§ 6. Case.

1. Definition. CASE is a grammatical form expressive of relation. In English we have three cases, Nominative, Possessive, Objective; or, as the form for the nominative and objective is now always the same, it is sometimes said that we have two cases expressing three relations; as, king, king (nominative and objective), and king's (possessive).

2. In Latin, Gr., and A.-Saxon there were five or six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, ablative; and these terms are frequently used in English.

3. The explanation of such case-endings as remain to us will be better understood after an inspection of the following table of A.-S. declensions; the critical terminations, of which traces remain, being marked.

4. THE GENITIVE (or POSSESSIVE RELATION).—It is evident that in A.-S. the commonest genitive suffix was es. In O. English this appears as is, and later as 's; as, the birdis nest,' ' John's book.'

The 's is also appended to plural nouns; as, the children's bread.

5. SINGULARS that end in es, ss, x, us, ce, and all plurals that end in s, form the genitive by the apostrophe only without the s; as, for goodness' sake, for Jesus' sake, for conscience' sake.

6. It was long supposed that the 's was an abbreviation of his; as, the king's horse the king his horse, and many expressions countenance the idea. But this explanation was manifestly wrong, since 's was appended to feminine nouns and to plurals also.

7. His, however, may have been inserted in A.-S. or O. E. for a possessive in cases where the genitive of the noun did not end in s, as happened with many nouns of the first and third declensions.'— Angus's Handbook, E. Tongue.

8. This form of the genitive appears in many adverbs which originally were genitives; as, unawares, needs, eftsoons, once, twice, thrice, towards, backwards. So also the pronoun forms, hence, thence, whence.

9. Another genitive ending was in an, n, ena (pl.). Hence, words like mine, thine, wooden, oaken, and generally en, the adjective suffix which has the force made of.

10. The A.-S. form of the genitive or possessive was, as we have seen, in es, subsequently 's. The substitution of the preposition of for the case-ending arose from Norman-French.

(i) The genitive in 's is Saxon and possessive, limited to
animate and personified objects; as, Caesar's head.
(ii) The genitive with of is Norman-French, and is called the
partitive genitive; as, a quart of plums; or signifies
quality, as, a man of courage; or signifies the material
of which something is made, as, a table of wood.

11. THE DATIVE (RECEPTIVE OF LOCATIVE RELATION). The common A.-S. dative was in m, um (pl.), and in re for adjectives. Hence, forms like seldom, whilom, here, there, &c.

12. THE ACCUSATIVE (OBJECTIVE RELATION) in A.-S often ended in n, whence such forms as twain, then.

The accusative is sometimes called the direct object, and the dative the indirect object.

13. THE ABLATIVE (INSTRUMENTAL, CAUSAL, or MODAL RELATION) in A.-S. sometimes ended in y or e; hence why and the, which is an ablative in the phrase the more the merrier.

The dative and ablative forms in A.-S. were distinguished by the
final e from other cases; hence, the frequent addition of e in O.
English. Much of the old spelling is explained by this fact.-
Angus's Handbook of the English Tongue, p. 152.

CHAPTER IV.

THE ADJECTIVE.

§ 1.

1. Definition. AN ADJECTIVE is a word added to a noun to qualify it.

§ 2. Adjective according to Meaning.

1. ADJECTIVES which distinguish a class or a noun from its class are called definitive.

These adjectives are of two kinds; general and particular.

2. The general definitive or distinctive adjective is a or an, and the particular distinctive adjective is the.

3. These words, owing to the frequency of their use and strongly inseparable character, have been differently classed, and called ARTICLES, the former, indefinite; the latter, definite.

4. ARTICLE from articulus a joint- a small part or portion of the entire limb;' hence metaphorically, a small, but critical part of the entire signification. Since these adjectives limit the significations of nouns, we shall not be wrong in defining them according to our classification as 'definitive or distinctive adjectives.'

5. Upon no subject has there been so much difference of opinion as the nature and classification of these two small words. By some grammarians they are regarded as adjectives; by others as pronouns; by others again as forming a distinct class of themselves. The question seems to be easily settled by reference to the definitions of an adjective and of a pronoun.

(i) An adjective is a word added to a noun, &c.

(ii) A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun.

It is the characteristic of the latter that it can be used by itself. Therefore, in the case of these words, a and the, it is evident that as they can never be used instead of others, but, on the contrary, must always be added to others; they are adjectives and not pronouns. In this respect they differ completely from any, this, that, with which they are sometimes erroneously classed.

6. The logical force of these articles is this: A or An (=one) indicates a common noun. The reduces the common' noun to a singular.'

7. An is used before vowels and silent h; as, an apple, an ugly tree, an heir.