Higher Lessons in English Part 62

As seen in this last quotation, the participle may be followed by a preposition and so become a pure noun (Lesson 38).] _a scholar_ is not doubted, or _That the writer is a scholar_ is not doubted.

2. I have no doubt of the writer being a scholar.

3. No one ever heard of that man running for office.

4. Brown being a politician prevented his election.

5. I do not doubt him being sincere.

6. Grouchy being behind time decided the fate of Waterloo.

LESSON 124.

NUMBER AND CASE FORMS.

Declension.

+DEFINITION.--_Declension_ is the arrangement of the cases of nouns and p.r.o.nouns in the two numbers+.

+Direction+.--_Learn the following declensions_:--

Declension of Nouns.

LADY. BOY. MAN.

_Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural_.

Nom. lady, ladies, boy, boys, man, men, Pos. lady's, ladies', boy's, boys', man's, men's, Obj. lady; ladies. boy; boys. man; men.

Declension of p.r.o.nouns.

PERSONAL p.r.o.nOUNS.

FIRST PERSON. SECOND PERSON-- SECOND PERSON-- _common form_ _old form_.

_Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Nom. I, we,* you, you, thou, ye(++) _or_ you Pos. my _or_ our _or_ your _or_ your _or_ thy _or_ ye(++) _or_ you mine,+ ours, yours, yours, thine, yours, Obj. me; us. you; you. thee; you.

[Footnote *: Strictly speaking, _we_ can hardly be the plural of _I_, says Professor Sweet, for _I_ does not admit of plurality. _We_ means _I_ and _you_, _I_ and _he_, _I_ and _she_, or _I_ and _they_, etc.]

[Footnote +: The forms _mine_, _ours_, _yours_, _thine_, _hers_, and _theirs_ are used only when the name of the thing possessed is omitted; as, _Yours_ is old, _mine_ is new = _Your book_ is old, etc. _Mine_ and _thine_ were formerly used before words beginning with a vowel sound; as, _thine enemy_, _mine honor_.

The expression _a friend of mine_ presents a peculiar construction. The explanation generally given is, that _of_ is part.i.tive, and that the expression is equivalent to _one friend of my friends_.

It is said that this construction can be used only when more than one thing is possessed such expressions as _This heart of mine_, _That temper of yours_ are good, idiomatic English. This naughty world _of ours.--Byron_.

This moral life _of mine.--Sheridan Knowles_. Dim are those heads _of theirs.---Carlyle_.

Some suggest that the word possessing or owning is understood after these possessives; as, This _temper of yours_ (your possessing); others say that _of_ simply marks ident.i.ty, as does of in _city of_ (=viz.) _New York_ (see Lesson 34). They would make the expression = _This temper, your temper_.

The _s_ in _ours, yours, hers_, and _theirs_ is the _s_ of _his_ and _its_ extended by a.n.a.logy to _our, your, her_, and _their_, forms already possessive. _Ours, yours, hers_, and _theirs_ are consequently double possessives.]

[Footnote ++: _Ye_ is used in Chaucer and in the King James version of the Bible exclusively in the nominative, as was its original _ge__ in the Saxon. Shakespeare uses _you_ in the nominative. _You_ (the Saxon accusative _eow_) has now taken the place of _ye_, and is both nominative and objective.

THIRD PERSON--_Mas_. THIRD PERSON--_Fem_. THIRD PERSON--_Neut_.

_Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural_.

Nom. he, they, she, they, it, they, Pos. his, their _or_ her or their _or_ its,* their _or_ theirs, hers, theirs, theirs, Obj. him; them. her; them. it; them.

