VII.

POSSESSIVE CASE OF NOUNS AND PRONOUN

The possessive case of nouns and pronouns is s called because it is used along with a noun to indicate the possessor or owner, or holder, or originator, real or analogical, of what the noun represents :

The man's farm (ownership).

The man's tastes (possession or characteristic).
The child's rights (appurtenance).

A week's work (figurative belonging or adaptation).
Edison's inventions (origin).

So we speak of our faults, your virtues, their actions, his debts, meaning the faults which we commit, the virtues which we have, the actions which they perform, the debts which he owes.

Thus a noun or pronoun in the possessive case has nearly the force of an attributive adjective, qualifying or limiting the meaning of a noun. It may in many instances be replaced by an adjective:

Note. The possessive is called subjective, if, when the modifier is turned into a clause, the noun in the possessive would be the subject of the clause : A father's care = the care which a father exercises.

It is called an objective possessive, if the noun in the possessive would become object of a clause or infinitive :

It is called an appositive possessive when it means the same as the modi

fied noun:

The blind old man of Scio's rocky isle.

Woman's peculiarities = feminine peculiarities.
Man's power = human power.

The Lord's will Divine will.

A possessive noun or pronoun thus added directly to Government noun is said to depend on the noun, or to be gov

ned by the noun; i.e. its use as an adjective modifier

quires that it should be in the possessive case.

A noun or pronoun in the possessive case may be substituted sed in the other constructions of the adjective:

As predicate nominative,

The hat is Joseph's.

The horses are ours.

As predicate objective,

I will make the estate my son's

I account the error mine.

As an appositive, —

for

These jewels, the queen's, are wonderful.
These words, my own, I will not retract.

With a modified word understood, the possessive may with noun be used in several of the constructions of the noun:

Note. The possessive forms of the pronouns my, thy, his, its, our,

understood

Objective with of

Possessive after of

Origin of idiom

I will be at the baker's (shop), Mr. Smith's (house)
St. Paul's (cathedral).

The possessive relation may be expressed by a nour objective after the preposition of as well as by the possessive:

Mr. Jones's daughter the daughter of Mr. Jones.
My friend
= a friend of me.

From these two constructions a peculiar idiom has arisen, in which the possessive is put after the preposition, thus making a double possessive modifying nouns preceded by a, this, that, any, each, every, many, no, other, such, and some other words.

The construction is used for euphony, emphasis, clearness, or indeterminateness:

He wore a sword of the commodore's.

No pointed sentences of Cæsar's have come down to us.
That wife of Smith's will be the death of him.
This introduction of Atterbury's has these advantages.
Any friend of the candidate's can give you ballots.
I was taken to every new toy of his and the squire's.

The origin of this idiom has been assigned to the 'partitive genitive.' Thus, 'a castle of mine,' could mean, one of my castles'; so, 'some friends of his,' could mean, 'some, i.e. a part, of his friends.' But in, 'that beautiful face of hers,' 'that bald head of his,' no

such explanation is possible.

The idiom probably arose.

om some other necessity of the language. Whatever origin, the possessive thus used after of now stands 'belonging to you, me, him, them,' or, 'my, your, s, their, property or belongings.'

A house of mine a house belonging to me; and it Disposition of ay mean ‘one of my houses,' or, simply 'my house.' he possessive may be disposed of according to the eaning of the expression, either as standing for an ojective noun understood after the preposition, or as a ossessive used idiomatically after the preposition.

A noun with a following appositive or a prepositional one posseshrase, often forms a single substantive expression, the

ast word only taking the possessive sign:

May the Lord open the King of England's eyes.

I speak in the emperor my master's name.

The use of one possessive in apposition with another is not uncommon:

I shall visit my uncle's, Duke of Devon's, estate.
His, my father's, honor was assailed.

sive sign

Frequently, too, the appositive possessive noun lacks Appositive the possessive sign :

Behold the heaven is the Lord's, thy God.

possessive lacks sign

The possessive case, like any other, may be the ante- Antecedent cedent of a relative pronoun, but it is the custom to

Note. For an interesting discussion of this construction see Kellner's

of relative

Else

Joint or several

Place

Rule

employ the equivalent construction, the objective afte of:

Therein shall dwell his race who slew his brother.

Therein shall dwell the race of him who slew his brother.

Compounds of body and one followed by else may take the possessive sign, or the sign may follow else: —

Nobody else's land will serve the purpose.

You take my hat, I'll take somebody's else.

Of two or more possessives modifying the same noun and indicating joint ownership or possession, only the last takes a possessive sign; but if they indicate separate ownership or possession, each takes the possessive sign:

David and Jonathan's friendship.

Safe from the storm's and prelate's rage.

The possessive usually stands immediately before the word which it modifies.

RULE X. — A noun or pronoun qualifying or limiting another noun or pronoun, and expressing ownership, possession, origin, or the like, is put in the possessive case.

Note. - Possessives may stand in a diagram in the same position as the construction or part of speech which they represent.