There are two numbers, the Singular and the Plural. The Singular denotes one object; as, an apple. Plural denotes more objects than one; as, apples. The The singular is always expressed by the noun in its simple form; as, apple, box. The plural of nouns is generally formed by adding s to the singular; as, book, books. When the plural s coalesces with the terminating letter of the singular, the noun retains the same number of syllables in the plural as in the singular; as, hand, hands. But when the singular ends with a silent e, after the soft c, g, ch, or after ss, x, or z, the addition of s adds a syllable in the plural; as, face, fa-ces; kiss, kiss-es; box, box-es. Exceptions. 1. Nouns in ch soft, s, sh, x, z, or in o, after a consonant, form the plural by adding es; as, church, churches; miss, misses; lash, lashes; fox, foxes; topaz, tōpazes; hero, heroes; wo, woes. The plural of words ending in the preceding letters is formed by adding es instead of s, because single s cannot be pronounced after those letters. Nouns ending in ch hard, in o after a vowel, with these words canto, cento, grotto, junto, portico, duodecimo, octavo, quarto, solo, and tyro, take s only in the plural; as, monarch, monarchs; folio, folios; canto, cantos. 2. Nouns in for fe change, for the sake of an easier utterance, for fe into ves in the plural; as, loaf, loaves; life, lives. But nouns in ff, and these words brief, chief, dwarf, fief, fife, grief, gulf, handkerchief, hoof, kerchief, mischief, proof, roof, reproof, safe, scarf, strife, surf, turf, and wharf, follow the general rule, by adding s only; as, muff, muffs; grief, griefs. Staff, a stick, has staves in the plural; stave, a verse, is regular, as, staves. 3. Nouns ending in y, after a consonant, change y into ies to form the plural, as lady, ladies. But y after a vowel is not changed; as, day, days. Words ending in y were formerly spelled with ie in the singular, as flie, glorie; and thus, though we have substituted y for ie in the singular, yet we retain ie in the plural. The plural of alkali is alkalies. 4. Some nouns, in forming the plural, take the old Saxon termination en; as, But we say Turkoman, Turkomans; Mussulman, Mussulmans; tǎlisman, tălismans. 5. The following nouns are either irregular in the formation of the plural, or the plural has different meanings : Plural. brothers (sons of Genius Plural. Messrs. pease (the species) peas (the seeds as Singular. Louse geniuses (persons Mr. Mrs. Mouse mice Pea Pea Die { dice (small cubes distinct objects) pence (number) Foot feet Penny pennies (as dis tinct pieces of coin) Fish Jfishes (number, as Sow sows, sometimes swine Genius genii(aerial spirits) Tooth teeth Such compound nouns as spoonful, mouthful, man-trap, mouse-trap, cămera-obscura, Ave-Marie, &c., form the plural by adding s or es to the last word; as, spoonfuls, mantraps, cămera-obscuras, Ave-Maries. But compound words, formed of a noun and an adjective, or of two nouns connected by a preposition, have, in general, the s annexed to the first word; as, aid-de-camp, aids-de-camp; court-martial, courts-martial; cousingerman, cousins-german; father-in-law, fathers-in-law; son-in-law, sons-in-law. 6. Nouns adopted, without alteration, from foreign languages, generally retain their original plurals. a. From the Greek and Latin.* 1. Those ending in um or on, change um or on into a in the plural; thus, There are many other words in um occurring in the arts and sciences which follow this rule. * To assist the student in the English pronunciation of these foreign words, the same marks are employed as before; though many of the words pronounced by us with the short quantity are long in the original language, while some of those pronounced as long by us, are short; thus, the word datum is short in Latin, as datum. 2. Those ending in is generally change is into es; thus, Singular. Amanuĕnsis Antithesis Axis theses 3. Those ending in a, us, en, ex, ix, or x, after a consonant, change a into ae in the plural, us into i, en into ina, ex or ix into ices, and x, after a consonant, into ces; thus, Radix radices Genus makes, in the plural, genera; miasma, miäsmäta; dogma, dogmata and dogmas. Apparātus, congeries, hiātus, sēries, species, and superficies, are the same in both numbers. 7. Some nouns have the same termination for both numbers; as, deer, sheep, swine, trout, salmon, &c. The singular of such words is generally denoted by the article a or an; as, a sheep," a trout." The words horse, foot, infantry, cavalry, denoting bodies of soldiers, have a singular form, with generally a plural signification. Also the words cannon, shot, and sail, have, in general, a plural sense. The singular of these latter words is denoted by the article a, as a cannon. 