She drank the dewdrops from the stalk,
She peeped into the flower;
And then she went to take a walk,
Or ride for half-an-hour.

She rode upon a cricket’s back,
She came before the Queen,
The fairy Queen, with all her court,
Within the forest green.

They had a dance upon the grass,
Till larks began to sing;
And where they danced, as all may know
They left a fairy-ring.

Oh, pretty fairies! why not stay,
That we at you may peep?
Why will you only dance and play
When we are fast asleep?

Grammar-Land
Grammar-Land

Chapter XIV.
Prepositions Govern the Objective Case

Look at MePrepositions GovernThe Objective CaseLook at Me Prepositions Govern The Objective Case

“When the Parts-of-Speech found themselves so suddenly turned out of the court, they collected in a group before the door, and looked at each other in astonishment.”

“Here is a pretty thing!” said Mr. Noun, indignantly. “Fine way to treat us, indeed!”

“And after all, I only said what is true,” said Preposition. “I do put every noun or pronoun that comes after my words in the Objective Case, do I not, Dr. Syntax?”

“Prepositions govern the Objective Case,” said Dr. Syntax, in his usual monotonous voice; then lifting his spectacles, he twisted his head round to look at Preposition, and actually deigned to explain his words by saying: “Whatever noun or pronoun a preposition is placed before and refers to, must be in the Objective Case.”

“Speak to him,” murmured Serjeant Parsing, as if he were talking to himself: “him, a pronoun, objective case, governed by the preposition to.”

“Mr. Pronoun, you hear that!” exclaimed Mr. Noun. “This little Preposition is said to govern us, you and me, in the Objective Case. Very impertinent, on my word!”

“On my word!” again muttered Serjeant Parsing. “Word, a noun, Objective Case, governed by the preposition on.”

“However, it does not matter to me,” continued Mr. Noun, without taking any notice of Serjeant Parsing. “It will make no difference to me;” and he turned away, with his hands in his pockets, and began to whistle a tune.

“It does matter to me, though,” said Pronoun, “for I have to alter my words according to the case they are in. I is only in the nominative case, me in the objective; we is nominative, us objective; he nominative, him objective, and so on. You cannot say ‘look at I;’ you must say ‘look at me.’”

“Look at me,” echoed Serjeant Parsing, in the same quiet tone: “me, Objective Case, governed by the preposition at.”

“Quite so,” continued Pronoun, turning to Serjeant Parsing. “I am objective there, I cannot help it; I must be objective after a preposition.”

“Yes,” said Serjeant Parsing, aloud, “and it is very convenient for me that you must. It often helps me to find out whether a word is really a preposition or no. I just try whether it wants I or me after it. Take when or if, for instance. You can say, when I go, if I were; so when and if are not prepositions. But you cannot say ‘for I,’ or ‘from I;’ you must have the Objective Case, and say for me, from me; so for and from are prepositions governing the Objective Case.”

“You had better take care,” said Preposition; “you keep on saying Objective Case, and if you say it before Judge Grammar, you know you will get us all into trouble again.”

“Oh, never fear,” said Serjeant Parsing; “the Judge will listen to us patiently enough, next time. Besides, he must hear about Objective Case, whether he likes it or no, because the prize will partly depend upon it.”

“The prize! what prize?” cried every one.

“Listen. There is to be a grand trial or examination soon. All the Schoolroom-shire children are to be invited, and all you Parts-of-Speech are to make up a story between you. You will each get a mark for every word you give, and whoever gets the most marks will get —— ”

“Yes, what? what will he get?” they all cried out eagerly.

“Ah! that is a secret. What I want to tell you is, that any word that governs another will get an extra mark. For instance, when I say ‘Listen to me,’ the preposition to puts me in the Objective Case, so to will get an extra mark.”

“That is splendid!” cried little Preposition, clapping his hands and jumping about for joy. “I always govern a noun or pronoun in the Objective Case, so I shall get two marks every time I come in.”

“Not quite so sure,” interrupted Dr. Verb. “Sometimes you come before a verb, to eat, to sleep, to fly, and then you can only get one mark, for you do not govern me, my little dear, seeing that verbs do not have a case at all.”

“Ah, but you have to agree with your Nominative Case, Dr. Verb,” said Pronoun; “so I suppose, when I am nominative, I shall have an extra mark, for I might be said to govern you in a sort of way.”

“No, no,” said Serjeant Parsing, putting in his word, “you are not said to govern Dr. Verb; he agrees with you, that is all; but the Nominative Case, being a very honourable one, will always get two marks.”

“Then,” said Mr. Noun, suddenly stopping his whistling and taking an interest in the conversation, “I am of course to get two marks for every noun in the Nominative Case?”

“Certainly,” answered Serjeant Parsing.

“And in the Objective Case also?” asked Mr. Noun.

