Higher Lessons in English by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg (popular books to read TXT) 📕

of the following nouns_:—

Belief, brief, chief, dwarf, fife, grief, gulf, hoof, kerchief, proof, reef, roof, safe, scarf, strife, waif.

(Nouns in ff, except staff, are regular; as, cuff, cuffs.)

The following plurals are still more irregular.

+Direction+.—_Learn to form the following plurals_:—

Child, children; foot, feet; goose, geese; louse, lice; man, men; mouse, mice; Mr., Messrs.; ox, oxen; tooth, teeth; woman, women.

(For the plurals of pronouns, see Lesson 124.)

 

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LESSON 113.

NUMBER FORMS—CONTINUED.

Some nouns adopted from foreign languages still retain their original plural forms. Some of these take the English plural also.

+Direction+.—_Learn to form the following plurals_:—

Analysis, analyses; antithesis, antitheses; appendix, appendices or appendixes; automaton, automata or automatons; axis, axes; bandit, banditti or bandits; basis, bases; beau, beaux or beaus; cherub, cherubim or cherubs; crisis, crises; datum, data; ellipsis, ellipses; erratum, errata; focus, foci: fungus, fungi or funguses; genus, genera; hypothesis, hypotheses; ignis fatuus, ignes fatui; madame, mesdames; magus, magi; memorandum, memoranda or memorandums; monsieur, messieurs; nebula, nebulae; oasis, oases; parenthesis, parentheses; phenomenon, phenomena; radius, radii or radiuses; seraph, seraphim or seraphs; stratum, strata; synopsis, synopses; terminus, termini; vertebra, vertebrae; vortex, vortices or vortexes.

The following compound nouns, in which the principal word stands first, vary the first word; as, sons-in-law.

+Direction+.—_Form the plural of the following words_:—

Aid-de-camp, attorney-at-law, billet-doux, [Footnote: Plural, billets-doux, pronounced bil’-la:-doo:z ] commander-in-chief, court-martial, cousin-german, father-in-law, hanger-on, man-of-war.

The following, and most compounds, vary the last word; as, pailfuls, gentlemen. [Footnote: Pails full is not a compound. This expression denotes a number of pails, each full.]

+Direction+.—_Form the plural of each of the following nouns_:—

Courtyard, dormouse, Englishman, fellow-servant, fisherman, Frenchman, forget-me-not, goose-quill, handful, maid-servant, man-trap, mouthful, pianoforte, portemonnaie, spoonful, stepson, tete-a-tete, tooth-brush.

The following nouns (except Norman) are not compounds of man—add s to all.

Brahman, German, Mussulman, Norman, Ottoman, talisman.

The following compounds vary both parts; as, man-singer, men-singers.

+Direction+.—_Form the plural of each of the following nouns_:—

Man-child, man-servant, woman-servant, woman-singer.

Compounds consisting of a proper name preceded by a title form the plural by varying either the title or the name; as, the Miss Clarks or the Misses Clark; but, when the title Mrs. is used, the name is usually varied; as, the Mrs. Clarks. [Footnote: Of the two forms, the Miss Clarks and the Misses Clark, we believe that the former is most used by the best authors. The latter, except in formal notes or when the title is to be emphasized, is rather stiff if not pedantic. Some authorities say that, when a numeral precedes the title, the name should always be varied; as, the two Miss Clarks.

The forms, the Misses Clarks and the two Mrs. Clark, have little authority.]

+Direction+.—_Form the plural of the following compounds_:—

Miss Jones, Mr. Jones, General Lee, Dr. Brown, Master Green.

A title used with two or more different names is made plural; as, Drs. Grimes and Steele, Messrs. Clark and Maynard.

+Direction+.—_Put each of the following expressions in its proper form_:—

General Lee and Jackson; Miss Mary, Julia, and Anna Scott; Mr, Green, Stacy, & Co.

Letters, figures, and other characters add the apostrophe and s to form the plural; [Footnote: Some good writers form the plural of words named merely as words, in the same way; as, the if’s and and’s; but the (‘) is here unnecessary.] as, a’s, 2’s, –-‘s.

+Direction.+—_Form the plural of each of the following characters_:—S, i, t, +, x, [Dagger], 9, 1, 1/4, [Yough], [Cyrillic: E].

 

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LESSON 114.

NUMBER FORMS—CONTINUED.

Some nouns have two plurals differing in meaning.

+Direction.+—_Learn these plurals and their meanings:_—

Brother, brothers (by blood), brethren (of the same society). Cannon, cannons (individuals), cannon (in a collective sense). Die, dies (stamps for coining), dice (cubes for gaming). Fish, fishes (individuals), fish (collection). [Footnote: The names of several sorts of fish, as, herring, shad, trout, etc. are used in the same way. The compounds of fish, as codfish, have the same form in both numbers.] Foot, feet (parts of the body), foot (foot-soldiers). Genius, geniuses (men of genius), genii (spirits). Head, heads (parts of the body), head (of cattle). Horse, horses (animals), horse (horse-soldiers). Index, indexes (tables of reference), indices (signs in algebra). Penny, pennies (distinct coins), pence (quantity in value). Sail, sails (pieces of canvas), sail (vessels). Shot, shots (number of times fired), shot (number of balls).

The following nouns and pronouns have the same form in both numbers.

+Direction.+—_Study the following list:_—

Bellows, corps, [Footnote: The singular is pronounced ko:r, the plural ko:rz.] deer, gross, grouse, hose, means, odds, pains (care), series, sheep, species, swine, vermin, who, which, that (relative), what, any, none.

(The following have two forms in the plural).

Apparatus, apparatus or apparatuses; heathen, heathen or heathens.

