, p. 81. (34.) "A noun or pronoun in the possessive case, is
governed by the noun which it possesses."--_Kirkham's Gram., Rule_ 12th,
pp. 52 and 181; _Frazer's Gram._, 1844, p. 25; _F. H. Miller's_, 21. (35.)
"Here the boy is represented as acting. He is, therefore, in the nominative
case."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 41. (36.) "Some of the auxiliaries are
themselves principal verbs, as: _have, do, will_, and _am_, or
_be_."--_Cooper's Grammars, both_, p. 50. (37.) "Nouns of the male kind are
masculine. Those of the female kind are feminine."--_Beck's Gram._, p. 6.
(38.) "'To-day's lesson is longer than yesterday's:' here _to-day_ and
_yesterday_ are substantives."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 114; _Ingersoll's_,
50; _et al._ (39.) "In this example, _to-day_ and _yesterday_ are nouns in
the possessive case."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 88. (40.) "An Indian in
Britain would be much surprised to stumble upon an elephant feeding at
large in the open fields."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 219. (41.)
"If we were to contrive a new language, we might make any articulate sound
the sign of any idea: there would be no impropriety in calling oxen _men_,
or rational beings by the name of _oxen_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 139. (42.)
"All the parts of a sentence should correspond to each other."--_Ib._, p.
222; _Kirkham's_, 193; _Ingersoll's_, 275; _Goldsbury's_, 74; _Hiley's_,
110; _Weld's_, 193; _Alger's_, 71; _Fisk's_, 148; _S. Putnam's_, 95;
_Merchant's_, 101; _Merchant's Murray_, 95.

(43.) "Full through his neck the weighty falchion sped,
Along the pavement roll'd the mutt'ring head."
--_Odyssey_, xxii, 365.

UNDER CRITICAL NOTE VII.--OF SELF-CONTRADICTION.

(1.) "Though the construction will not admit of a _plural verb_, the
sentence would certainly stand better thus: 'The king, the lords, and the
commons, _form_ an excellent constitution.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 151;
_Ingersoll's_, 239.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the first clause here quoted is contradicted
by the last. But, according to Critical Note 7th, "Every writer or speaker
should be careful not to contradict himself; for what is
self-contradictory, is both null in argument, and bad in style." The
following change may remove the discrepance: "Though 'The king _with_ the
lords and commons,' _must have a singular rather than_ a plural verb, the
sentence would certainly stand better thus: 'The king, the lords, _and_ the
commons, _form_ an excellent constituti