of some noun
in the third person singular or plural, in the nominative or the objective
ease. Thus, if _we are speaking_ of books, and say [,] '_Mine_ are here,'
_mine_ means _my books_, [Fist] and it must be deemed a personal pronoun
_possessive_ in the _third_ person _plural_, and _nominative_ to the verb
_are_."--_Smart's Accidence_, p. xxii. If to say, these "_possessive cases_
must be called a _class_ of _pronouns_, used _substantively_, and deemed
_nominatives_ or _objectives_," is not absurd, then nothing can be. Nor is
any thing in grammar more certain, than that the pronoun "_mine_" can only
be used by the speaker or writer, to denote himself or herself as the owner
of something. It is therefore of the _first_ person, _singular_ number,
_masculine_ (or feminine) gender, and _possessive case_; being governed by
the name of the thing or things possessed. This name is, of course, always
_known_; and, if known and not expressed, it is "understood." For sometimes
a word is repeated to the mind, and clearly understood, where "it cannot
properly be" expressed; as, "And he came and sought _fruit_ thereon, and
found _none_."--_Luke_, xiii, 6. Wells opposes this doctrine, citing a
passage from Webster, as above, and also imitating his argument. This
author acknowledges three classes of pronouns--"personal, relative, and
interrogative;" and then, excluding these words from their true place among
personals of the possessive case, absurdly makes them a _supernumerary
class of possessive nominatives_ or _objectives_! "_Mine, thine, his_,
_ours, yours_, and _theirs_, are POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS, used in construction
either as _nominatives_ or _objectives_; as, 'Your pleasures are past,
_mine_ are to come.' Here the word _mine_, which is used as a substitute
for _my pleasures_, is _the subject_ of the verb _are_."--_Wells's School
Gram._, p. 71; 113 Ed., p. 78. Now the question to find the subject of the
verb _are_, is, "My _what_ are to come?" Ans. "_pleasures_." But the author
proceeds to argue in a note thus: "_Mine, thine_, etc. are often parsed as
pronouns in the possessive case, _and governed by nouns understood._ Thus,
in the sentence, 'This book is mine,' the _word mine_ is said to _possess
book_. That the word _book_ is _not here understood_, is obvious from the
fact, that, when it is supplied, the phrase becomes not '_mine_ book,' but
'_my_ book,' the pronoun being changed from _mine_ to _my_; so that we are
made, by this p