EXERCISES ON NOUNS IRREGULAR IN NUMBER.

Give the plural of Man, foot, penny, mouse, ox, child, woman, brother, goose, tooth;-sow, die, court-martial, fatherin-law, son-in-law; cup-full, coach-full, spoonful ;-erratum, medium, radius, genius, lamina, automaton, phenomenon, stratum, axis, ellipsis, stamen, index, cherub, seraph, &c.

Of what number is-Dice, arcana, fishermen, geese, dormice, alms, riches, thanks, snuffers, tongs, teeth, woman, child, court-martial, apparatus, miasma, genii, geniuses, indices, indexes, mathematics, Matthew, James, John?

OBSERVATIONS ON NUMBER.

155. Some nouns are used in the singular only. Such are the names of metals, virtues, vices, arts, sciences, abstract qualities, and things weighed or measured; as, gold, meekness, piety, idleness, intemperance, sculpture, geometry, wisdom, flour, milk, &c. Except when different sorts of things are expressed; as, wines, teas, sugars, iiquors, &c.

156. Some nouns are used in the plural only; as, annals, antipodes, archives, assets, ashes, billiards, bitters, breeches, clothes, calends, colors (military banners), dregs, goods, hysterics, ides, intestines literati, lees, letters (literature), minutiæ, manners, morals, nones,

orgies, pleiads or pleiades, shambles, tidings, thanks, vespers, vitals, victuals. And things consisting of two parts; as, bellows, drawers, hose, nippers, pincers, pliers, snuffers, scissors, shears, tongs, &c.

A few words usually plural, viz., bowels, embers, entrails, lungs, have sometimes a singular, denoting a part or portion of that expressed by the plural; as, bowel, lung, &c.

157. Some nouns are alike in both numbers; as, deer, sheep, swine, vermin, salmon, tench; apparatus, hiatus, series, congeries, species, superficies; head (in the sense of individual), cattle; also fish, and sometimes fowl, denoting the class; but, denoting individuals, they have the regular plural; as, fishes, fowls.

158. The words brace, couple, pair, yoke, dozen, scôre, gross, hundred, thousand, and some others, after adjectives of number, are either singular or plural; as, a brace, a dozen, a hundred ; two brace, three dozen, six hundred, &c. But without an adjective of number, or in other constructions, and particularly after in, by, &c., in a dis tributive sense, most of these words, in the plural, assume a plural form; as, "In braces and dozens.”—“By scores and hundreds.""Worth thousands."

159.-1. The following words, plural in form, are sometimes singular, but most commonly plural in signification, viz.: amends, means, riches, pains (meaning laborious effort), odds, alms, wages; and the names of certain sciences; as, mathematics, ethics, optics, acoustics, metaphysics, politics, pneumatics, hydrostatics, &c.

2. Means and amends, referring to one object, are singular; to more than one, plural. Mean, in the singular form, is now used to signify the middle between two extremes. Alms (ælmesse, AngloSaxon) and riches (richesse, French) are really singular, though now used commonly in a plural sense. News, formerly singular or plural, is now mostly singular. Molasses and measles, though ending like a plural, are singular, and are so used. Oats is generally plural; gallows is both singular and plural, though a distinct plural form. gallowses, is also in use.

160. The following are singular in form, but in construction various; thus, foot and horse, meaning bodies of troops, and people, meaning persons, are always construed as plural; cannon, shot, sail, cavalry, infantry, as singular or plural. People, when it signifies a community or body of persons, is a collective noun in the singular and sometimes, though rarely, takes a plural form; as, "Many peoples and nations." Rev. x. 11.

THE PLURAL OF PROPER NAMES.

161. Proper names for the most part want the plural; but— 1. Proper names without a title are used in the plural, when they refer to a race or family; as, “The Campbells,” “the Stuarts ;” or to several persons of the same name; as, " The twelve Cæsars ;" or when they are used to denote character; as, "The Ciceros of the age."

2. Proper names with the title of Mrs. prefixed, or with any title, preceded by the numerals, two, three, &c., pluralize the name, and not the title; as, " The Mrs. Howards;" "the two Miss Mortons ;" "the two Mr. Henrys."

3. But when several persons of the same name are spoken of individually, and distinguished by a particular appellation, or when persons of different names are spoken of together, the title only, and not the name, is made plural; as, " Misses Julia and Mary Robinson;" "Messrs. George and Andrew Thomson ;"" Messrs. Pratt, Woodford, & Co."

Thus far, usage and the rule are settled and uniform; but

4. In other cases, usage is still unsettled. Some writers, perhaps the majority, pluralize the title and not the name; as, “ The Misses Brown," "the Messrs. Harper." Others, of equal authority, regarding the title as a sort of adjective, or the whole as a compound name, pluralize the name, and not the title; as, 66 The Miss Browns;" "the Mr. Harpers." This form is more common in conversation, and, being less stiff and formal, is more likely to prevail. A few improperly pluralize both name and title; as, "The Misses Browns;" "the Messrs. Harpers."

