70 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



hemisphere is illuminated and the other in darkness. The 

 lengths of day and night are then equal all over the earth, and 

 this is called tho spring equinox. As .the earth travels onwards 

 to B, the sun shines more and more over the north pole ; the 

 length of the day in the northern hemisphere is therefore in- 

 creased, and the sun's rays fall more perpendicularly, so that 

 this portion receives more heat, and thus summer is produced, 

 while in the southern hemisphere winter reigns. 



The earth still travels onward to c, and the sun shines less 

 over the north polo till the autumnal equinox C, when day and 

 night are again equal all over the earth. As it passes on to D, 

 the sun shines over the south pole, so that in the northern 

 hemisphere the days are short and the sun's rays fall obliquely, 

 producing winter; while tho southern hemisphere now enjoys 

 the warmth of summer. 



LESSONS IN ENGLISH. XLY. 



CASE (continued') . 



I HAVE already intimated that tho real or Saxon genitive 

 differs in its application from the false genitive or the form 

 derived from the Norman-French. Thus we can say the man's 

 end, but we cannot say the ball's end. Why can we say the 

 one and not tho other ? The real genitive, as we have seen, 

 denotes origin or possession. Not so the false genitive. When 

 I say " the back of the chair " I express a relation much more 

 vague than when I say " the man's back." Possession denotes 

 a possessor, but the chair is not a possessor. Consequently the 

 former, which denotes possession, cannot properly be used of 

 the chair. Hence I deduce the general rule, that nouns which 

 denote or imply a real possessor may be used in the possessive 

 case, and those only ; consequently other nouns, or nouns 

 which do not properly signify a possessor, must be constructed 

 with the aid of tho preposition of; as in the following 

 instances : 



The Possessive Case. The Preposition Of. 



Byron's Childe Harold. The side of the house. 



The queen's diamond. The edge of the precipice. 



The mayor's liberality. The ridge of the wall. 



The forms of tho possessive case may be exchanged with the 

 forms made by means of tho preposition of; thus we may say, 



The Childe Harold of Byron. 

 The diamonds of the queen. 

 The liberality of the mayor. 



But the rule cannot be reversed ; that is, you cannot turn 

 the false into the true genitive, and say, 

 The house's side. 

 The precipice's edge. 

 The wall's ridge. 



Poetry, indeed, in personifying objects, may and does employ 

 of things without life, or things to which possession cannot 

 Btrictly be ascribed, the real genitive; as, Victory's crown. The 

 imitation of this in prose gives an affected air to the com- 

 position, and ought to be avoided. In a few instances, how- 

 ever, custom sanctions the use of the Saxon genitive in its 

 application to objects where no real possession is intended or 

 implied. For example : 



The sun's distance from the earth is greater than the moon's. 



We saw a whale at a boat's length from the ship's prow. 



His house is not five minutes' walk from this spot. 



An abbreviation takes place when several nouns in the pos- 

 sessive case come in succession. For example : 

 I saw the duchess dawager's carriage. 

 The lord chancellor's footman has come. 

 They went to Thompson and Brothers', the linendrapers. 

 I bought the article at Husband and Son's, the new tea-dealers. 



Here, the duchess dowager is a compound title, and being 

 taken together has but one s, though consisting of two nouns. 

 In Tlwmpson and Brothers' the term shop or warehouse is 

 understood. For example : Call at Henry's, that is, Henry's 

 house, or Henry's place of business. Usage does not allow the 

 s to be applied to explanatory nouns, as in the above the linen- 

 drapers, or the new tea-dealers ; nevertheless, these nouns aro 

 in apposition, and consequently in the same case with the titles 

 or names they explain. 



We have now treated very fully of the important case in 



English nouns, viz., the Saxon genitive, and shown that this is 

 recognised by the use of the apostrophe and the letter s. We 

 now proceed to a conclusion on this subject. 



If the several nouns which enter into a series represent each 

 a distinct idea or fact, then the 's must be appended to each. 

 For example : 



" My father's, grandfather's, and uncle's property was de- 

 stroyed ; " this is a different statement from the following, " my 

 father, grandfatlier, and uncle's property was destroyed." In 

 the former sentence it is declared that three properties were 

 destroyed ; in the latter sentence it is declared that one pro- 

 perty shared between three persons was destroyed. 



There are cases where successive nouns depend on each other, 

 the relation expressed by the genitive or possessive case 

 subsisting between them severally. For example : 



My son's wife's sister's husband has arrived ; that is, the 

 husband of my son's wife's sister, or the husband of the sister oj 

 my son's wife. 



Here, if the Saxon genitive is used, the s with the apostrophe 

 must be used with all the nouns except the last. 



Analyse this sentence, J have bought a book of Richards, and 

 you will find that, as it here stands, it is not correct. " What 

 is it you have bought ? " " A book." " What book ? " " A 

 book of Richard's." " Do you mean a book belonging to 

 Eichard ? " " Yes." " Then what you say is that you bought 

 the book from Eichard ? " " No, I don't mean that ; I bought 

 it at the auction, Eichard did not sell it me." " Auction ! 

 what, has Eichard' s library been sold ? " "Yes." " Oh, then 

 you bought one of Eichard's books ; that is what you mean ? " 

 " Certainly." " Well, then, you must show by the apostrophe 

 that Eichard is in the possessive case, thus, ' I have bought a 

 book of Eichard's ; ' what you bought is a book of Eichard's, 

 that is, one of Eichard's books." 



I have been the more particular with this idiomatic phrase, 

 because imperfect grammarians, fancying something wrong, 

 sometimes attempt improvements by writing such instances 

 without the sign of the possessive case. 



You must be careful not to confound with the Saxon genitive 

 an abbreviation of the verb is. For example : 

 " A man's a man for a" that j " 



where 's is an abbreviated or shortened form of is, the abbrevia- 

 tion being made for tha sake of the rhythm or the length of the 

 lino. 



ADJECTIVES. 



If wo look at tho etymology of the word adjective (Latin, ad, 

 to, and jacio, I throw or put), we find that an adjective is a word 

 which is put to another. This is not a specific definition, for 

 equally well may it be said that a pronoun or a preposition is a. 

 word put to another. Failing in the etymology, we must look 

 to the sense for information. Take the following phrases : 



White linen pleases the eye. 



long days come in summer. 



TalJ men are often weak. 



Here wo find the words white, long, and tall related in the same 

 way to tho several nouns linen, days, and men. And the 

 former words are related to the latter so as to ascribe to them 

 a certain quality, that is to tell us of what kind or sort they 

 are : thus the linen spoken of is clean, not dirty; the days are 

 long, not short; the men are tall, and not of low stature. These 

 three words then assign the quality of the three nouns before 

 which they are placed, and these three words are commonly 

 called adjectives. Hence we learn that it is the function (office) 

 of adjectives to assign the qualities of nouns. An adjective 

 may accordingly be termed a qualifier ; that is, a word which 

 states the quality of a noun. As the adjective qualifies (from 

 the Latin qualis, of what kind, and facio, / make), so does it 

 answer to the question of what kind ? Thus, in the instances 

 given above, linen of what kind ? Answer, ivhite. What kind 

 of days ? Answer, long. What kind of men ? Answer, tall. 

 But a qualifying word depends for its meaning on the word 

 qualified. What is the signification of clean, long, tall^ 

 without the nouns before which they stand ? A lofty are 

 words having no sense until you add tower, or a similar term. 

 There is then, you now see, some reason for the name adjective, 

 that is, the added word, inasmuch as the adjective has no in- 

 dependent meaning, and acquires meaning only in union with a 

 noun. 



