“Please, my lord, it is just this,” said Mr. Noun, standing up. “You have seen how my words can be Nominative Case or Objective Case; but there is a case in which they are neither of these two. For instance, in the sentence, ‘The monkey pulled the cat’s tail,’—pulled is the verb; monkey is the nominative, for the monkey did the pulling; tail is the objective, for ‘what did the monkey pull?’ The tail—but then what case is cat’s? It is not nominative nor objective.”
“Don’t ask me what case it is,” said the Judge, indignantly; “say out at once yourself.”
“But you will be angry at the long word, my lord,” said Mr. Noun.
“Nonsense, sir,” said the Judge, getting very red. “Speak at once, when I order you to do so.”
“Then cat’s is said to be in the Possessive Case,” said Mr. Noun, “because it shows who possessed the tail that was pulled by the monkey. Any noun that shows to whom a thing belongs—who is the possessor of it—is said to be in the Possessive Case.”
“Oh!” said the Judge. “Then if I say, ‘This knife belongs to Harry,’ Harry will be in the Possessive Case, will it?”
“No, my lord,” said Mr. Noun, looking a little confused, “because there is a little preposition to before Harry, and prepositions——”
“Prepositions govern the Objective Case,” said Dr. Syntax, solemnly.
“Yes, yes, we know,” said Mr. Noun, impatiently; “but I mean any noun that shows possession, without the help of any preposition, as if you said, ‘This is Harry’s knife.’ Harry’s is in the Possessive Case, for it shows who possesses the knife, not by the help of any preposition, but by making it Harry’s instead of Harry. I might have said in the other sentence, ‘The monkey pulled the tail belonging to the cat,’ but it is much better and shorter to use a Possessive Case, and say, ‘The monkey pulled the cat’s tail.’”
“It certainly seems a convenient case,” said the Judge.