“And the rich man said: —

“‘I am a just man; I always pay my debts; but I owe you no money. Go! I cannot give you charity.’

“Then the poor man went to another neighbour, almost as poor as himself.

“‘Give me food for my little children,’ he said.

“‘Brother,’ said the poorer neighbour, ‘we have not much ourselves, but you shall share with us as long as a crust of bread remains.’

“Then they divided between them the little food that was left, and that food lasted until the hard times had passed.”

Grammar-Land
Grammar-Land

Chapter XI.
The Nominative Case

TheNominativeCaseThe·Stag·RunsThe Nominative Case The·Stag·Runs

The next day, Dr. Verb came bustling into the court, looking very cross, and calling out loudly for justice.

“What is the matter?” asked the Judge; “state your case quietly.”

“It is not my case, it is Pronoun’s case, that is the matter,” answered Dr. Verb; “though I do not say it is his fault. We should get on very well if people would only mind their own business.”

“If you will not tell me the state of the case clearly, I cannot help you,” said the Judge.

“Well, my lord, if you will listen for a minute, I will try to explain it, so that every one can understand. As you know very well, I am constantly agreeing with Mr. Pronoun. I showed you how I alter to suit his number and person, and it is only fair that he should alter sometimes to suit me. I only agree with him when he is in the ‘Nominative Case.’”

At the words “Nominative Case” there was a real cry of horror from nearly every one in court. You might have thought they had all turned into interjections, they made such a fuss.

“Nominative Case!” cried Noun; “shame, shame!”

“Shameful! awful! shocking!” cried Adjective.

“Fie! fie! fie!” cried Interjection, and turned three times over head and heels.

“Pray do not use such words, Dr. Verb,” said Judge Grammar, “but tell us what you mean.”

“Really, my lord,” said Dr. Verb, “I did not mean any harm. Nominative is not such a very long word, that people should make such a fuss about it. I am sure the ladies and gentlemen of the jury will not be angry at my using it.”

“That depends on how you explain it,” said the Judge; “What does it mean?”

“It means the person or thing that is or does whatever my verb says about him. The cat purrs. It is the cat that does what the verb mentions. You have only to put ‘who’ before the verb in any sentence, and the answer will give you the Nominative. ‘Who purrs?’ The answer is the cat, so cat is the nominative to the verb purrs. That is the way that I find out whom I am to make my verb agree with.”

“Is that your way, Brother Parsing?” asked the Judge.

“Yes, my lord,” answered Serjeant Parsing, “that is my way, and therefore, of course, it is the best way. My way is always the best way. Now there is a sentence all ready for you: My way is always the best way. I’ll find the nominative before you can dot an i. ‘What is always the best way?’ Answer, my way is always the best way; — so my way is the Nominative.”

“But you asked ‘what?’ not ‘who?’ there, Brother Parsing,” remarked the Judge.

“Because way is a thing, not a person, my lord. When we are talking of a thing, then we ask ‘what?’ instead of ‘who?’ If you said ‘the pudding is boiling in the pot,’ I should say ‘what is boiling?’ not ‘who is boiling?’ for I should hope you would not be boiling a person in a pot, unless you were the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk.”

“Fi! fo! fum!” said Interjection, standing on his head, and clapping his heels together.

“Silence, sir!” cried the Judge. “Brother Parsing, please not to talk about giants till we have done with the Nominative Case. Has any gentleman anything more to explain about it?”

“Please, my lord,” said Pronoun, “Dr. Verb complains that he has to agree with me when I am in the Nominative Case. But he has to agree with Mr. Noun just as much. It is no matter what part of speech stands as the Nominative in a sentence, Dr. Verb must agree with it; so he need not grumble at me more than at any one else.”

“I am not grumbling at you —— ,” Dr. Verb began.

“Wait a minute, Dr. Verb,” interrupted the Judge; “let us first fully understand this case. You say there is a verb in every sentence?”

“Certainly, my lord,” said Verb.

“And there is a Nominative in every sentence?”

“Exactly so, my lord,” answered Serjeant Parsing.

“And this Nominative may be a noun or a pronoun?” continued the Judge.

“It may, my lord,” chimed in both Mr. Noun and Mr. Pronoun.

“And this verb must agree with this Nominative, whether it likes or not?” asked the Judge.

At that question Dr. Syntax suddenly started up like a jack-in-the-box, and standing bolt upright, said, “A verb must agree with its Nominative case in number and person. A verb must agree with its Nominative case in number and person;” and then sank down again.

