NOUNS.

100. A NOUN is the name of any person, place, or thing; as, John, London, book. Hence,

The names of persons, places, or things, are Nouns.

101. Nouns are of two kinds, Proper and Common. 102. A Proper Noun is the name applied to an individual only; as, John, London, America, the Ohio.

103. A Common Noun is a name applied to all things of the same sort; as, man, chair, table, book.

104. REMARK.-Proper nouns are used to distinguish individuals of the same class from one another. Common nouns distinguish sorts or classes, and are equally applicable to all things of the same class. Thus, the common noun boy is equally applicable to all objects of that class; but the proper nouns John, James, Robert, &c., are applicable only to particular individuals of a class.

OBSERVATIONS ON NOUNS.

105. When a proper noun is used to denote a whole class, it becomes common, and generally has an article before it; as, "The twelve Cæsars,' 99 66 He is the Cicero of his age," "A Daniel come to

judgment."

106. Common nouns become proper when personified, and also when used as proper names; as, Hail, Liberty! The Park. 107. Under common nouns are usually ranked

1. Collective nouns, or nouns of multitude, which signify many in the singular number; as, army, people.

2. Abstract nouns, or names of qualities; as, piety, wickedness. 3. Verbal nouns, or the names of actions, &c.; as, reading, writing, sleeping.

4. Diminutive nouns, or nouns derived from other nouns, and denoting a small one of the kind; as, stream, streamlet; leaf, leaflet; hill, hillock, &c.

108. To the class of nouns belongs everything, whether word, letter, mark, or character, of which we can think, speak, or write, regarded merely as an object of thought, even when, as sometimes happens, we do not give it a name. Thus when we say, "Good" is an adjective, a is a vowel, b is a consonant, A is a capital, 4 is an even number, is a fraction, ? is a mark of interrogation, + is the sign of addition, of subtraction, - of equality-Good, a, b, A, 4, 4, ?, +, all to be regarded as nouns.

, are

109. REMARK.-A noun is also called a substantive. But this term for convenience is here used in a more comprehensive sense, to mean nouths, personal pro

nouns or phrases used as nouns, and usually called "substantive phrases." Thus in such a rule as this, "An adjective agrees with a substantive," &c., the word substantive may mean either a noun, or pronoun, or substantive phrase.

EXERCISES.*

1 In the following list distinguish proper nouns from common, and give a reason for the distinction:

Albany, city, tree, nation, France, Philip, dog, horse, house, garden, Dublin, Edinburgh, London, river, Hudson, Ohio, Thames, countries, Amèrica, England, Ireland, Spain, sun, moon, stars, planets, Jupiter, Venus, Mars, man, woman, boy, girl, John, James, Mary, Susan, mountain, stream, valley, wood, lake, roaa, time, soldier, army, regiment, Cæsar, Pompey, tide, people, honor, virtue, kindness, grammar, logic, &c.

2. In the following sentences point out the nouns. Say why they are nouns; tell whether they are proper or common, and why. Thus: Table" a noun, because the name of a thing; common, because applied to all things of the same sort.

The table and chairs in this room belong to John; the book-case, writing-desk, and books, to his brother. Time and tide wait for no man. The largest city in Europe is London; in America, New York. The northern states produce wheat, oats, barley, rye, corn, and potatoes; while cotton, tobacco, rice, and sugar, are the products of the south. 3. Write down ten nouns, or names of persons or things, and say something respecting each, so as to make a sentence.

Thus: Summer-summer is the warmest season of the

Virtue-virtue is its own reward.

year.

4. Tell what words in the sentences so made, are nouns, and why; which are proper, or common, and why.

5. Write down ten more-and ten more; and proceed as above.

ACCIDENTS OF THE NOUN.

110. To nouns belong Person, Gender, Number, and Case.

* The exercises furnished here, and throughout this work, are intended merely as a specimen of the way in which the leading truths and facts in Grammar may be wrought into the minds of pupils, by means of exercises properly devised. It is not, however, expected or desired that the teacher should limit himself to these. Every active and ingenious teacher will devise such new and various methods of exercising his pupils as their age, capacity, and circumstances, and his own judg. ment and experience, may suggest, as best calculated to draw out their powers, and cultivate in them a habit of thinking and reasoning for themselves.

NOTE.-These properties belong also to personal and relative pronouns (239).

PERSON.

111. PERSON, in Grammar, is the distinction of nouns as used in discourse, to denote the speaker, the person or thing spoken to, or the person or thing spoken of. Hence,

as,

112. There are three persons, called First, Second, and Third. 113. A noun is in the first person, when it denotes the speaker; "I, Paul, have written it."

114. A noun is in the second person, when it denotes the person or thing addressed; as, " Thou, God, seest me."—" Hail, Liberty!" 115. A noun is in the third person, when it denotes the person or thing spoken of; as, "Washington was brave.”—_—_-6 6 Truth is mighty."

116. REMARK.—The third person is used sometimes for the first; as, "Thy servant became surety for the lad to my father." Gen. xliv. 32. Sometimes, particularly in the language of supplication, for the second; as, "O let not the Lord be angry." Gen. xviii. 30. "Will the Lord bless us!"

OBSERVATIONS ON PERSON.

117. The first and the second person can belong only to nouns denoting persons, or to things personified; because persons only can speak or be spoken to. The third person may belong to all nouns, because every object, whether person or thing, may be spoken of.

118. A noun can be the subject of a verb only in the third person. A noun in the first or second person is never used as the subject of a verb, but only in apposition with the first or second personal pronoun, for the sake of explanation or emphasis; and sometimes in the second person, without a pronoun, as the object addressed.

119. A noun in the predicate is generally, though not always, in the third person, even when the subject is in the first or second; as, 'I am Alpha," &c., "who is." So with the pronouns I and thou; as, "I am he," "Thou art the man.”

120. REMARK. PERSON makes no change either in the meaning or form of a noun, but simply denotes the manner in which it is used, as above stated. Morever, as the name of the speaker, or of the person spoken to, is seldom expressed (the pronouns I and thou, we and you, being used in their stead), it seems to be a useless waste of time, in parsing, to mention the person of a noun, unless it be in the first or second person, which will not happen more than once in a thousand times. Much time therefore will be saved, and no loss sustained, if it be considered as taken for granted, without stating it, that a noun is in the third person, unless it be otherwise mentioned.

GENDER.

121. GENDER is the distinction of nouns with regard to

sex.

122. There are three genders, Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter.

123. Nouns denoting males are Masculine; as, man, boy.

124. Nouns denoting females are Feminine; as, woman, girl.

125. Nouns denoting neither males nor females, i. e., things without sex, are Neuter; as, house, book, tree.

126. Nouns which denote either males or females, such as parent, neighbor, friend, &c., are sometimes, for the sake of convenience, said to be of the Common Gender, i. e., either masculine or feminine. 127. There are three ways of distinguishing the sexes.

128. Many masculine nouns have no corresponding feminine; as, baker, brewer, &c. and some feminine nouns have no corresponding masculine; as, laundress, seamstress, &c.

129. Some nouns naturally neuter, are often, by a figure of speech, converted into the masculine or feminine; as, when we say of the sun, "He is setting," of the moon, "She is eclipsed;" or of a ship, "She sails."

130. REMARK, This inferior species of personification, peculiar to the English language, is often used with great beauty to impart animation and liveliness to the style, without rendering it inflated or passionate. No certain rule, however, can be given as to the gender to be used, except that nouns denoting objects distinguished for strength or boldness usually become masculine, while, on the other hand, those denoting objects noted for softness, beauty, and gracefulness, are considered feminine.