

+92.+ When we wish to show that a thing belongs to two or more persons who are joint owners of it, we add the possessive sign to the last word only, thus:

Carson, Price and Scott's store.

Mason and Hamlin's pianos.

If it is a separate ownership that we wish to denote, we place the possessive sign after each name, thus:

Bring me John's and Mary's books.

Lee's and Grant's armies met in battle.

Remember that the noun has just _three_ changes in form, one for the plural number, one to denote gender and one for the possessive form.

Watch carefully your own language and that of your friends and note if these changes are correctly made.

Exercise 3

Write the plural form of each of the following:

ax beef chief hero knife T hoof man-of-war axis basis cherry leaf son-in-law Mr. Smith thief Doctor Wood alley buffalo chimney staff Frenchman Miss Brown ox spoonful alto calf cargo two 3 tooth foot turkey

Exercise 4

Underscore the nouns in the following:

How many abstract nouns?

How many concrete?

How many singular?

How many plural?

FIVE AND FIFTY

_Charlotte Perkins Gilman_

If fifty men did all the work And gave the price to five; And let those five make all the rules-- You'd say the fifty men were fools, Unfit to be alive.

And if you heard complaining cries From fifty brawny men, Blaming the five for graft and greed, Injustice, cruelty indeed-- What would you call them then?

Not by their own superior force Do five on fifty live, But by election and a.s.sent-- And privilege of government-- Powers that the fifty give.

If fifty men are really fools-- And five have all the brains-- The five must rule as now we find; But if the fifty have the mind-- Why don't they take the reins?

Exercise 5

Select all the nouns in the following. Write their singular, plural and possessive forms. Decide whether they are abstract or concrete, common or proper or collective, masculine, feminine or neuter.

Brother!

Whoever you are, wherever you are on all the earth, I greet you.

I extend to you my right hand.

I make you a pledge.

Here is my pledge to you:--

I refuse to kill your father. I refuse to slay your mother's son. I refuse to plunge a bayonet into the breast of your sister's brother. I refuse to slaughter your sweetheart's lover. I refuse to murder your wife's husband. I refuse to butcher your little child's father. I refuse to wet the earth with blood and blind kind eyes with tears. I refuse to a.s.sa.s.sinate you and then hide my stained fists in the folds of _any_ flag.

Will you thus pledge me and pledge all the members of our working cla.s.s?--_Kirkpatrick._

SPELLING

LESSON 4

Some of our consonants also have more than one sound. We have also certain combinations of consonants which represent one sound. This combination of two letters to represent one sound is called a digraph, as _gh_, in _cough_, _ch_ in _church_. A digraph may either be a combination of two consonants or of two vowels or of a vowel and a consonant. The following table contains the consonants which have more than one sound:

c--k as in _cat_ c--s as in _vice_ g--j as in _ginger_ g--_hard_ as in _go_ s--sh as in _sure_ s--zh as in _usual_ s--_soft_ as in _also_ s--z as in _does_ x--_soft_ as in _extra_ x--gz as in _exist_