“Ah!” said the Judge. “Very good. So you see, Dr. Verb, when you have a sentence like ‘ducks swim in ponds,’ you are first to find your own word swim, then to put who or what before it — ‘who swim?’ or ‘what swim?’ The answer will be ducks, the Nominative. Then you are to be sure that the verb agrees with it. You must say ‘ducks swim,’ not ‘ducks swims;’ and as ducks is the third person and plural number, swim will be third person and plural number too.”

“Please, my lord,” said Pronoun, “when I am Nominative you need very seldom take the trouble to ask any question to find out the Nominative, for most of my words show at once what they are in. I, thou, he, she, we, and they will never allow themselves to be used except as Nominatives. They were born Nominatives, they say, and will not degrade themselves by being anything else. They are rather angry with you for letting people use him in any way they like, but he is a good-natured little fellow, and does not mind any more about the case than he does about being called singular when he is really plural. But I, thou, he, she, we, and they, are exceedingly particular, and always are and will be Nominatives, so you need not ask any question when you see one of them in a sentence.”

“You may just as well make it a rule to ask ‘who?’ or ‘what?’ in every sentence, to find the Nominative,” said Serjeant Parsing. “It is such an easy way of finding the case that a baby in arms could understand it.”

“Tut! tut! tut! tut!” laughed Interjection again.

“Oh! be quiet, do!” said Serjeant Parsing; “and, my lord, if the ladies and gentlemen of Schoolroom-shire like to find out the Nominatives in these verses —— ”

“Yes,” said the Judge; “hand them up, brother. No, do not begin again, Dr. Verb; no more complaints to-day. And remember, friends, that in these lines every verb must have a Nominative, unless there is a little to before the verb. Then it has none — it does not agree with anything. And remember, too, that every noun or pronoun that is in the Nominative case is to get an extra mark on your slates. I wish you good-morning, gentlemen.”

So saying, the Judge rose. The verses were handed to the people of Schoolroom-shire, and the court was cleared.

Serjeant Parsing’s Verses.

The hen guards well her little chicks,
The useful cow is meek;
The beaver builds with mud and sticks,
The lapwing loves to squeak.

In Germany they hunt the boar,
The bee brings honey home;
The ant lays up a winter store,
The bear loves honeycomb.

I lost my poor little doll, dears,
As I played on the heath one day;
And I cried for her more than a week, dears,
But I never could find where she lay.

The maidens laughed, the children played,
The boys cut many capers,
While aunt was lecturing the maid,
And uncle read the papers.

Grammar-Land
Grammar-Land

Chapter XII.
Adverb

Lucy ReadsVery OftenAdverbLucy Reads Very Often Adverb

“Now Dr. Verb,” said Judge Grammar, next day, “I am ready to hear what is your great complaint against Pronoun.”

“Why, my lord, when he is in the Objective Case —— ”

“I object, I object!” exclaimed the Judge, while a general murmur of disapproval ran through the court. “No, no, we have had enough with the Nominative Case; we will not have another case brought in. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, sir, to keep us listening to your nonsense about an Objective case, while your devoted friend Adverb is waiting to be heard. Sit down, and let Adverb speak.”

“Devoted friend!” muttered Dr. Verb, as he obeyed. “I am sure I often wish he would leave me alone. He sticks on to me so tight sometimes, that we look like one instead of two, and he is a good weight to carry. Besides, he is always teasing by asking why, and when, and how everything is done. Friend, indeed!”

But Adverb did not hear what Dr. Verb was muttering. He came forward, bowing politely, and rubbing his hands together, as if he were washing them.

“Very much obliged, indeed,” he said, smoothly; “very kind of my friend Dr. Verb to give way to me! So like him!”

“You seem to be fonder of him than he is of you,” remarked the Judge. “Pray, why do you follow him so closely?”

“I like to hear what he says, and to point out to others how exceedingly well he speaks,” answered Adverb.

“He is always exaggerating my words,” grumbled Dr. Verb. “If I say I like anything, Adverb puts in very much indeed or extremely well, or some such silly words; or, if he is in a bad temper, then he flatly contradicts me, and says, no, or not, or never. If I say will, he adds not, and makes it will not; if I say can, he makes it cannot, even sticking his word on to mine as if it were part of it. Sometimes he does worse. He actually dares to alter my word after he has stuck his tail on to it, and so he makes will not into won’t, cannot into can’t, shall not into sha’n’t, and so on. The wo’, and ca’, and sha’, is all he has left me, and the n’t is his.”