8. Some nouns have no plural; such as proper names, the names of metals, fossils, virtues, vices, arts, sciences, abstract qualities, and of things that are weighed or measured; as, gold, marl, industry, idleness, reading, geometry, wisdom, flour, wine. 1. The only exceptions to this rule are, when more individuals than one, of the same name, are intended, as, the Howards, the Johnsons; and also when the different sorts are meant, as, the readings, the wines, the wheats, the teas, the cottons. 2. Proper nouns, when pluralized, follow the same rules as common nouns, as, Venus, the Venuses; Ajar, the Ajaxes; Cato, the Catoes; Henry, the Henries. 9. Other words are used only in the plural; as the following: 1. Pains may be preceded by the word great, but never by much. The phrase "Much pains have been taken," should therefore be, "Great pains have been taken." Means and amends, signifying one object, have a singular verb; signifying more than one, a plural verb. Gallows is always singular, as, "The gallows is erected." News is generally singular, rarely plural; as, "News has arrived." 2. The words Conics, ethics, mathematics, optics, physics, pneumatics, politics, and other similar names of sciences, are generally used with a plural, but sometimes with a singular verb. Person. Nouns have three persons, the first, the second, and the third. The first person is the speaker; as, "I, John Thompson, do promise.' The second person is the person spoken to; as, "Boys, attend to your lessons." The third person is the person spoken of; as, "That girl is diligent." Case. Case is the form or state of a noun or pronoun, to exthe relation which it bears to another word. press Case, from Casus a falling, is so called, because cases were supposed to fall or decline from the nominative or first form, called the upright (rectus). All other forms of the noun than the nominative were called cases or casus obliqui, oblique cases. Nouns have three cases, the Nominative, the Possessive, and the Objective. The Nominative expresses the name of the person or thing which acts, or which is the subject of discourse. The Possessive denotes ownership or possession, and is formed in the singular by adding an apostrophe with the letter s to the nominative; as, nom. John, poss. John's. 1. The import of the possessive or genitive may, in general, be expressed by the particle of; thus, for "Man's wisdom," we can say "The wisdom of man." This latter form (of) is called the Norman possessive. 2. The sign's (s with an apostrophe before it) is called the Saxon genitive or possessive, and is a contraction of es or is; thus, "Man's wisdom," " King's crown,' were formerly written "Manes wisdom," "Kingis crown," or "Kinges crown." The mark' is called by the Greek name apostrophe, signifying a turning off, because it shows the turning off or omission of the vowel e or i. The Objective case expresses the name of the person or thing which is the object of an action or of a relation, and follows either a transitive verb or a preposition; as, "I love Henry; "They live in London." 1. When a noun does anything it is called the agent, and when something is done to it, it is called the object. 2. In substantives, the nominative and objective cases are the same in form, being distinguishable from each other only by their situation; thus, 1. Here the meaning is reversed by the interchange of the nouns, the nominative or agent being known by its being placed before the verb, and the object of the action by its following it. Nouns are thus declined :— To decline a noun, means to name or write its cases and numbers. Singular. Nom. Father Plural. 1. When the plural ends in s, the possessive plural is formed by adding only an apostrophe; as, nom. plural, Fathers, poss. Fathers'. 2. When the plural does not end in 8, the possessive plural is formed by adding both the apostrophe and s; as, nom. plural, Men, poss. Men's. 1. "John has cut Thomas's finger." Here John is the actor or doer of something, and is therefore in the nominative case; has cut, is a verb, and affirms what action has been done by John; finger is the object in which the action terminates, and is therefore in the objective case; and Thomas's is in the possessive case, because it denotes the owner of the finger. 2. To find the nominative case, ask the question, Who? or What? with the verb, and the word that answers to the question will be the nominative case to the verb; as in the preceding example, "Who has cut Thomas's finger?" Ans. "John;" therefore John is the nominative case. 3. The objective case of a verb may be known by asking the question, Whom? or What? with the verb; as, "What did John cut?" Ans. "The finger of Thomas." The word finger is therefore in the objective case, and governed by the active verb has cut. |