3. The nominative denotes the subject of a verb.

4. The possessive denotes possession or ownership.

5. The objective denotes the object of a transitive (or active) verb, or preposition.

Note.-There are two objects, the direct and indirect.

The former answers

to the Latin accusative; the latter, to the Latin dative; thus, I like him (direct). He is like his father (indirect). In Anglo-Saxon there were caseendings for the indirect object, as well as the direct; thus, hine, him; him, to him or for him.

6. In the sentence-John uses Webster's Dictionary, John is in the nominative case, because it denotes the subject of the verb Webster's is in the possessive, because it denotes possesssion. Dictionary is in the objective, because it is the object of the verb uses.

uses.

7. The nominative and objective of nouns are alike in form. 8. The possessive is formed by adding an apostrophe and s to the nominative; as, Mary, Mary's.

Note.-The termination ('s) is the contraction of the Anglo-Saxon es, and not of his, as some writers affirm. This is the more certain, as the German, to which our language is so nearly related, takes es for the possessive of many nouns, even at the present day; thus, der Hann (the man), des Mannes (the man's).

9. When the nominative plural ends in s, the possessive takes only an apostrophe; as, cows' milk.

Observations.-(1) When es forms a distinct syllable at the end of a singular nominative, the possessive is formed by adding only the apostrophe; as, Moses' rod, Socrates' philosophy. It is, however, better to say, The rod of Moses, The philosophy of Socrates.

(2) When the singular nominative ends in ce, ss, us, or x, the possessive is generally formed by adding only the apostrophe, especially when the next word begins with s; as, for conscience' sake, for righteousness' sake, Brutus' son, Felix' sister.

(3) When two or more nouns in the possessive come closely together, the termination ('s) is generally put only to the last; as, Homer, Virgil, and Milton's poems. *

(4) The termination ('s) added to letters denotes the plural number rather than the possessive case; as, Two a's are used in the word grammar.

Some good writers prefer putting the sign ('s) to each of the nouns; as, Homer's, Virgil's, and Milton's poems.

EXERCISE.

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION.

1. What is case? 2. How many cases have nouns? 3. What does the nominative denote? 4. What the possessive? 5. What the objective? 6. What are the three cases in the sentence-John uses Webster's Dictionary? 7. Which two cases are alike in form? 8. How is the possessive formed? Give the substance of the note. 9. When the nominative plural ends in s, how is the possessive formed? 10. What is the declension of boy, daisy, man? Observations.-(1) When es forms a distinct syllable, how is the possessive formed ?

(2) When the noun ends in ce, ss, us, or x, how is the possessive formed? (3) To which of the two or more nouns should the termination ('s) be put? (4) Does the termination ('s) ever denote the plural number?

Point out the cases in the following examples, remembering that when a noun denotes the doer of anything, it is the nominative case, and that when anything is represented as done to a noun, it is the objective case :

Brutus killed Cæsar. Cæsar loved Brutus. Pompey married Cæsar's daughter. Some Egyptians slew Pompey. These Egyptians presented Pompey's head to the conqueror. Both the judge and the jury were overawed by the lawless mob. As is the boy, so generally is the man. Childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day. Though she scorns me, yet I love her

none the less.

Ye vainly wise! ye blind presumptuous! now,
Confounded in the dust, adore that Power
And Wisdom oft arraigned: see now the cause
Why unassuming worth in secret lived,

And died, neglected; why the good man's share
In life was gall and bitterness of soul;
Why the lone widow and her orphans pined
In starving solitude-while luxury,

In palaces, lay straining her low thought

To form unreal wants; why heaven-born truth,
And moderation fair, wore the red marks
Of superstition's scourge; why licensed pain,
That cruel spoiler, that embosomed foe,
Embittered all our bliss. Ye good distressed!
Ye noble few! who here unbending stand
Beneath life's pressure, yet bear up awhile;
And what your bounded view, which only saw
A little part, deemed evil, is no more:
The storms of wintry time will quickly pass;
And one unbounded spring encircle all.

Thomson's Winter.

ADJECTIVE.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Adjectives may be divided into three kinds, those of quality, quantity, and demonstrative or distinguishing adjectives. (1) Adjectives of quality answer the question, What sort, or what sort of? as, bright, beautiful.

Observation.-These are very numerous.

(2) Adjectives of quantity answer the question, How much, or how many? as, some, ten.

Observation.-All the numerals, cardinal and ordinal belong to this class; and, therefore, these must be by far the most numerous.

(3) Demonstrative or distinguishing adjectives are used to point out; as, this, the, an, yon, such, same, every, &c.

Note. As some of these words come under the head of pronouns as well as adjectives, they will be more fully set forth as pronouns.

THE ARTICLES.

2. An article is a word put before a noun, to limit its meaning; as, the boy.

3. There are two articles: a or an, and the.

4. A or an is called the indefinite article, and the the definite. 5. A is used before a consonant, the long sound of u, and before o in the word one; as, a man, a union, a European, such

a one.

6. An is used before a vowel or silent h, and also before an h aspirate when the accent is on the second syllable; † as, an angel, an heir, an historical event.

