RULE 20.  Transitive verbs govern the objective case; that is, they require the noun or pronoun following them to be in that case; and this requisition is government.  Pronouns have a particular form to suit each case; but nouns have not.  We cannot say, She struck he; I gave the book to they.  Why not?  Because the genius of our language requires the pronoun following a transitive verb or preposition (to is a preposition) to assume that form which we call the objective form or case.  Accordingly, the construction should be, She struck him; I gave the book to them.—­Read, again, the illustration of “government” on page 52.

EXERCISES IN PARSING.

Nom. case.—­Trans. verb—­Poss. case—­Obj. case.
Julius prints childrens’ primers. 
Harriet makes ladies’ bonnets. 
The servant beats the man’s horse. 
The horse kicks the servant’s master. 
The boy struck that man’s child. 
The child lost those boys’ ball. 
The tempest sunk those merchants’ vessels. 
Pope translated Homer’s Illiad. 
Cicero procured Milo’s release. 
Alexander conquered Darius’ army. 
Perry met the enemy’s fleet. 
Washington obtained his country’s freedom.

    NOTE 1.  The words the, that, those, and his, you need not parse.
    2.  A noun in the possessive case, is sometimes governed by a noun
    understood; as, Julia’s lesson is longer than John’s [lesson.]

As you have been analyzing nouns in their three cases, it becomes necessary to present, in the next place, the declension of nouns, for you must decline every noun you parse. Declension means putting a noun through the different cases:  and you will notice, that the possessive case varies from the nominative in its termination, or ending, but the objective case ends like the nominative.  The nominative and objective cases of nouns, must, therefore, be ascertained by their situation in the sentence, or by considering the office they perform.

DECLENSION OF NOUNS.

         SING.  PLUR.

Nom.   king      kings
Poss.  king’s    kings’
Obj.   king.     kings.

Nom.   man       men
Poss.  man’s     men’s
Obj.   man.      men.

Now, if you have parsed every word in the preceding examples, (except the, that, those, and his) you may proceed with me and parse the examples in the following exercises, in which are presented nouns and active-intransitive verbs.

    “My flock increases yearly.”

Flock is a noun, a name denoting animals—­a noun of multitude, it signifies many in one collective body—­masculine and feminine gender, denoting both sexes—­third person, spoken of—­singular number, it denotes but one flock—­and in the nominative case, it is the active agent of the verb “increases,” and governs it, according to RULE 3, The nominative case governs the verb. (Decline it.)