(i) Alms is a compressed form of the A.S. aelmesse (which is from the Greek eleemosunē). We find in Acts iii. 3, "an alms." The adjective connected with it is eleemosynary.

(ii) Riches comes from the French richesse.

(iii) Eaves is the modern form of the A.S. efese, a margin or edge.

26. There are in English several plural forms that are regarded and treated as singulars. The following is a list :

27. There are many nouns that, from the nature of the case, can be used only in the plural. These are the names of things (a) That consist of two or more parts; or (b) That are

(b) The following is a list of the second :—

Tweezers.
Tongs.
Trousers.

Oats.
Staggers.

Stocks.

Victuals.

It must be noticed that several nouns-some of them in the

above class—change their meaning entirely when made plural. Thus

28. The English language has adopted many foreign plurals. These, (a) when fully naturalised, make their plurals in the usual English way; (b) when not naturalised, or imperfectly, keep their own proper plurals.

() As examples of the first kind, we have

Bandits, cherubs, dogmas, indexes, memorandums, focuses, formulas, terminuses, etc.

(i) The Greek plurals acoustics, ethics, mathematics, optics, politics, etc., were originally adjectives. We now say logic--but logics, which still survives in the Irish Universities-was the older word.

29. Compounds attach the sign of the plural to the leading word, especially if that word be a noun. These may be divided into three classes :

(a) When the plural sign is added to the Noun, as: sons-in-law, hangers-on, lookers-on, etc.

(b) When the compound word is treated as one word, as: attorneygenerals, major-generals, court-martials, spoonfuls, handfuls, etc.

(c) When both parts of the compound take the plural sign, as: menservants, knights-templars, lords-justices, etc.

CASE.

30. Case is the form given to a noun to show its relation to other words in the sentence. Our language has lost most of these forms; but we still use the word case to indicate the function, even when the form has been lost.

31. We now employ five cases; Nominative, Possessive, Dative, Objective, and Vocative.

(i) In Nouns, only one of these is inflected, or has a case-ending—the Possessive.

(ii) In Pronouns, the Possessive, Dative, and Objective are inflected. But the inflexion for the Dative and the Objective is the same. Him and them are indeed true Datives: the old inflection for the Objective was hine and hi.

32. The following are the definitions of these cases :—

(1) The Nominative Case is the case of the subject. (2) The Possessive Case indicates possession, or some sim

ilar relation.

(3) The Dative Case is the case of the Indirect Object, and also the case governed by certain verbs.

to.

(4) The Cbjective Case is the case of the Direct Object. (5) The Vocative Case is the case of the person spoken It is often called the Nominative of Address.

(i) Nominative comes from the Lat. nomināre, to name. From the same root we have nominee.

(ii) Dative comes from the Lat dativus, given to.

(iii) Vocative comes from the Lat. vocativus, spoken to or addressed.

33. The Nominative Case answers to the question Who? or What? It has always a verb that goes with it, and asserts something about it.

34. The Possessive Case has the ending 's in the singular; 's in the plural, when the plural of the noun ends in n; and ’ only when the plural ends in s.

The possessive case is kept chiefly for nouns that are the names of living beings. We cannot say "the book's page "the "the box's lid," though in poetry we can say or temple's roof," etc. There are many points that require to be specially noted about the possessive :

(i) The apostrophe (from Gr. apo, away, and strophē, a turning) stands in the place of a lost e, the possessive in O.E. having been in many cases es. In the last century the printers always put hop'd, walk'd, etc., for hoped, walked, etc. The use of the apostrophe is quite modern.

(ii) If the singular noun ends in s, we often, but not always, write Moses' rod, for conscience' sake, Phœbus' fire; and yet we say, and ought to say, Jones's books, Wilkins's hat, St James's, Chambers's Journal, etc.

(iii) We find in the Prayer-Book, "For Jesus Christ his sake.” This arose from the fact that the old possessive in es was sometimes written is; and hence the corruption into his. Then it came to be fancied that

's was a short form of his. But this is absurd, for two reasons:

(a) We cannot say that "the girl's book" is=the girl his book.
(b) We cannot say that "the men's tools" is=the men his tools.

35. How shall we account for the contradictory forms Lord'sday and Lady-day, Thurs-day and Fri-day, Wedn-es-day and Mon-day, and for the curious possessive Witenagemot ?

(i) Lady-day, Friday, and Monday are fragments of the possessive of feminine Nouns in O.E. The oldest feminine possessive ended in an, which was then shortened into ladye, lastly into lady. So with Frija, the goddess of love; and with Moon, which was feminine. Thus we see that in Lady-day, Friday, and Monday we have old feminine possessives. The word witenagemot means the meet or meeting of the witan, or wise men, the possessive of which was witěna.

36. The Dative Case answers to the question For whom? or To whom? It has no separate form for Nouns; and in Pronouns, its form is the same as that of the Objective. But it has a very clear and distinct function in modern English. This function is seen in such sentences as

(1) He handed the lady a chair.

(2) Make me a boat!

(3) Woe worth the day! (Woe come to the day!) (4) Heaven send the Prince a better companion!

(5) Heaven send the companion a better Prince!

(6)

Sirrah, knock me at this gate,

Rap me here, knock me well, and knock me soundly."
(Shakespeare, "Taming of the Shrew," I. ii. 31.)

(7) Methought I heard a cry! (= Meseems.)

(8) Hand me the salt, if you please.

Some grammarians prefer to call this the Case of the Indirect Object; but the term will hardly apply to day and me in (3) and (7). In all the other sentences, the dative may be changed into an objective with the prep. to or for.

(i) In the sixth sentence, the me's are sometimes called Ethical Datives.

(ii) In the seventh sentence, methought is = meseems, or it seems to me. There were in O.E. two verbs-thincan, to seem; and thencan, to think.

(iii) In the eighth sentence the phrase if you please is = if it please you, and the you is a dative. If the you were a nominative, the phrase would mean if you are a pleasing person, or if you please me.

37. The Objective Case is always governed by an activetransitive verb or a preposition. It answers to the question Whom? or What? It is generally placed after the verb. Its form is different from that of the Nominative in pronouns; but is the same in nouns.

(i) The direct object is sometimes called the reflexive object when the nominative and the objective refer to the same person-as, “I hurt myself;" "Turn (thou) thee, O Lord!" etc.

(ii) When the direct object is akin with the verb in meaning, it is sometimes called the cognate object. The cognate object is found in such phrases as: To die the death; to run a race; to fight a fight, etc.

(iii) A second direct object after such verbs as make, create, appoint, think, suffer, etc., is often called the factitive object. For example: The Queen made him a general; the Board appointed him manager; we thought him a good man, etc.

Factitive comes from the Latin facere, to make.

38. The difference between the Nominative and the Vocative cases is this: The Nominative case must always have a verb with it; the Vocative cannot have a verb. This is plain from the sentences:

(i) John did that.

(ii) Don't do that, John!

39. Two nouns that indicate the same person or thing are said to be in apposition; and two nouns in apposition may be in any case.

(i) But, though the two nouns are in the same case, only one of them has the sign or inflection of the case. Thus we say, "John the gardener's mother is dead." Now, both John and gardener are in the possessive case; and yet it is only gardener that takes the sign of the possessive.