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5. Birds have wonderfully keen eyes.

6. He shook his head, shouldered the rusty firelock, and with a heart full of trouble and anxiety turned his steps homeward.

7. Dark lightning flashed from Roderick's eye. - SCOTT.

8. When the rock was hid by the surge's swell,

The mariners heard the warning bell. — SOUTHEY.

9. The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. — GRAY. 10. They shook the depths of the desert gloom. - HEMANS.

EXERCISE II.

1. Write five sentences containing nouns in the nominative case.

2. Write five sentences containing nouns in the posses

sive case.

case.

3. Write five sentences containing nouns in the objective

LESSON XVIII.

POSSESSIVE FORMS OF NOUNS.

Mention the nouns that are in the possessive case, and tell how the possessive is formed in each example: —

1. She knelt by the lady's side.

2. The ladies' gallery is closed.

3. Men's voices were heard.

Add the apostrophe and s ('s) to a singular noun, to form the possessive; as, boy, boy's; man, man's.

The s is sometimes omitted in poetry for the sake of the metre, and it is also omitted in a few words where too many hissing sounds would come together; as, for conscience' sake; for righteousness' sake; for Jesus' sake.

Add the apostrophe (') to a plural noun ending in s, to form the possessive; as, boys, boys'; ladies, ladies'.

Add the apostrophe and s ('s) to a plural noun not ending in s, to form the possessive; as, men, men's; children, children's.

The possessive sign does not always denote possession. It is used to show authorship, origin, kind, etc.; as, Lowell's poems; the sun's rays; men's clothing.

EXERCISE I.

Point out the nouns in these sentences, tell how each is used, and name its case:

I. The lark's song rang in her ears.

2. The sound of horses' hoofs was heard in the distance. 3. The scene brought to mind an old writer's account of Christmas preparations.

4. The incidents of the Revolution plentifully supplied the barber's customers with topics of conversation.

5. The boy rang the janitor's bell.

6. A burst of laughter came from the servants' hall. 7. I noted but two warblers' nests during the season. Vainly the fowler's eye

8.

Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong.

9. He felt that his little daughter's love was worth a thousand times more than he had gained by the Golden Touch. HAWTHORNE.

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EXERCISE II.

Write in one column the possessive singular forms, and in another column the possessive plural forms of the following

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Tell how the possessive case is formed in the following compound words and phrases:

1. The lieutenant-governor's reverie had now come to an end.

2. Bright and Dun's window is filled with flowers. 3. They are reading Graham and Wood's History. When a name is composed of two or more words, add the possessive sign to the last word only; as, Marsh and Wood's store; Lee and Peabody's office.

Two connected nouns implying separate possessions must each take the possessive sign; as, Webster's and Worcester's dictionaries.

EXERCISE I.

Explain the possessives in the following examples:

1. In my father's house are many mansions.

2. Hope vanished from Fitz-James's eye. — SCOTT.

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3. This happened after General Washington's departure from Cambridge.

4. Many a young man ransacked the garret, and brought forth his great-grandfather's sword, corroded with rust and stained with the blood of King Philip's War. — HAWTHORNE.

5. The rest of the house was in the French taste of Charles the Second's time. — IRVING.

6. The grocers', butchers', and fruiterers' shops were thronged with customers. - IRVING.

7. Hither they came, from the cornfields, from the clearing in the forest, from the blacksmith's forge, from the carpenter's workshop, and from the shoemaker's seat.

HAWTHORNE.

8. Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,

Thy God's, and truth's. - SHAKESPEARE.

9. What good woman does not laugh at her husband's or father's jokes and stories time after time?—THACKERAY. 10. These are Clan-Alpine's warriors true. - Scott.

EXERCISE II.

1. Write five sentences containing connected nouns denoting joint possession.

2. Write five sentences containing connected nouns denoting separate possession.

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Possession is sometimes indicated by the objective case with the preposition of; as, The voice of the speaker, for the speaker's voice. This form is generally used in speaking of things without life; as, The lid of the box; the bank of the river.

This form is preferred also in speaking of persons, when the possessive form would be ambiguous or awkward; as, The wife of one of my brothers.

When a thing is personified, the possessive sign is generally used, particularly by the poets; as,

And read their history in a nation's eyes. — GRAY.

In reason's ear they all rejoice. — ADDISON.

Certain words and phrases denoting a period of time take the possessive case also; as, A day's journey; a week's vacation; six months' interest.

EXERCISE I.

Explain fully the case of each noun in the following sentences, and point out the examples in which possession is indicated by the objective case with the preposition of:

I. I flew to the pleasant fields traversed so oft

In life's morning march, when my bosom was young.

- CAMPBELL.

2. He has not learned the lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear. — EMERSON.

3. The trade of America had increased far beyond the speculations of the most sanguine imaginations. — BURKE.

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