It is said that this construction can be used only when more than one thing
is possessed such expressions as _This heart of mine_, _That temper of
yours_ are good, idiomatic English. This naughty world _of ours.--Byron_.
This moral life _of mine.--Sheridan Knowles_. Dim are those heads _of
theirs.---Carlyle_.
Some suggest that the word possessing or owning is understood after these
possessives; as, This _temper of yours_ (your possessing); others say that
_of_ simply marks identity, as does of in _city of_ (=viz.) _New York_ (see
Lesson 34). They would make the expression = _This temper, your temper_.
The _s_ in _ours, yours, hers_, and _theirs_ is the _s_ of _his_ and _its_
extended by analogy to _our, your, her_, and _their_, forms already
possessive. _Ours, yours, hers_, and _theirs_ are consequently double
possessives.]
[Footnote ++: _Ye_ is used in Chaucer and in the King James version of the
Bible exclusively in the nominative, as was its original _ge__ in the
Saxon. Shakespeare uses _you_ in the nominative. _You_ (the Saxon
accusative _eow_) has now taken the place of _ye_, and is both nominative
and objective.
THIRD PERSON--_Mas_. THIRD PERSON--_Fem_. THIRD PERSON--_Neut_.
_Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.
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