Section IV Of Case
There is nearly as much difference between Latin and English substantives, with respect to the number of cases pertaining to each, as there is between a quack-doctor and a physician; for while in Latin sub-stantives have six cases, in English they have but three. But the analogy should not be strained too far; for the fools in the world (who furnish the quack with his cases) more than double the number of the wise.
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The cases of substantives are these: the Nominative, the Possessive or Genitive, and the Objective or Accusative.
The Nominative Case merely expresses the name of a thing, or the subject of the verb: as, “The doctors differ;”—“The patient dies!”
Possession, which is nine points of the law, is what is signified by the Possessive Case. This case is distinguished by an apostrophe, with the letter s subjoined to it: as, My soul’s idol!”—“A pudding’s end.”
But when the plural ends in s, the apostrophe only is retained, and the other s is omitted: as, “The Ministers’ Step;”—“The Rogues’ March;”—“Crocodiles’ tears—“Butchers’ mourning.”
When the singular terminates in ss, the letter s is sometimes, in like manner, dispensed with: as, “For goodness’ sake!”—“For righteousness’ sake!” Nevertheless, we have no objection to “Burgess’s” Stout.
The Objective Case follows a verb active, and expresses the object of an action, or of a relation: as “Spring beat Bill;” that is, Bill or “William Neate.” Hence, perhaps, the phrase, “I’ll lick you elegant.” The Objective Case is also used with a preposition: as, “You are in a mess.”
English substantives may be declined in the following manner:
Singular
What is the nominative case
Of her who used to wash your face,
Your hair to comb, your boots to lace?
A mother!
What the possessive?
Whose the slap
That taught you not to spill your pap,
Or to avoid a like mishap!
A mother’s!
And shall I the objective show?
What do I hear where’er I go?
How is your?—whom they mean I know,
My mother!
Plural
Who are the anxious watchers o’er
The slumbers of a little bore,
That screams whene’er it doesn’t snore?
Why, mothers! Whose pity wipes its piping eyes,
And stills maturer childhood’s cries,
Stopping its mouth with cakes and pies?
Oh! mother’s!
And whom, when master, fierce and fell,
Dusts truant varlets’ jackets well,
Whom do they, roaring, run and tell?
Their mothers!