[Footnote *: The possessive _its_ is our only personal p.r.o.noun form not found in Saxon. _His_, the possessive of the masculine _he_, was there the possessive (genitive) of the neuter _hit_ also--our _it_. But it came to be thought improper to employ _his_ to denote inanimate things as well as animate. The literature of the 16th and 17th centuries shows a growing sense of this impropriety, and abounds with _of it_, _thereof_, _her_, _it_, _the_, and _it own_ in place of _his_ as the possessive of _it_. The first appearance of the new coinage _its_ is placed in 1598. Long after its introduction many looked askance at _its_, because of the grammatical blunder it contains--the_ t_ in _its_ being a nominative neuter ending, and the _s_ a possessive ending. But no one thinks now of shunning what was then regarded as a grammatical monstrosity.]

COMPOUND PERSONAL p.r.o.nOUNS.

_Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural. _ _Nom. and Nom. and Nom. and Nom. and Nom. and Nom. and_ _Obj. Obj. Obj. Obj. Obj. Obj._

myself* thyself himself; _or_ ourselves. _or_ yourselves. herself; themselves.

ourself; yourself; itself;

[Footnote *: The compound personal p.r.o.nouns are used (1) for emphasis; as, _I myself_ saw it: and (2) as reflexives, to turn the action of the verb back upon the actor; as, _He_ found _himself_ deserted by his friends. They are not the only words used in this last relation; where no obscurity would arise, we may use the simple personal p.r.o.nouns instead. And _millions_ in those solitudes ... have laid _them_ down in their last sleep.--_Bryant_.

My uncle stopped a minute to look about _him_.--_d.i.c.kens_.

The compound personal p.r.o.nouns should not be used as subjects.]

+Remark+.--The possessive of these p.r.o.nouns is wanting.

_Ourself_ and _we_ are used by rulers, editors, and others to hide their individuality, and give authority to what they say.

+Relative p.r.o.nouns+.

_Sing. and Plu. Sing. and Plu. Sing. and Plu. Sing. and Plu._ _Nom_. who, which, that, what, _Pos_. whose, whose, ------, ------, _Obj_. whom. which. that. what.

+Remark+.--From the composition of _which_--_hwa:_-lic, or _hwaet-lic_ = _who-like_, or _what-like_, it is evident that _whose_ is not formed from _which_. It is, in fact, the possessive of _what_ transferred to _which_.

Much has been said against this _whose_, but it is in general use. Those who regard usage as the final arbiter in speech need not avoid this form of the p.r.o.noun.

+Interrogative p.r.o.nouns+.

The interrogative p.r.o.nouns _who, which_, and _what_ are declined like the relatives _who, which_, and _what_.

+Compound Relative p.r.o.nouns+.

_Singular and Plural_. _Singular and Plural_.

_Nom_. whoever, whosoever, _Pos_. whosever, whosesoever, _Obj_. whomever. whomsoever.

_Whichever, whichsoever, whatever_, and _whatsoever_ do not change their form.

+Adjective p.r.o.nouns+.

_This_ and _that_ with their plurals, _these_ and _those_, have no possessive form, and are alike in the nominative and the objective. _One_ and _other_ are declined like nouns; and _another_, declined like _other_ in the singular, has no plural. _Either, neither, former_, and _latter_ sometimes take the apostrophe and _s_ ('_s_) in the singular. _Each_, _either_, and _neither_ are always singular; _both_ is always plural; and _all, any, farmery latter, none, same, some_, and _such_ are either singular or plural. [Footnote: On the pages immediately preceding Lesson 1, we said that +usage+, as determined by the majority of the best writers and speakers of the generation, is the only authority in language; and we there explained how we are able to appeal to usage as we all along have done. In treating of the adjective p.r.o.nouns we now appeal to it again. In the first twelve paragraphs below we give alternative expressions. Only the second of these alternative locutions in each paragraph is allowed by many grammarians; they utterly condemn the first. On the warrant of usage we say that both expressions are correct.

1. We may use +each other+ with more than two; we may use _one another_ in such a case. We may say, "_Several_ able _men_ were in correspondence with _each other_," or "with _one another_."

2. We may use +one another+ with only two; we may use _each other_ in such a case. We may say, "The _two countries_ agreed to stand by _one another_,"