“No, no,” said Serjeant Parsing, laughing; “that would be too much of a good thing, since your words are nearly always either nominative or objective. No, no; on the contrary, the Objective Case, being governed by other words (even such little trifles as prepositions), is not considered at all an honourable case, and therefore will not only give a noun or pronoun no extra marks, but will take away one of those it already has. For instance, if I am parsing ‘Come to me,’ and I give Mr. Pronoun a mark for me, I must strike out that mark as soon as I find that me is in the Objective Case, and must give it to Preposition for his little word to, which governs me.”

Mr. Noun and Mr. Pronoun both looked very dismal at these tidings, and then Mr. Noun said: —

“I hope no one else except Preposition can put me into the Objective Case.”

“O yes, indeed, I can,” cried Dr. Verb, bustling up, eagerly; but Serjeant Parsing stopped him.

“No, no, Dr. Verb,” he said, “we are not going to begin that question. No notice will be taken of any noun or pronoun’s being in the Objective Case, unless it is governed by a preposition. That is the rule for this trial; another time, perhaps, your rights will be considered.”

Serjeant Parsing then took the following lines to Schoolroom-shire, that every Objective Case governed by a preposition might be found out: —

Tom called for me, I went with him,
We climbed upon a rock;
There over the sea we looked for thee,
Till seven of the clock.
And then a white sail over the main,
Brought back our sailor-boy again.

Fill up the blanks with a noun or pronoun, and say whether it will be nominative or objective.

…. went for a walk yesterday, …. walked through a dark …. under tall ….; suddenly, when …. were in a very lonely …., …. heard the steps of some …. crashing through the …. “What can it be?” …. cried …. stopped to listen; the …. came nearer, two bright eyes gleamed at us through the …., and in another …. out bounded, with a deep …. that made echoes all round us, our own dear old …., who had broken his chain, escaped from the …., and had come out to look for ….

Grammar-Land

Chapter XV.
Conjunction

AndButSo&cBe Good and You·Will·Be·Happy ConjunctionAnd But So &c Be Good and You·Will·Be·Happy Conjunction

“My lord,” said Serjeant Parsing, the next time that the court assembled, “I must beg for your assistance. I have here a story — a very excellent story, as it seems to me; but somehow or other it will not go right — it has what you might call a jerky sound — as if you were riding over a corduroy road in a cart without springs, and were trying to talk between the bumps. I have asked all the Parts-of-Speech that are in court to help me, but none of them can give me any assistance.”

“Read the story aloud,” said the Judge, “and let us hear it.”

So Sergeant Parsing read —

“The Eagle …. The Raven.

“An eagle pounced on a little lamb …. carried it off in his claws. A raven saw him fly …. thought he could do the same; …. he chose out the best …. biggest sheep of the flock, …. pounced down upon it; …. lo! …. behold! it was much too heavy …. it was much bigger …. himself, …. poor Mr. Raven only got his claws entangled in the wool …. when he tried to fly away he found it impossible to get free …. he was struggling …. the shepherd came …. caught him …. put him in a cage.”

“I see, I see,” said the Judge, “you want some words to join your sentences together. Noun, Pronoun, Article, Adjective, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, none of these will do. I have only two other Parts-of-Speech left on my list: that tiresome Interjection, who is, of course, no use, and Con —— ”

“Conjunction! Here you are, my lord,” said a bright cheery voice at the door, and Conjunction walked into court.

He had on a coat with brass buttons, and a cap like a railway guard’s, with C. J. marked on the front. Under his arm he had a bundle of iron hooks or tools — at least what you would have thought were iron hooks or tools, if you had seen them down in Matter-of-fact-land, and had not known any better. They were really his words.

“You are late, sir,” said the Judge, very sternly; “where have you been?”

“To tell you the truth, my lord,” answered Conjunction, “I have been for a little holiday trip on the Grammar-land Railway. The fact is, my turn was so long in coming, and the last time I was here your lordship broke up the court in such a temp —— ”

“A what, sir?” interrupted the Judge, angrily.

“A hurry, my lord, — in such a hurry, that I did not think we should meet again for some time; and so I just amused myself by a trip on the railway, where I am so often at work.”

“Very improper, indeed!” replied the Judge, “as if you were made to amuse yourself. Such a thing was never heard of before in Grammar-land. Ask Dr. Syntax whether conjunctions are used for amusement.”

“Conjunctions are used to connect words or sentences,” said Dr. Syntax, in his solemn unchanging voice, standing up to speak, and sinking down the moment he had finished.

“There!” said the Judge, “you hear what you are used for — to connect words or sentences — that is your work, and that is just what we have been wanting you for. You have kept the whole court waiting, while you have been taking a holiday, forsooth! Your very cap ought to shame you. Pray what does C. J. stand for?”

