At present you are learning two parts of speech, neither of which can be
understood without a knowledge of the other. It therefore becomes
necessary to explain them both, in the same lecture. You have been
already informed, that nouns have three cases; the nominative, the
possessive, and the objective.
POSSESSIVE CASE. The _possessive case_ denotes the possessor of
something; as, This is _John's_ horse. This expression implies, that
_John_ is the _owner_ or _possessor_ of the horse; and, that horse is
the _property_ which he possesses.
When I say, These are the _men's_, and those, the _boys'_ hats, the two
words, "boys' hats," plainly convey the idea, if they have any meaning
at all, that the boys _own_ or _possess_ the hats. "Samuel Badger sells
_boys'_ hats." Who _owns_ the hats? Mr. Badger. How is that fact
ascertained? Not by the words, "boys' hats," which, taken by themselves,
imply, not that they are _Mr. Badger's_ hats, nor that they are _for_
boys, but that they are hats _of_, or _belonging to_, or _possessed by_
boys. But we _infer_ from the _words connected_ with the phrase, "boys'
hats," that the boys are not yet, as the phrase literally denotes, in
the actual possession of the hats.
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