7. The is used before vowels and consonants alike, and before nouns in both numbers.

8. A is generally used before nouns in the singular number only.

9. Sometimes when the noun is preceded by an adjective, a is used before a plural; as, a great many men. An is never used before a plural.

10. When a noun is used without an article, it is used in its widest sense; as, man is mortal; that is, all mankind are mortal.

* Some prefer an before one; as, "Being such an one as Paul the aged." But this is now considered stiff.

This rule is not universally observed; for instance, Dr. Angus corrects Hallam for saying, "An historical account;" but such an expression agrees with the best usage, which, however, is not uniform on this point. Carlyle has "a hypothesis;" Dean Trench, "an harmonious."

DEFINITION AND INFLECTION.

11. An adjective is a word added to a noun to distinguish or describe the thing named or spoken of; as, good, bad, great.* 12. English adjectives are compared, but not declined.

13. Adjectives have three degrees of comparison, the positive, the comparative, and superlative.

14. The positive is the adjective in its simple form; as, mild, wise, wild.

15. The comparative is used to express the quality in a higher or lower degree; as, milder, wiser, less wild.

16. The superlative is used to express the quality in its highest or lowest degree; as mildest, wisest, least wild.

17. Monosyllables generally take r or er for the comparative, and st or est for the superlative; as, large, larger, largest; bright, brighter, brightest.

18. Adjectives of more than one syllable generally form the comparative by prefixing the adverb more, and the superlative by prefixing the adverb most; as, beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful.

Observations.-(1) Some monosyllables form the comparative and superlative by prefixing more and most, while some dissyllables form the comparative and superlative by adding er and est. Thus we can say, more calm and most calm, as well as, calmer and calmest, profounder, profoundest, as well as, more profound and most profound.

(2) All trisyllables and polysyllables form the comparative and superlative by prefixing more and most; as, diligent, more diligent, most diligent; comprehensive, more comprehensive, most comprehensive.

(3) Monosyllables and dissyllables ending in y, preceded by a consonant, change they into i before er and est; as, dry, drier, driest; silly, sillier, silliest. (4) Adjectives of one syllable, ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double the last consonant in taking er and est; as, hot, hotter,

hottest.

(5) A few adjectives form the superlative by affixing most; as, foremost, uppermost, undermost.

(6) The adverb rather, and the augment ish, serve to modify or diminish the force of an adjective; as, She is rather pretty. The stone was of a bluish tint.

*When an adjective is used after the verb to be, it is used predicatively; as, The earth is round. When it is put close to the noun (either before or after it) it is used attributively; as, The round earth is always moving. The verbs to grow, to seem, to look, to appear, to become, &c., are used like the verb to be in this respect; as, "I was growing weary;" " "she looked beautiful," &c.

(7) Some adjectives do not commonly admit of comparison; as, chief, eternal, extreme, perfect, universal, etc.

In poetry and rhetoric, however, some of these words are often compared. (8) Many nouns are used as adjectives, while some adjectives are used as nouns; thus, There were many gold watches and silver spoons stolen. good often suffer with the bad."

(9) The following are irregular adjectives :—†

The

Oldest or eldest +
Nighest or next

The

(10) Numerals, or numeral adjectives, are either cardinal or ordinal. cardinal numbers are, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, etc. The ordinal numbers are first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, etc.

Note.-Numerals are frequently used as nouns or substantives.

* A noun is sometimes used peculiarly as an adjective; as, What a love of a child! What a rogue of a lawyer! This, however, is rather a French than an English idiom; as, Quel amour d'enfant!

Late has two comparatives and superlatives; of these, latter and last (the ones most changed) are the oldest, cp., near, next; elder, eldest.

Last is a contraction of an old form lat-st=latest.

Next is a contraction of nighest (cp., O. E. neh-st, in which the h was a sharp guttural, sounded as ch in loch).

Near was once comparative of neah, close to.

Elder, eldest, have vowel change, as well as inflexion.

Better comes from a root, bat (or bet)=good (cp., our "to boot"), with change of vowel, as in elder.

Best-bet-st-bet-est, cp. last.

Wor-se comes from a root, weor=bad. The suffix -se is another form of the comparative ending -er. Wor-st is shortened from worrest.

Less is formed from a root, las, meaning weak, infirm. The suffix -s (= -se) is another form of the comparative -".

Much once meant large, great.

The mo in mo-re aud mo-st also meant great.

Farther and farthest are slightly irregular, a th having crept in through a confusion with further (the comparative of the adverb forth).

Rather is now an adverb; it was once an adjective. Its positive was rathe, meaning early. Former is a corruption of an old forme, meaning first (superlative of fore). The m is an old superlative ending, still found in fore-m-ost.

Most superlatives ending in -most contain two superlative suffixes, -m and -ost (= -est).
First is a superlative of fore=front; cp., fore leg, forehead.

O-ther contains the numeral one (from which the n has gone), and a comparative ending: -ther, cp. whe-ther.

Other once meant second; cp., every other day.-Dr. Morris.

Elder and eldest are mostly applied to persons; as, Mary is the eldest daughter. Still older and oldest are also applied to persons; as, Mary is older than her sisters. Methuselah was the oldest man that ever lived.