“Has he always treated you in this way?” asked the Judge.

“As long as I can remember, my lord,” answered Dr. Verb. “That is why, when we were at school together, the boys called him Adverb, because he was always adding his words on to mine. And he has kept the name ever since.”

“Your lordship must remember,” remarked Adverb, in a mild tone, still rubbing his hands very smoothly together, “that Dr. Verb is rather out of temper this morning, and is, perhaps, not quite just. For indeed it is a fact that I make his words much more useful than they otherwise would be. Besides, I treat Mr. Adjective in much the same way, and he does not complain.”

“It is quite true,” remarked Adjective, coming forward, delighted to get a chance of using his tongue; “it is quite true that Adverb has his word to say about me, just as much as about Dr. Verb. He is always putting very, quite, more, most, and words of that sort, before my adjectives, and exaggerating them: as, very beautiful, quite charming, more obstinate, most provoking, and I do not complain of him for that. But one thing I do complain of, my lord, and that is, that Adverb will take my words, right good adjectives, stick a ly on to them, and call them his adverbs. For instance, he takes bright, puts ly to it, and makes it brightly; he takes bad, and makes it badly; nice, and makes it nicely; beautiful, and makes it beautifully.”

Judge Grammar at this held up his forefinger, and solemnly shook his head, till he nearly shook his wig off.

“Mr. Adjective, Mr. Adjective!” he said, “I am surprised at you. You complain of Adverb for doing the very thing that you do yourself. We all know that you keep your pockets full of tails ready to stick on to your neighbours’ words — ful, ous, able, like, ly, and plenty more, and you use them as often as you can with other people’s words. But when Adverb uses his one little ly with your words, then you are up in arms directly. And yet you know very well that according to the laws of Grammar-land every Part-of-Speech may make as many new words out of old ones as he likes, and is to be praised, not blamed, for it. Adverb may put his ly on to as many of your words as he can, and you have no right to find fault. I wonder at both you and Dr. Verb. You ought to agree with Adverb better.”

“We none of us agree with him,” remarked Pronoun, “nor he with us.”

“He certainly has no number, or person, or case,” replied the Judge; “but he is none the worse for that. He gives Serjeant Parsing less trouble than some of you. What did you say about asking questions, Adverb?”

“I teach the game of how, when, and where,” replied Adverb; “how, when, and where, are all my words, and so are the answers to them.

How do you like it? pray you tell?
Not too much, extremely well.
When do you like it, tell me when?
To-day, to-morrow, now, and then.
Where do you like it, answer fair?
Here and there and everywhere.

All these words that answer how, when, and where, are mine,” continued Adverb, “and so are the forfeit words yes, no, or nay.”

“Ah! but black, white, and grey are mine,” said Adjective, interrupting; “and please, your lordship, you were mistaken in saying that Adverb has only one tail, ly, to put on to other people’s words. What do you think of upwards, downwards, homeward, forward?”

“Yes, they are certainly adverbs,” said the Judge, “and you might say that wards and ward are the tails he has added on to up, down, home, for; but these words are not yours, Mr. Adjective, so you have no right to interfere.”

“Well, my lord,” replied Adjective, “at any rate I have a right to speak about once, twice, thrice, for Adverb has stolen them from my one, two, three.”

“Once, twice, thrice,” repeated the Judge; “is that all?”

“He has not got a word for four times,” answered Adjective; “once, twice, thrice, and away, is all that he can say.”

“Then I think,” said the Judge, “that you ought to be ashamed to grudge them to him, when you have one, two, three, and as many more as you can count; besides first, second, third, fourth, and all that list. I do not like such greedy ways, and as a punishment, I order you to hand up a list of adjectives to be turned into adverbs. Our friends may take them to Schoolroom-shire and put a ly to each of them; then they will be adverbs, and will answer to one of Adverb’s questions, how, when, or where.”

This is the list Mr. Adjective made out.

Grammar-Land

quick________bright_______soft__________strong_______distinct______clear_________neat________sharp
sudden______late_________punctual_____regular_______sly__________cunning______false________true
pretty_______dainty______funny________free___________happy______awful

Grammar-Land

Chapter XIII.
Preposition

UpA LadderDown the HillPrepositions·Up A Ladder Down the Hill Prepositions·

“To, from, of, for, over, under, on, near, at, by, in, among, before, behind, up, down —— Pray, who is the owner of all these little creatures?” said Judge Grammar, the next day. “Mr. Noun, are they yours?”

