The greatest pain I can suffer is the being talked to, and the being stared at. Spectator.

Abbreviatives used as nouns have a plural: none of your ifs, or whys'; the ups and downs of life; the ins and outs of the business.

The possessive's is properly used when the possessor is an animated being, or a personified thing; its employment is optional; but the use of it instead of the analytical form, the . . . of and an accusative, makes the connection with the main word more close:

The Templar's horse had bled much, and gave way under the shock of the disinherited knight's charge. Walter Scott.

Ill, said he,

The end of man's existence I discerned.

Wordsworth.

music's golden tongue. Keats.

When a noun is followed by another in apposition, i.e., relating to it, or by an accessory, the possessive 's should be affixed to the last word before the noun of the possessed object. The analysis, given in the elements, of the 's as an ellipsis shows the reason of this :

The word expressing the possessed object is sometimes understood: go to the bookseller's. When speaking

of common possessors, we affix the 's to the last name : Peter and Richard's estate or estates means their common estate or estates; but, if they have each an estate or estates, we must say: Peter's estate or estates, and Richard's.

Another remark may be acceptable, though bearing on literature as little as the preceding. The Misses B. seems to be preferred on cards; the Miss B.'s in conversation. Grammar, with a little complacency, can justify both in the first case, there is an ellipsis: the Misses (named) B.; in the second, the two words form a compound noun.

OF THE ADJECTIVE.

THE logical place of the adjective is after the noun; but, in english, the adjective usually precedes the noun. When placed after, it draws more attention, the quality rising in importance:

The silent ocean, and the starlight bay. Byron.

The simple and innocent satisfactions of nature are usually within reach. Knox.

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.

Shakspeare.

An essence eternal and spiritual, of absolute pureness and simplicity.

Raleigh.

All interests, real or imaginary, are crushed in the absorbing consideration of food to be obtained for the family. Lamb.

Charles

But it is to poetry, where fancy places the adjective at her pleasure, that we must go to find frequent instances of the adjective coming after the noun:

Had he no friend, no daughter dear
His wandering toil to share and cheer?

Walter Scott.

The merry shout by Teviot-side

Had sunk in war cries wild and wide. Walter Scott.

As a rule, adjectives should relate to a pronoun or noun expressed; the following sentence presents therefore a rather bold licence:

Charmed with the finest views, lulled with the softest sounds, and treated with the richest colours, what can be wanting to complete the delight? Hervey.

To excuse such a construction, we are left to suppose that the end of the sentence, the delight we feel, is understood.

Adjectives are sometimes used as adverbs:

While the battle rages loud and long.

Campbell.

The sound of the instrument was exceeding sweet. Spectator. See here what a mighty pretty kind of Horace I have in my pocket. Pope.

Affliction had touched her looks with something that was scarce earthly. Sterne.

The comparative is used when there is a comparison between two cases; the superlative, when more than two cases are compared:

He is wiser than you; the wiser of the two; the wisest of the three; the wisest of all.

The use of the comparative is sometimes attended

F

with an elliptical construction which requires to be

noticed:

The evil is far deeper, as I believe, than (any which) can be cured without the aid of government. Arnold.

The principles of the Reformation were deeper in the prince's mind than (any which are) to be easily eradicated. Hume.

We know that these constructions are equivalent to too deep to be, &c; yet, such ellipses are so bold as to border on barbarism.

The following ellipsis is more allowable:

There were indeed many greater advantages for building in those times, and in that part of the world, than (those which) have been met with ever since. Spectator.

Again, the comparative is used, with the second part of the comparison understood, in such sentences as this

He is wiser (than he was) for his experience.

We also say elliptically: he is the wiser for his experience; the two individuals in the mind being the man he is, and the man he was.

Finally, in this instance: the older he grows, the better he becomes, the full construction would be: he becomes better in proportion as he becomes older.

The more frequently certain forms of speech recur, the more sweeping are the ellipses in them.