NOTE III.—­The relation of property may also be expressed by the preposition of and the objective; as, “The will of man,” for “man’s will.”  Of these forms, we should adopt that which will render the sentence the most perspicuous and agreeable; and, by the use of both, avoid an unpleasant repetition of either.

NOTE IV.—­A noun governing the possessive plural, should not, by a forced agreement, be made plural, when its own sense does not require it; as, “For our parts,”—­“Were I in your places:”  for we may with propriety say, “Our part, your place, or your condition;” as well as, “Our desire, your intention, their resignation.”—­L.  Murray’s Gram., p. 169.  A noun taken figuratively may also be singular, when the literal meaning would require the plural:  such expressions as, “their face,”—­“their neck,”—­“their hand,”—­“their head,”—­“their heart,”—­“our mouth,”—­“our life,”—­are frequent in the Scriptures, and not improper.

NOTE V.—­The possessive case should not be needlessly used before a participle that is not taken in other respects as a noun.  The following phrase is therefore wrong:  “Adopted by the Goths in their pronouncing the Greek.”—­Walker’s Key, p. 17.  Expunge their.  Again:  “Here we speak of their becoming both in form and signification passive.”—­Campbell’s Rhet., p. 226.  Say rather, “Here we speak of them as becoming passive, both in form and signification.”

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.  FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE IV.

EXAMPLES UNDER NOTE I.—­THE POSSESSIVE FORM.

“Mans chief good is an upright mind.”  See Brown’s Institutes of E. Gram., p. 179.

[FORMULE.—­Not proper, because the noun mans, which is intended for the possessive singular of man, has not the appropriate form of that case and number.  But, according to Note 1st under Rule 4th, “In the syntax ef the possessive case, its appropriate form, singular or plural, should be observed, agreeably to the sense and declension of the word.”  Therefore, mans should be maris, with the apostrophe before the s; thus, “Man’s chief good is an upright mind.”]

“The translator of Mallets History has the following note,”—­Webster’s Essays, p. 263.  “The act, while it gave five years full pay to the officers, allowed but one year’s pay to the privates.”—­Ib., p. 184.  “For the study of English is preceded by several years attention to Latin and Greek.”—­Ib., p. 7.  “The first, the Court Baron, is the freeholders or freemens court.”—­Coke, Litt., p. 74.  “I affirm, that Vaugelas’ definition labours under an essential defect.”—­Campbell’s Rhet., p. 163.  “I affirm, that Vangelas’s definition labours under an essential defect.”—­Murray’s