“It is, my lord,” said Mr. Noun; “and, therefore, I think I have a right to ask for an extra mark for it.”
“Oh! that is what you want, is it?” said the Judge. “Well, I will grant your request, provided you can show me an easy way of finding the Possessive Case at once.”
“You may always know it by the little apostrophe (’) either before or after an s at the end of the word,” answered Mr. Noun; “as, ‘Mary’s doll,’ ‘Tom’s dog,’ ‘the baby’s milk,’ ‘the children’s toys,’ ‘the boys’ hats,’ ‘the girls’ gardens.’ Is not that easy, my lord?”
“Yes, that is simple enough,” replied the Judge; “therefore, although I think it rather impertinent of you to have brought so many Cases before me, I will grant your request. You are to have then an extra mark for every Nominative Case and for every Possessive Case, but none for the Objective Case; and you will lose a mark every time you are governed by a preposition. Are you satisfied?”
Mr. Noun bowed, and took his seat.
“And now, gentlemen,” continued the Judge, addressing the nine Parts-of-Speech, “as you have all appeared before me, and shown clearly who and what you are——”
“And me! oh! oh! poor little me!” cried Interjection.
“I have not called you up before me,” said the Judge, sternly, “because we have all heard quite enough about you already. Once is quite enough to have heard such an unruly, odd little creature as you are; and you have thrown yourself in more than once while the people were speaking. We all know that you neither govern nor are governed by any one else, and that you agree with nobody. Therefore, stand aside and be quiet.”
“Ah, well!” chuckled Interjection, as he obeyed, “if I do not govern any one, at least I can take my neighbours’ words, as other people can, and make them my own. Marry! forsooth! indeed! that I can!”
“Marry is mine,” said Dr. Verb, bustling up.