Plain English Part 42

Form sentences of your own containing all these p.r.o.nouns.

POSSESSIVE FORM

+211.+ You will note in these sentences above that we have used the p.r.o.noun _my_ and _your_ and _his_ and _her_ as _my principles_, _your friend_, _his rights_, _her freedom_. This is the possessive form of these personal p.r.o.nouns, the form that denotes ownership or possession.

You remember that nouns had a possessive form, a form to denote possession or ownership, as, _The man's book._ _The boy's school._ _The worker's college._ So p.r.o.nouns also have a possessive form which we use to show that an object belongs to such and such a person or thing. If I want to tell you that I own or possess a home, I say, _I own my home_.

Each personal p.r.o.noun has its possessive form, thus:

+Singular+

_Subject Form_ _Possessive_

_First person._ I My, mine _Second person._ You Your, yours _Third person._ He, she, it His, her, hers, its

+Plural+

_Subject Form_ _Possessive_

_First person._ We Our, ours _Second person._ You Your, yours _Third person._ They Their, theirs

POSSESSIVE FORM

+212.+ You will notice that the possessive forms, _my_, _our_, _her_, _your_, _its_, _his_ and _their_, are always used with the name of the object possessed. As for example; _my work_, _our library_, _her delight_, _your task_, _its purpose_, _his home_, _their mistake_.

+213.+ The possessive forms, _mine_, _thine_, _hers_, _ours_, _yours_ and _theirs_, are always used by themselves and are used either as subject, object or complement. As for example:

That letter is mine.

The work is hers.

Thine is the glory.

Is that yours?

Theirs not to reason why; theirs but to do and die.

The possessive form _his_ may be used either in connection with the name of the object possessed or by itself. For example:

This is _his_ home.

This home is _his_.

OBJECT FORM

+214.+ p.r.o.nouns have one form which nouns do not have. We use the same form for the noun no matter whether it is the subject or the object. For example:

The man saw me.

I saw the man.

In the first sentence _man_ is the subject of the verb _saw_, and in the second sentence _man_ is the object of the verb _saw_. The same word is used; but you will notice that in the first sentence _me_ is the object of the verb _saw_, and in the second _I_ is the subject; yet both refer to the same person, the first person, the person speaking.

So we have a different form of the p.r.o.noun for the object, for example: _I saw him._ _He saw me._ _She watched us._ _We watched her._ _You found them._ _Him_, _me_, _us_, _her_, and _them_ in these sentences are used as the objects of the verbs, _see_, _watch_ and _found_, and are called the object forms of the p.r.o.nouns. _You_ and _it_ have the same form for both the subject and object; as, _You did it._ _It frightens you._ _Her_ is used as both the possessive form and the object form, as, _Her work tires her._

+215.+ The following table gives the subject and the object forms of the personal p.r.o.nouns, and these should never be confused in their usage. We must not use the object form as the subject of the verb, nor the subject form as the object of the verb.

+Singular+

_Subject_ _Object_

_First._ I Me _Second._ You You _Third._ He, she, it Him, her, it

+Plural+

_Subject_ _Object_

_First._ We Us _Second._ You You _Third._ They Them

GENDER

+216.+ You notice in all of these tables that there are three forms given for the third person singular, _he_, _she_, and _it_. These are the only forms in which p.r.o.nouns express gender. In all other forms the gender can be determined only by the gender of the antecedent.

+He, representing a male, is masculine.+

+She, representing a female, is the feminine.+

+It represents a s.e.xless thing, and hence is said to be of the neuter gender.+

THE LITTLE VERB _BE_

+217.+ You remember when we studied verbs, we had the incomplete verb that took an object; the complete verb that needed no object, since it was complete in itself; and one other kind of a verb. Do you remember this third kind of verb? This third kind is the copulative verb, and the copulative verb which we use most frequently is the one in the use of which we make the most mistakes.

It is that troublesome, bothersome, little verb _be_, which is so difficult to master. You remember it is an incomplete verb, but instead of taking an object, it takes a complement or completing word. So when you see a p.r.o.noun with any form of this verb _be_, you must use the _subject_ form and not the _object_ form. This copulative verb _be_ is simply a connecting word, not a verb that a.s.serts action or takes an object.

+218.+ Here is where we make so many mistakes. We say, _It was me_, _It was them_, _It was him_, _It wasn't her_; instead of, _It was I_, _It was they_, _It was he_, _It wasn't she_. We have used the incorrect form in this particular so often that the correct form has a strange sound to our ears.

The only way to remedy this is to repeat over and over aloud the correct form until it has a familiar sound. Don't think this is putting words, as you should do in everything. We of the working cla.s.s have built the world in its beauty. Why should we live in shacks, dress in shoddy, talk in slang? There is no reason except that we endure it. When the united working cla.s.s demands its own, it will receive it. Demand yours and arouse the stupid from their sleep as rapidly as you can.

Repeat the following sentences aloud ten times every day this week and see if the correct form does not come to your lips more readily. We can learn the rule, but only continued practice and watchfulness can break us of our old habits.

It is I who seek my own.

It shall be they who are defeated.

It was I who was ignorant.

It is they who cause all wars.

It is he who must be aroused.

It is we who strive for freedom.

It shall be I who shall win.

It was she who was enslaved.

It shall be we who shall demand equality.

It shall be they who shall conquer.