5. Names, with other titles prefixed, follow the same analogy; as, "Lords Wellington and Lynedoch ;" "the lords bishops of Durham and St. David's ;"" the generals Scott and Taylor."

CASES OF NOUNS.

162. CASE is the state or condition of a noun with respect to the other words in a sentence.

163. Nouns in English have three cases, the Nominative, Possessive, and Objective.

164. The Nominative case is used

1. When a noun is used simply as the name of an object.

2. When it is used as that of which something is affirmed; as,

"John reads."

3. When it is used as a predicate; as, “John is a good boy." 4. When it is used absolutely, or independent of any other word; as, "O Absalom, my son !"

165. The Possessive case connects with the name of an object, the idea of origin, possession, or fitness; as, The sun's rays; John's book; a boy's cap; men's shoes.

166. The Objective case is used

1. To denote the object of a transitive verb in the active voice; as, "James assists Thomas."

1

2. To denote the object of a relation expressed by a preposition; They live in London."

as, "

3. To denote time, value, weight, or measure, without a governing word; as, "James is ten years old."

GENERAL RULES.

167. The nominative and the objective of nouns are alike.

168. The possessive singular is formed by adding an apostrophe and s to the nominative; as, John's.

169. When the plural ends in s, the possessive is formed by adding an apostrophe only; as, ladies'. But when the plural does not end in s, both the apostrophe and s are added; as, men's, children's.

171. Proper names for the most part want the plural 161).

OBSERVATIONS ON THE POSSESSIVE.

172. The 's in the possessive case is evidently an abbreviation for the old Eng lish termination of the genitive in es or is. Thus, "The king's crown" was writ. ten, "The kingis crown." That 's is not an abbreviation for his, as some have

supposed, is manifest from the fact, that it is used where his could not be properly employed; thus, woman's, men's, children's, book's, &c., can not be resolved into woman his, men his, children his, &c.

The apostrophe (') after s in the plural, is not a mark of abbreviation, but is used, in modern times, merely as a sign of the possessive. Its use in the plural is but of recent date.

173. When the nominative singular ends in ss, or in letters of a similar sound, the s after the apostrophe is sometimes omitted, in order to avoid harshness, or too close a succession of hissing sounds; as, "For goodness' sake;" "for conscience' sake;"." Davies' Surveying ;" ;” “Moses' disciples;” “Jesus' feet.”

174. NOTE.-There is considerable diversity of opinion and usage on this point. Some few insist on retaining s after the apostrophe in every position; as, "Xanthus's stock of patience.”—L'Estrange. Others drop the s only before a word beginning with an s or an s-sound, as above; while others drop the s wherever the use of it would produce harshness, or difficulty of pronunciation. Though in this last, the usage which omits the s is less prevalent and less accurate than that which retains it, yet, from the sanction it has obtained-from the stiffness and harshness which retaining the s often occasions-and from the tendency in all spoken language to abbreviation and euphony, it seems destined to prevail against all arguments to the contrary.

175. REMARK.-In written language, the omission of the s occasions no inconvenience; for the apostrophe sufficiently indicates the case, and the construction will generally indicate the number. In spoken language, however, the use of the s is more necessary, to avoid obscurity, especially in proper names. Thus, in spoken language, "Davy's Surveying," and "Davies' Surveying," sound precisely alike, though the names are different. Hence, to indicate the last name correctly in speaking, it will be more accurate, though less euphonic, to say, "Davies's Surveying." Thus, also, "Perkins' Arithmetic," "Bullions' Grammar," "Sparks' Analy sis," in spoken language, may be mistaken for "Perkin's Arithmetic," "Bullion's Grammar," "Spark's Analysis." In such cases, precision will be secured at the expense of euphony, by retaining the s, while euphony will be attained, frequently at the expense of precision, by dropping it.

د.

176. The meaning of the possessive may, in general, be expressed by the word of with the objective; thus, for "man's wisdom," "virtue's reward," we may say, the wisdom of man," ," "the reward of virtue." This mode will generally be preferred, when the use of the possessive would appear stiff or awkward; thus, “the length of the day," is better than "the day's length." In some few words which want the possessive plural, such as father-in-law, court-martial, &c., this is the only substitute. These two modes of expression, however, are not always equiv. alent; thus, "the king's picture," means any picture belonging to the king; "a picture of the king," means a portrait of him, without saying to whom it belongs. So also, of with the objective, can not always be represented by the possessive; as, "A piece of gold," "a cord of wood," "the house of representatives," &c.