“No, indeed, my lord,” answered Mr. Noun, “they are not the names of any one or anything that I ever heard of.”

“Dr. Verb, are they yours?”

“I should not object to having them, my lord,” answered Dr. Verb, “if I could do anything with them; but they seem to me neither to be nor to do, nor to suffer any —— ”

“That will do,” interrupted the Judge, afraid that Dr. Verb was beginning one of his long speeches. “Mr. Adjective, do you claim them?”

“They do not qualify anything, my lord,” answered Adjective; “indeed, they seem to me poor, useless, silly, little —— ”

“We do not want you to qualify them, thank you,” said the Judge, “but to tell us if they are yours. Article, we know, has only a or an and the, so they cannot be his. Mr. Pronoun, do they belong to you?”

“No, my lord,” answered Pronoun. “As Mr. Noun has nothing to say to them, neither have I. They do not stand instead of any name.”

“Well,” said the Judge, “we know they do not belong to that tiresome little Interjection. Are they yours, Adverb?”

“I should be extremely glad to have them, my lord,” answered Adverb, smoothly washing his hands, as usual. “I have no doubt I could make them exceedingly useful —— ”

“That is not what I asked,” said the Judge; “are they yours?”

“I cannot say they are exactly mine,” said Adverb; “but —— ”

“That is all we want to know,” interrupted the Judge. Then raising his voice, he continued: “If there is any one in this court to whom these words, ‘to, from, of, for,’ etc., do belong, let him come forward.”

At these words, a sharp, dapper little fellow stepped forward, and looking around the court with a triumphant air, exclaimed, “They belong to me.”

“And who are you?”

“Preposition, my lord. My position is just before a noun or pronoun. My words point out to them their proper position. I keep them in order.”

“You keep them in order?” said Judge Grammar, looking down at him through his spectacles; “how can a little mite like you keep Mr. Noun in order?”

“Little or big, my lord, that’s what I do,” said Preposition. “I settle the position of every one and every thing, and show whether they are to be on or under, to or from, up or down.”

“Kindly forgive me for interrupting you,” said Adverb, coming forward. “I really must remark that up and down are my words.”

“How do you make out that?” asked the Judge.

“I will show you directly, my lord,” answered Adverb. “By the help of my questions how, when, and where, which, you know, I alone can answer. If you say, ‘sit up,’ I ask, ‘how am I to sit?’ The answer is, ‘up.’ ‘Lie down;’ ‘how am I to lie?’ The answer is, ‘down.’ Up and down, therefore, answer to my question how, and are mine.”

“Stop a minute,” said Preposition. “I also can answer to your favourite questions how, when, and where. Listen: —

How do you like it? tell me true.
Made of sugar, dressed in blue.
When do you like it? answer me.
At my dinner; after tea.
Where do you like it? say, if you’re able.
On my lap or under the table?”

“Really,” said Adverb, smiling politely, “that is very cleverly done. But allow me to make just one remark. You have not answered one single question without the help of some other part of speech. Mr. Noun has helped you with ‘sugar,’ ‘dinner,’ ‘tea,’ ‘lap,’ ‘table;’ Mr. Adjective lent you ‘blue;’ Mr. Pronoun, ‘my;’ and so on. Now I, without any help, answer the questions quite alone.”

“You cannot expect a little fellow like me to stand quite alone,” said Preposition; “I don’t pretend to do it. I told you at first that my right position is before a noun or pronoun, or some such word. All I mean is that I help to answer the questions, and that neither Mr. Noun nor Mr. Pronoun could answer them without me.”

“Is that true, Brother Parsing?” asked the Judge.

“Quite true, my lord,” answered the learned Serjeant. “When I find the questions ‘how?’ ‘when?’ or ‘where?’ answered by one word alone, I put that word down to Adverb. But when I find them answered by Mr. Noun or Mr. Pronoun, helped by another little word, then I know that that other little word belongs to Preposition.”

“Yes, my lord,” continued Preposition; “so if you say ‘up a ladder’ or ‘down a hill,’ up and down are mine; they show your position on the ladder or the hill; they are the little prepositions put before Mr. Noun’s words ladder and hill. But, of course, if you were to ask how I am to step up or down? then Adverb could call up and down adverbs, because they are added on to the verb ‘step,’ and they have nothing to do with a noun or a pronoun.”

“Precisely,” said Adverb; “my friend Preposition is perfectly correct. I immensely admire my young friend, although he does not move in quite so select a circle as myself.”

“Don’t I?” said Preposition, with a knowing little nod.