An English Grammar by J. W. (James Witt) Sewell;W. M. (William Malone) Baskervill
page 87 of 559 (15%)
page 87 of 559 (15%)
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Formerly _mine_ and _thine_ stood before their nouns, if the nouns
began with a vowel or _h_ silent; thus,-- Shall I not take _mine_ ease in _mine_ inn?--SHAKESPEARE. Give every man _thine_ ear, but few thy voice.--_Id._ If _thine_ eye offend thee, pluck it out.--_Bible._ My greatest apprehension was for _mine_ eyes.--SWIFT. This usage is still preserved in poetry. [Sidenote: _Double and triple possessives._] 87. The forms _hers_, _ours_, _yours_, _theirs_, are really double possessives, since they add the possessive _s_ to what is already a regular possessive inflection. Besides this, we have, as in nouns, a possessive phrase made up of the preposition _of_ with these double possessives, _hers_, _ours_, _yours_, _theirs_, and with _mine_, _thine_, _his_, sometimes _its_. [Sidenote: _Their uses._] Like the noun possessives, they have several uses:-- (1) _To prevent ambiguity_, as in the following:-- |
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