“Well, my lord, the folks in Matter-of-fact-land say that it stands for Clapham Junction, which is a big station down there, where a great many railways are joined together; and they say that I am the pointsman, who moves the rails and makes the trains run together, or apart, as the case may be; and I don’t know but what that’s as good a description of my work as the folks in Matter-of-fact-land could give. Only they ought to understand that our trains in Grammar-land are sentences, and my tools with which I join them together are my words — and, but, if, also, and so on. And here they are, Mr. Parsing, and heartily at your service, sir, if you like to make use of them;” and pulling the bundle from under his arm, Conjunction laid them down before Serjeant Parsing, with a bow.

“Thank you, my man,” said Serjeant Parsing, “one at a time, if you please. I will read my story again, and do you hand up a word that will fit, whenever I stop for it.”

So he read it again, and Conjunction put in the words as follows: —

“The Eagle and the Raven.

“An eagle pounced on a little lamb and carried it off in his claws. A raven saw him fly, and thought he could do the same; so he chose out the best and biggest sheep of the flock, and pounced down upon it; but lo! and behold! it was much too heavy, for it was much bigger than himself, so poor Mr. Raven only got his claws entangled in the wool, and when he tried to fly away, he found it impossible to get free; and whilst he was struggling, the shepherd came and caught him and put him in a cage.”

“Ah,” said Judge Grammar, “yes, that is an improvement. I see, Conjunction, you have put in and, so, but, than, for, whilst. What other words have you?”

“I have because, my lord,” answered Conjunction. “Mr. Adverb asks ‘why?’ but I answer ‘because,’ which is much more useful. Any one can ask ‘why?’ but it is only a fellow like me, that knows how things work, that can answer ‘because.’”

“You need not boast,” said the Judge; “you only join the trains together, you know; you do not make them. Because is only useful on account of what comes after it; it would not tell us much if it stood alone. But what others have you?”

“I have if, my lord; and though it is only a word of two letters, it makes a mighty difference many a time. How happy we should all be if we could get just what we want.”

“Yes, yes, we know,” said the Judge; “‘if wishes were horses, beggars would ride;’ but it is a very good thing they are not. Now, Conjunction, if you have any more words, let us hear them.”

“Except that I sometimes use my neighbours’ words as conjunctions, my lord,” answered Conjunction, “I think I have told you pretty well all. Here is a packet I put together: —

If, because, and, so, that, or,
But, although, as, also, nor.”

“One more question,” said the Judge; “do you govern or agree with any of your neighbours?”

“Not I, my lord, I leave that for my betters. I am quite satisfied to join them together, and then leave them alone,” answered Conjunction.

“Then that will do for to-day. Brother Parsing, be good enough to send the following story to Schoolroom-shire, and tell them to give Conjunction a place on their slates among the other Parts-of-Speech, and mark down all his words for him. When that is done, I shall have some good news to tell you.”

The court then rose.

A Narrow Escape.

A traveller in India one day strayed away from his companions, and went to sleep under a tree. When he awoke he saw, to his horror, the two bright eyes of a tiger, ready to spring upon him from a high bank. He leaped up to run away, but fell back again directly, for a large crocodile was coming towards him, with its great mouth open. He shut his eyes and waited in terror, for he heard the tiger spring. A tremendous noise followed; but he felt nothing. He opened his eyes, and lo! the tiger had sprung into the mouth of the crocodile; and while the two wild beasts were struggling, the traveller sprang up and ran away.

Grammar-Land
Grammar-Land

Chapter XVI.
Active Verbs Govern the Objective Case

Active·Verbs·Govern·The·Objective·CaseActive·Verbs ·Govern· The·Objective·Case

“And now, gentlemen,” said Judge Grammar, when next they were assembled. “But what is the matter, Dr. Verb? What is this about?” he asked, interrupting himself, for Dr. Verb had gone down on one knee before the Judge, and was holding out a paper to him.

“A petition, your lordship,” said Dr. Verb, solemnly; “I beg for justice. No, Preposition, it is of no use to try to hold me back, and to whisper that his lordship will be very angry. You have had your rights given you, and I am going to claim mine. My lord, I beg for the right of an extra mark whenever any word of mine governs a noun or pronoun in the Objective Case.”

At the words “Objective Case,” every one in the court held his breath, expecting the Judge to burst into a rage; and certainly a sudden flush did overspread his face, and rise to the very roots of his wig. For a moment he sat silent with compressed lips, then lifting his head haughtily, he said: —

“Do not apologise, Dr. Verb; I forgive you; but on one condition — that you show clearly and at once how to discover an Objective Case that is governed by a verb.”

