Practical Grammar and Composition
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3. Some singular nouns ending in an s sound form the possessive by adding the apostrophe alone; as, for appearance' sake, for goodness' sake. But usage inclines to the adding of the apostrophe and s ('s) even if the singular noun does end in an s sound; as, Charles's book, Frances's dress, the mistress's dress.
4. When a compound noun, or a group of words treated as one name, is used to denote possession, the sign of the possessive is added to the last word only; as, Charles and John's mother (the mother of both Charles and John), Brown and Smith's store (the store of the firm Brown & Smith).
5. Where the succession of possessives is unpleasant or confusing, the substitution of a prepositional phrase should be made; as, the house of the mother of Charles's partner, instead of, Charles's partner's mother's house.
6. The sign of the possessive should be used with the word immediately preceding the word naming the thing possessed; as, Father and mother's house, Smith, the lawyer's, office, The Senator from Utah's seat.
7. Generally, nouns representing inanimate objects should not be used in the possessive case. It is better to say the hands of the clock than the clock's hands.
Note.—One should say somebody else's, not somebody's else. The expression somebody else always occurs in the one form, and in such cases the sign of the possessive should be added to the last word. Similarly, say, no one else's, everybody else's, etc.
Page 11Exercise 4
Write the possessives of the following:
Oxen, ox, brother-in-law, Miss Jones, goose, man, men, men-servants, man-servant, Maine, dogs, attorneys-at-law, Jackson & Jones, John the student, my friend John, coat, shoe, boy, boys, Mayor of Cleveland.
Exercise 5
Write sentences illustrating the use of the possessives you have formed for the first ten words under Exercise 4.
Exercise 6
Change the following expressions from the prepositional phrase form to the possessive:
1 The ships of Germany and France.
2 The garden of his mother and sister.
3 The credit of Jackson & Jones.
4 The signature of the president of the firm.
5 The coming of my grandfather.
6 The lives of our friends.
7 The dog of both John and William.
8 The dog of John and the dog of William.
9 The act of anybody else.
10 The shortcomings of Alice.
11 The poems of Robert Burns.
12 The wives of Henry the Eighth.
13 The home of Mary and Martha.
14 The novels of Dickens and the novels of Scott.
15 The farm of my mother and of my father.
16 The recommendation of Superintendent Norris.
Exercise 7
Correct such of the following expressions as need correction. If apostrophes are omitted, insert them in the proper places:
1 He walked to the precipices edge.
2 Both John and William's books were lost.
3 Page 12 They sell boy's hats and mens' coats.
4 My friends' umbrella was stolen.
5 I shall buy a hat at Wanamaker's & Brown's.
6 This student's lessons.
7 These students books.
8 My daughters coming.
9 John's wife's cousin.
10 My son's wife's aunt.
11 Five years imprisonment under Texas's law.
12 John's books and Williams.
13 The Democrat's and Republican Convention.
14 France's and England's interests differ widely.
15 The moons' face was hidden.
16 Wine is made from the grape's juice.
17 Morton, the principals, signature.
18 Jones & Smith, the lawyers, office.
16. Gender. Gender in grammar is the quality of nouns or pronouns that denotes the sex of the person or thing represented. Those nouns or pronouns meaning males are in the Masculine Gender. Those meaning females are in the Feminine Gender. Those referring to things without sex are in the Neuter Gender.
In nouns gender is of little consequence. The only regular inflection is the addition of the syllable-ess to certain masculine nouns to denote the change to the feminine gender; as, author, authoress; poet, poetess. -Ix is also sometimes added for the same purpose; as, administrator, administratrix.
The feminine forms were formerly much used, but their use is now being discontinued, and the noun of masculine gender used to designate both sexes.
Page 13CHAPTER III
PRONOUNS
17. Pronoun and Antecedent.APronounis a word used instead of a noun. The noun in whose stead it stands is called itsAntecedent.Johntook Mary'sbookand gaveittohisfriend. In this sentencebookis the antecedent of the pronounit, andJohnis the antecedent ofhis.
18. Pronouns should agree with their antecedents in person, gender, and number.
19. Personal Pronounsare those that by their form indicate the speaker, the person spoken to, or the person or thing spoken about.
Pronouns of theFirst Personindicate the speaker; they are:I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours.
Pronouns of theSecond Personindicate the person or thing spoken to; they are:you, your, yours. There are also the grave or solemn forms in the second person, which are now little used; these are:thou, thee, thy, thine, andye.
Pronouns of theThird Personindicate the person or thing spoken of; they are:he, his, him, she, her, hers, they, their, theirs, them, it, its.
Few errors are made in the use of the proper person of the pronoun.
20. Gender of Pronouns.The following pronouns indicate sex or gender; Masculine:he, his, him. Feminine:she, her, hers. Neuter:it, its.
In order to secure agreement in gender it is necessary to know the gender of the noun, expressed or understood, to which the pronoun refers.Gender of nouns is important only so far as it concerns the use of pronouns. Study carefully thePage 14following rules in regard to gender. These rules apply to the singular number only, since all plurals of whatever gender are referred to by
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