personal tense of a verb, but is placed with the participle independently of the rest of the sentence. Although a noun thus situated has no con nexion, either by government or agreement, with any other part of the sentence, yet the participle with which it is joined has an agreement with the noun with which it is placed, and sometimes governs another word in the objective case; as, The sun having dispersed the clouds, it began to grow warm. In this example sun is in the nominative case absolute with having dispersed; having dis persed agrees with sun, and governs clouds in the objective.

As in the use of the case absolute, the case is, in English, always the nominative, the following example is erroneous, in making it the objective: Solomon was of this mind; and I have no doubt he made as wise and true proverbs, as any body has done since; him only excepted, who was a much greater and wiser man than Solomon. It should be, he only excepted.

Of the Possessive Case.
RULE VI.

When two nouns come together signifying dif ferent things, the former, implying possession, is in the possessive case, and governed by the latter

as

My father's house: Man's happiness: Virtue's reward. The preposition of joined to a substantive, is frequently equivalent to the possessive case; as, A christian's hope: the hope of a christian. But it is only so, when the expression can be converted into the regular form of the posses

Sometimes a substantive in the genitive or possessive case stands alone, the latter one by which it is governed, being understood: as, I called at the bookseller's; that is, At the bookseller's shop. If several nouns come together in the genitive case, the apostrophe with s is annexed to the last, and understood to the rest ; as, John and Eliza's books This was my father, mother, and uncle's advice. But when any words intervene, perhaps on account of the increased pause, the sign of the *possessive should be annexed to each; as, They

are John's as well as Eliza's books; I had the physician's the surgeon's, and the apothecary's assistance.

sive case. We can say, The reward of virtue, and Virtue's reward; but though it is proper to say, A crown of gold, we cannot convert the expression into the possessive case, and say, Gold's

crown.

In poetry, the additional s is frequently omitted, but the apostrophe retained, in the same manner as in substantives of the plural number ending in s; as, The wrath of Peleus' son. This seems not so allow able in prose; which the following erroneous examples will demonstrate; Moses' minister Phinehas' wife Festus came into Fe. lix' room: These answers were made to the witness' questions. But in cases which would give too much of the hissing sound, or increase the difficulty of pronunciation, the omission takes place even in prose; as, For righteousness' sake: for conscience' sake.

:

In some cases we use both the genitive termination and the preposition of; as, It is a discovery of Sir Isaac Newton's. Sometimes, indeed, unless we throw the sentence into another form, this

method is absolutely necessary, in order to distinguish the sense, and to give the idea of property, strictly so called, which is the most important of the relations expressed by the genitive case: for the expressions, This picture of my friend, and this picture of my friend's, suggest very different ideas the latter, only, is that of property in the strictest sense. The idea would, doubtless, be conveyed in the better manner, by saying, This picture belonging to my friend.

When this double genitive, as some grammarians term it, is not necessary to distinguish the sense, and especially in a grave style, it is generally omitted. Except to prevent ambiguity, it seems to be allowable only in cases which suppose the existence of a plurality of subjects of the same kind. In the expressions, A subject of the emperor's; A sentiment of my brother's; more than one subject, and one sentiment are supposed to belong to the possessor. But when this plurality is neither intimated, nor necessarily supposed, the double genitive, except as before mentioned, should not be used.

Of the Objective Case.

RULE VII.

Transitive verbs govern the objective case;

as,

Truth ennobles her: She comforts me: They support us: Virtue rewards her followers.

In English, the nominative case denoting the subject, usually goes before the verb; and the objective case denoting the object, follows the verb transitive; and it is the relation that the noun has to the verb which determines its case. But

the pronoun having a proper form for each of the
cases, is sometimes placed after the verb, when
in the nominative, and sometimes when in the ob-
jective it is placed before it; as, Whom ye igno-
rantly worship, him declare I unto you.

This position of the pronoun sometimes occa-
sions its proper case and government to be ncg-
lected; as in the following instances: Who should
I esteem more than the wise and good? By the
character of those who you choose for your
friends, your own is likely to be formed: Those
are the persons who he thought true to his inter-
est: Who should I see the other day but my old
friend? Whosoever the court favors." In all these
places it ought to be whom, the relative being
governed in the objective case by the verbs, es-
teem, choose, thought, &c. He who, under all prop-
er circumstances, has the boldness to speak truth.
choose for thy friend. It should be, him who,
&c.

Some verbs of a neuter signification, and others whose action is generally confined to the agent, become transitive in certain situations, and govern an objective case; as in the phrases, To dream a dream; to run a race; to walk a horse to dance a child; to live a virtuous life. In instances like these, the verb governs the noun which follows it, and is therefore transitive. Intransitive verbs sometimes assume the form of the passive; as, I am come; I was gone; he has grown; I was fallen; &c. These verbs are not passive, although they have the passive form, because they do not imply the receiving of an action or impression from another. The action originates with the agent, or nominative, and to this its ef

L*

fect is limited; consequently the verb is intransi tive.

Let governs the objective case; as, Let him beware: Let us judge candidly: Let them not pre

sume.

RULE VIII.

Participles of transitive verbs govern the objective case; as,

They found him transgressing the laws: And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: Transgressing, seeing, and finding, are participles, and govern the nouns which follow them.

A participle joined to an adverb is sometimes used independently of the rest of the sentence; as, Generally speaking, his conduct was very honorable Two objects may sometimes be very happily compared together, though they resemble each other, strictly speaking, in nothing. A participle in this situation may be called independent, as it has no government of case or agreement with any noun.

RULE IX.

Verbs of teaching, giving, and some others of a similar nature, govern two objectives, the one of a person and the other of a thing;

as,

He taught me grammar: His tutor gave him a lesson: He promised us a reward. In these examples, the verbs, taught, gave, and promised, each of them governs the two nouns immediately following.