An English Grammar Part 12

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_.--LOWELL.

I remember him in his cradle at _St. James's_.--THACKERAY.

Kate saw that; and she walked off from the _don's_.--DE QUINCEY.

[Sidenote: _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:--

[Sidenote: _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_.

[Sidenote: _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.

[Sidenote: _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.--HOWELLS

Niebuhr remarks that no pointed sentences _of Caesar's_ can have come down to us.--FROUDE.

Besides these famous books _of Scott's and Johnson's_, there is a copious "Life" by Thomas Sheridan.--THACKERAY

Always afterwards on occasions of ceremony, he wore that quaint old French sword _of the Commodore's_.--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!

HOW TO Pa.r.s.e NOUNS.

69. Parsing a word is putting together all the facts about its form and its relations to other words in the sentence.

In parsing, some idioms--the double possessive, for example--do not come under regular grammatical rules, and are to be spoken of merely as idioms.

70. Hence, in parsing a noun, we state,--

(1) The cla.s.s to which it belongs,--common, proper, etc.

(2) Whether a neuter or a gender noun; if the latter, which gender.

(3) Whether singular or plural number.

(4) Its office in the sentence, determining its case.

[Sidenote: _The correct method._]