Exercise 11 (§§ 89–96, Pp. 43–47)
1. Point out all the nouns in the possessive case, and parse them according to the model in § 112.
1. James’s parliament contained a most unusual proportion of new ministers. 2. I live in general quietly at my brother-in-law’s in Norfolk (see § 96). 3. There is a small cottage of my father’s close to the lawn gates. 4. We had found, in that day’s heap of earth, about fifty pounds’ weight of gold dust.—Defoe. 5. Much the most striking incident in Burns’s life is his journey to Edinburgh. 6. As to freaks like this of Miss Brooke’s, Mrs. Cadwallader had no patience with them.—George Eliot. 7. Homeward they bore him through the dark woods’ gloom.—Morris. 8. The eye travels down to Oxford’s towers.—Arnold. 9. I obeyed all my brother’s military commands with the utmost docility. 10. Tellson’s wanted not elbowroom, Tellson’s wanted no light, Tellson’s wanted no embellishment. Noakes & Co.’s might, or Snooks Brothers’ might; but Tellson’s—thank heaven!
—Dickens.
2. Examine the nouns in the possessive case in 1 (above), and tell which of the possessives might be replaced by an of-phrase. Mention particularly those passages in which the possessive would not be used in modern prose.
3. Write sentences containing the possessive singular of—
Henry,
James,
Thomas,
Mr. Fox,
child,
Charles Price,
Mrs. Gibbs,
Edward,
General Edwards,
horse,
Hortense,
Miss Bellows,
father-in-law,
Major Ellis,
commander-in-chief,
Thompson and Howard (a firm),
Eustis and Morris (a firm),
Messrs. Cartwright and Robbins,
Apollo,
Brutus,
Ulysses.
4. Write sentences containing the possessive plural of—
Englishman,
fireman,
washerwoman,
fox,
sheep,
horse,
ox,
child,
emperor,
empress,
robin,
Norman,
German,
hawk,
Knight Templar,
lady,
sailor,
heir,
heiress,
teacher,
whale,
walrus,
critic,
poet,
vireo.
5. In which of the sentences that you have written (under 3 and 4) would it be possible to substitute an of-phrase for the possessive? In which of them (if any) would this phrase be preferable? Why?