OBS. 35.—­Between a portion of time and its correlative action, passion, or being, the possessive relation is interchangeable; so that either term may be the principal, and either, the adjunct:  as, “Three years’ hard work,” or, “Three years of hard work.”  Sometimes we may even put either term in either form; as, “During the ten years’ war,”—­“During the ten years of war,”—­“During the war of ten years,”—­“During the war’s ten years.”  Hence some writers, not perceiving why either word should make the other its governed adjunct, place both upon a par, as if they were in apposition; as, “Three days time.”—­Brown’s Estimate, Vol. ii, p. 156.  “By a few years preparation.”—­Blair’s Rhet., p. 341.  “Of forty years planting.”—­Wm. Penn.  “An account, of five years standing.”  If these phrases were correct, it would also be correct to say, “one day time,”—­“one year preparation,”—­“one year planting,”—­“of one year standing;” but all these are manifestly bad English; and, by analogy, so are the others.

OBS. 36.—­Any noun of weight, measure, or time, put immediately before an other, if it be not in the possessive case, will naturally be understood adjectively; as, “No person can, by words only, give to an other an adequate idea of a pound weight, or [a] foot rule.”—­Gregory’s Dict. This phraseology can, with propriety, refer only to the weight or the rule with which we weigh or measure; it cannot signify a pound in weight, or a foot in length, though it is very probable that the author intended the latter.  When the noun times is used before an other noun by way of multiplication, there may be supposed an ellipsis of the preposition of between the two, just as when we divide by the word half; as, “An hour is sixty times the length of a minute.”—­Murray’s Gram., p. 48.  “Thirty seconds are half the length of a minute.”  That is,—­“half of the length,”—­“sixty times of the length.”

NOTES TO RULE IV.

NOTE I.—­In the syntax of the possessive case, its appropriate form, singular or plural, should be observed, agreeably to the sense and declension of the word.  Thus, write John’s, men’s, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs; and not, Johns, mens’, her’s, it’s, our’s, your’s, their’s.

NOTE II.—­When nouns of the possessive case are connected by conjunctions or put in apposition, the sign of possession must always be annexed to such, and such only, as immediately precede the governing noun, expressed or understood; as, “John and Eliza’s teacher is a man of more learning than James’s or Andrew’s”—­“For David my servant’s sake.”—­Bible.  “For my sake and the gospel’s.”—­Ib. “Lost in love’s and friendship’s smile.”—­Scott.