Show how the insertion or the omission of apostrophes in certain words, occurring in these portions of verse, is borne out by the preceding Remarks : —— Strike- till the last armed foe expires! Here Edwin and his Emma oft would stray, The toiling ploughman drives his thirsty teams Though darkness o'er a slumbering world And all is bright below. Unthinking, idle, wild, and young, I laughed and talked, and danced and sung; Serenity broods o'er my mind; For I daily pray to Heaven, That, when the hour of death arrives, But come, thou goddess fair and free, To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore. Oh! when my friend and I In grateful errors through the underwood, Sweet murmuring, methought the shrill-tongued thrush Of dress. Oh! then, the longest summer's day Had not imparted half: 'twas happiness Too exquisite to last. Of joys departed, Not to return, how painful the remembrance! EXERCISE TO BE WRITTEN. Insert the apostrophe wherever necessary; and mark a grave accent on the vowel in ED in verse, when pronounced as an additional syllable : — As Yorkshire Humphrey, tother day, Oer London Bridge was stumping. That forked flash, that pealing crash, With haste aloft, and, peering bright, For who but He that arched the skies That, set in silver, gleams within? Oer Idalia's velvet green the rosy-crowned Loves are seen. Now, brothers, bending oer the accursed loom, From seventeen years till now, almost fourscore, Then lighted from his gorgeous throne; for now Approach, and read (for thou canst read) the lay Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt, A bearded man, Armed to the teeth art thou: one mailed hand Blest be the day I scaped the wrangling crew Who, to the enraptured heart and ear and eye, It gazes on those glazed eyes, it hearkens for a breath; RULE II. The Genitive or Possessive Case. The apostrophe is used to distinguish the possessive case of nouns; which is usually formed in the singular number by adding to the nominative an s, with an apostrophe before it, and in the plural by simply annexing this mark. EXAMPLES. 1. What majesty attends Night's lovely queen! REMARKS. a. The apostrophe is sometimes used in the singular number without the additional s, when the nominative ends in s, ss, ce, or x; as, "Moses' rod," "for righteousness' sake," "for conscience' sake," "the administratrix' sale." This mode of punctuation holds good chiefly in proper names having a foreign termination, and in such common nouns as are seldom used in the plural, — an exception to the rule of forming the possessive singular, which is founded on the propriety of modifying the disagreeable nature of the hissing sound. b. Recourse, however, should not be had to the principle laid down in the preceding remark, when its adoption would cause ambiguity, or when the addition of the s is not offensive to a refined ear. For instance, the Italic words in the phrases, "Burns's Poems," "James's book," "Thomas's cloak," "the fox's tail," though they contain the hissing sound, are not particularly unpleasant, and are far more analogical and significant than the abbreviated forms, "Burns' Poems," "James' book," " Thomas' cloak," "the fox' tail.” 66 c. We have no doubt that the distinctions here suggested are important, and accord with the genius of the English language; but in poetry none but the author himself should change the form of the possessive, whether written with or without the annexed s, as, unless the whole line were recast, such an alteration would probably mar the harmony of the verse. Even in prose, a printer should not take the liberty of changing the form of a possessive, without the consent of the author; this matter being yet a subject on which there is a difference of opinion among literary men. d. To form the possessive case plural, the apostrophe, with an s after it, is added to the nominative plural, when it does not end in that letter; as, "Men's passions; women's tenderness; children's joys." e. The possessive case of pronouns is formed without an apostrophe; as, Some grammarians would use the apostrophe before the s in ours, yours, hers, its, theirs. But the impropriety of this is evident from the mode in which the other pronouns in the possessive case are always written; namely, mine, his, and whose; which exhibit the case without the mark in question. ORAL EXERCISES. State the reason for the insertion and position of the apostrophe in these sentences: A man's manners not unfrequently indicate his morals. The sun is the poet's, the invalid's, and the hypochondriac's friend. O majestic Night, Nature's great ancestor, Day's elder born! Mother's wag, pretty boy, father's sorrow, father's joy. Bid them in duty's sphere as meekly move. Why is that sleeper laid to rest in manhood's pride? Who loves not spring's voluptuous hours, or summer's splendid reign? Is sparkling wit the world's exclusive right? The Turk awoke: he woke to hear his sentry's shriek. The people's shouts were long and loud. - Thy mercies' monument. A friend should bear a friend's infirmities. The ox's hide. Show how the Rule or the Remarks (pp. 204–5) are applicable to the possessive case in the following phrases and sentences: Adam's book, not Adams's: the book did not belong to Adams. Nor roamed Parnassus' heights nor Pindus' hallowed shade. I oft have sat on Thames' sweet bank to hear my friend. EXERCISE TO BE WRITTEN. Agreeably to the Rule and the Remarks, insert apostrophes in, or annex them to, the nouns in the possessive case which occur in the following sentences; but let the pronouns remain unmarked: The traveller went to lodge, not in Mr. Jacobs house, but in Mr. Jacobss. (Rule, and Remark b.) I am going to the booksellers [sing.] to purchase Popes Homer and Drydens Virgil. (Rule.) Procrustes bed. - Hortensius influence. Achilles shield. - Pocahontas father.- Sophocles Greek Grammar. (Remark a.) The precepts of wisdom form the good mans interest and happiness. (Rule.) Robert Burnss prose as well as poetical writings are astonishing productions. (Remark b.) Fames proud temple shines afar. From mens experience do thou learn wisdom. (Rule, and Remark d.) They applauded that conduct of his, but condemned hers and yours. The reason of its being done I cannot tell. (Remark e.) He had the surgeons [sing.], the physicians [sing.], and the apothecarys advice. (Rule.) The tendency of Dickenss genius, both in delineating the actual and the natural, is to personify, to individualize. (Remark b.) |