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39. It is obvious that we think and speak of things that are closely connected with other things. We do not conceive every thing as standing alone and independent. We may think not only of a crown, but of the king’s crown, a crown of gold, and so on.
40. When we think of a king’s crown, we add to the notion of a crown the notion of its belonging to the king. When we think of a crown of gold, we add to the notion of a crown the notion of its being made of gold.
41. We can also think of an action that is done for the benefit of a person. We can think of such an action as being done by such a person, or with such an instrument, or from such a cause.
42. If by a case we understand one of the altered forms by which the various relations of a noun to other notions may be expressed, the English language has only one case for substantives, and two for some of the pronouns.
43. But if by the case of a noun we understand the expression of any of these relations, whether indicated by its termination or in any other way, we have as many cases as any other language.
44. The simple form of the noun, which is of course used when we consider it independently, is called the nominative case.
The nominative was placed at the head of the cases, though properly it is no case, but merely the word in its unaltered form. The word case means “fall:” the old Greek grammarians wrote the nominative in an upright line, and the other cases in lines inclined to it at certain angles, so that the forms of the genitive, accusative, &c. seem to be falling, as it were, from the original word. Hence these forms were called the oblique cases.
45. English substantives have only one case (the genitive) formed by inflexion.
Inflectere is to bend in; to bend. The noun was bent, as it were, into a fitness to denote the relation to be expressed.
46. The genitive is now formed by adding -s with an apostrophe (-‘s) to the nominative.
47. In plural words ending in -s, the genitive is like the nominative, but it is now customary to mark an apostrophe after the s. “On eagles’ wings.”
(a) So in the phrase, “for righteousness’ sake:” but we also say, “for conscience sake.”
(b) The apostrophe after the genitive plural is absurd, for an apostrophe marks that a vowel has been dropped, whereas no vowel ever followed the s of the plural to form a genitive. “The present practice is scarcely of a hundred years standing.”
(c) The Anglo-Saxon genitive of the second declension ended in es (leaf, leafes: word, wordes). Hence this is the only case we have kept, the apostrophe marking the omission of the e. Probably therefore the apostrophe should never be marked, but where an e has been dropped. A notion came into fashion, “probably in the latter half of the sixteenth century,” that the s of the genitive stood for his: under this notion the his was often written at length, especially where the substantive ended in s. Even good writers⁵, such as Clarendon, Barrow, Dryden, Pope, followed the fashion; though its absurdity is immediately perceived, when we consider that s follows feminine nouns and plurals, where his can have no place⁶.
(d) Many persons merely mark the apostrophe after the final s, to form the genitive of singular nouns ending in that letter. Thus “Aeneas’ young son.” In the Bible we have “Mars hill” (now printed Mars’ hill): and Spenser and Milton write, Venus Sonne, Phoebus lamp, Morpheus train, &c. This practice accords with that of the Germans, who regard names ending in s as indeclinable; Tantalus Sohn, Aeschylos Agamemnon. In Anglo-Saxon, proper names in s sometimes did, and sometimes did not, receive an additional es in the genitive. “Mattheus gerecednys,” Matthew’s narrative; “Urias wif,” Uriah’s wife. But also “Philippuses,” “Remuses.” Middleton writes the second s wherever we should pronounce it: “Judas’s:” it would be far better to write Judases, Remuses, &c. if one durst.
48. When two or more words are so closely joined together as almost to form one complex notion, the sign of the genitive is added to the last word, so as to put the whole phrase in the genitive. “Beaumont and Fletcher’s plays.” “Howell and James’s shop.” “The king of England’s palace.”
49. The suffering object, that is, the object immediately affected by the action expressed by the verb, stands in the accusative case. The verbs that take an accusative case, or in other words express an action done to an object, are called transitive verbs. The accusative case, therefore, assigns the immediate object affected by the action, in answer to the question whom? or what? “He struck Richard.” Whom did he strike? Richard.
50. In English substantives the nominative and accusative are alike; but in the personal pronouns the accusative is formed by inflexion. John (nom.) struck Peter. Peter (nom.) struck John. John struck me (accus.).
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