“Certainly, my lord,” said Dr. Verb, joyfully; “it is the easiest thing in the world. Just as you have to ask the question, ‘who?’ or ‘what?’ before the verb, to find out the Nominative Case, so you must ask the question, ‘whom?’ or ‘what?’ after the verb, to find the Objective Case. For the nominative tells you who did the thing, and the objective tells you to whom the thing was done. Here is an example: — ‘Harry kicked the cat.’ You ask, ‘who kicked?’ to find the nominative, and the answer is Harry. You ask, ‘Harry kicked what?’ to find the objective, and the answer is, the cat. Is that clear?”

“The cat would certainly object,” muttered the Judge; “but I suppose that is not why it is called objective, because if the verb had been fed, cat would have been objective all the same. Well, Brother Parsing,” he continued aloud, “did Dr. Verb explain the matter clearly? Could you find out the objective in that way?”

“Certainly, my lord,” answered Serjeant Parsing, readily. “I will give you an example to prove it. ‘I ate my dinner.’ I find the nominative by asking ‘who ate?’ answer: I. I find the objective by asking ‘I ate what?’ answer: dinner; and dinner is clearly the objective, for it was the object for which I sat down to eat.”

“Must all verbs have an Objective Case after them?” asked the Judge.

“They cannot all govern the objective,” Serjeant Parsing began, when he was interrupted by a solemn voice near him, as Dr. Syntax suddenly rose and said, “Active verbs govern the Objective Case; active verbs govern the Objective Case;” and then sat down again.

“I know what he means by that,” said Dr. Verb. “Active verbs are those whose action passes on to some one or something else, as in the sentence, ‘Harry kicked the cat,’ the action of kicking passed on to the poor cat; and in ‘I ate my dinner,’ the action of eating passed on and consumed the dinner; so kick and eat are both active verbs, and govern an Objective Case.”

“Well, then,” said the Judge, “must all active verbs have an Objective Case?”

“They should have one, my lord, if you want to make the sentence complete. You must give them an object for their activity. Every active boy can do something, though it may not be Latin, and the same with every active verb. If it is an active verb you can always put some one or something after it; as to eat something, drink something, see something, love somebody.”

“And if the verb is not active?” asked the Judge.

“Then it usually has a preposition between it and the noun or pronoun after it, as, ‘I think of you.’ And the preposition gets all the honour and glory of governing the Objective Case, and gets an extra mark besides.”

“Well,” said the Judge, “you have explained it pretty clearly. I suppose I must allow you an extra mark for every verb that governs an Objective Case.”

“But, please, my lord,” said Mr. Noun, coming forward, “I suppose that Pronoun and I are not to lose a mark for every word of ours that is governed by a verb. That would be very hard.”

“No, no,” said the Judge. “There is no dishonour in being governed by an active verb; it is only when you allow yourselves to be governed by a little mite like Preposition, that you are to lose a mark.”

“Allow ourselves to be governed,” muttered Mr. Noun. “As if we could help it, when Dr. Syntax has once made the rule.”

“Brother Parsing,” said the Judge, “let us have a sentence to ‘parse,’ as you call it, that we may see clearly how it is done.”

“Certainly, my lord,” said Serjeant Parsing, turning over his papers. “Here is an excellent sentence, or rather, I should say, two sentences, for there are two verbs: ‘Jack suddenly gave a loud cry, for lo! a tiger appeared before him.’ Now let each Part-of-Speech claim the word as I read it. Jack.”

“Mine,” said Mr. Noun. “Jack is a proper noun.”

“Suddenly,” said Serjeant Parsing.

“Certainly suddenly is mine,” said Adverb, smoothly.

“Gave,” said Serjeant Parsing.

“Gave is mine,” said Dr. Verb, “and it agrees with its nominative, Jack. For ‘who gave?’ Jack gave, so Jack is the nominative; and please, Mr. Noun, what number and person is Jack, for gave must be the same?”

“Jack is singular number, of course,” said Mr. Noun, “for there is only one Jack mentioned; and it is third person, for you are talking about him, not to him, and, of course, he is not talking of himself; my words never do that.”

“Oh,” said Dr. Verb, “then Jack is third person singular, is he? then gave is third person singular, too; and it is an active verb, and has an Objective Case. ‘Jack gave what?’ a cry — cry is the objective, governed by the active verb gave; so an extra mark for me, please Serjeant Parsing.”

“All right,” said the learned Serjeant. “A is the next word.”

“Mine,” said little Article.

“Loud,” continued Serjeant Parsing.

“Loud is mine,” said Adjective; “it qualifies cry — tells what sort of a cry he gave.”

“Good,” said Serjeant Parsing; “now, cry.”

“Mine,” said Mr. Noun; “a common noun this time, and Objective Case; but it does not lose a mark, as it is governed by an active verb, not by a preposition.”

“For,” continued Serjeant Parsing.

“Mine, sir,” said Conjunction; “it joins the sentences. ‘Jack gave a loud cry,’ for ‘lo! a tiger appeared before him.’”