(The following nouns have the same form in both numbers when used with numerals; they add s in other cases; as, four score, by scores.)

Dozen, score, yoke, hundred, thousand.

The following nouns have no plural.

(These are generally names of materials, qualities, or sciences.)

Names of materials when taken in their full or strict sense can have no plural, but they may be plural when kinds of the material or things made of it are referred to; as, cottons, coffees, tins, coppers.

+Direction.+—_Study the following list of words:_—

Bread, coffee, copper, flour, gold, goodness, grammar (science, not a book), grass, hay, honesty, iron, lead, marble, meekness, milk, molasses, music, peace, physiology, pride, tin, water.

The following plural forms are commonly used in the singular.

Acoustics, ethics, mathematics, politics (and other names of sciences in ics), amends, measles, news.

The following words are always plural.

(Such words are generally names of things double or multiform in their character.)

+Direction+.—_Study the following list_:—

Aborigines, annals, ashes, assets, clothes, fireworks, hysterics, literati, mumps, nippers, oats, pincers, rickets, scissors, shears, snuffers, suds, thanks, tongs, tidings, trousers, victuals, vitals.

The following were originally singular forms, but they are now treated as plural.

Alms (Anglo-Saxon aelmaesse), eaves (A. S. efese), riches (Norman French richesse).

The following have no singular corresponding in meaning.

Colors (flag), compasses (dividers), goods (property), grounds (dregs), letters (literature), manners (behavior), matins (morning service); morals (character), remains (dead body), spectacles (glasses), stays (corsets), vespers (evening service).

(The singular form is sometimes an adjective.)

Bitters, greens, narrows, sweets, valuables, etc.

Collective nouns are treated as plural when the individuals in the collection are thought of, and as singular when the collection as a whole is thought of.

+Examples+.—The committee were unable to agree, and they asked to be discharged. A committee was appointed, and its report will soon be made.

(Collective nouns have plural forms; as, committees, armies.)

 

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LESSON 115.

REVIEW IN NUMBER.

+Direction+.—_Write the plural of the singular nouns and pronouns in the following list, and the singular of those that are plural; give the Rule or the Remark that applies to each; and note those that have no plural, and those that have no singular:_—

Hope, age, bench, bush, house, loss, tax, waltz, potato, shoe, colony, piano, kangaroo, pulley, wharf, staff, fife, loaf, flagstaff, handkerchief, Mr., child, ox, beaux, cherubim, mesdames, termini, genus, genius, bagnio, theory, galley, muff, mystery, colloquy, son-in-law, man-of-war, spoonful, maid-servant, Frenchman, German, man-servant, Dr. Smith, Messrs. Brown and Smith, x, 1/2, deer, series, bellows, molasses, pride, politics, news, sunfish, clothes, alms, goods, grounds, greens, who, that.

+Direction.+—_Give five words that have no plural, five that have no singular, and five that have the same form in both numbers._

+Direction.+—_Correct the following plurals, and give the Remark that applies to each:_—

Stagees, foxs, mosquitos, calicos, heros, soloes, babys, trioes, chimnies, storys, elfs, beefs, scarves, oxes, phenomenons, axises, terminuses, genuses, mother-in-laws, aldermans, Mussulmen, teeth-brushes, mouthsful, attorney-at-laws, man-childs, geese-quills, 2s, ms. swines.

 

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LESSON 116.

NUMBER FORMS IN CONSTRUCTION.

The number of a noun may be determined not only by its form but also by the verb, the adjective, and the pronoun used in connection with it.

+Remark.+—_These scissors are_ so dull that I cannot use them. The plurality of scissors is here made known in four ways. In the following sentence this, is, and it are incorrectly used: This scissors is so dull that I cannot use it.

+Direction+.—_Construct sentences in which the number of each of the following nouns shall be indicated by the form of the verb, by the adjective, and by the pronoun used in connection with it_:—

(With the singular nouns use the verbs is, was, and has been; the adjectives an, one, this, and that; the pronouns he, his, him, she, her, it, and its.)

(With the plural nouns use the verbs are, were, and have been; the adjectives these, those, and two; the pronouns they, their, and them.)

Bellows, deer, fish, gross, means, series, species, heathen, trout, iron, irons, news, eaves, riches, oats, vermin, molasses, Misses, brethren, dice, head (of cattle), pennies, child, parent, family, crowd, meeting.

+Direction+.—_Compose sentences in which the first three of the following adjective pronouns shall be used as singular subjects, the fourth as a plural subject, and the remainder both as singular and as plural subjects_:—

Each, either, neither, both, former, none, all, any.

 

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LESSON 117.

NOUNS AND PRONOUNS—GENDER.

+Introductory Hints+.—_The lion was caged. The lioness was caged_. In the first sentence something is said about a male lion, and in the second something is said about a female lion. The modification of the noun to denote the sex of the thing which it names is called +Gender+. Lion, denoting a male animal, is in the +Masculine Gender; and lioness, denoting a female animal, is in the +Feminine Gender+. Names of things that are without sex are said to be in the +Neuter Gender+. Such nouns as cousin, child, friend, neighbor are either masculine or feminine. Such words are sometimes said to be in the Common Gender.

Sex belongs to the thing; and gender, to the noun that names the thing. Knowing the sex of the thing or its lack of sex, you know the gender of the noun in English that names it; for in our language gender follows the sex. But in such modern languages as the French and the German, and in Latin and Greek, the gender of nouns naming things without reference to sex is determined by the likeness of their endings in sound to the endings of words denoting things with sex. The German for table is a masculine noun, the French is feminine, and the English, of course, is neuter. [Footnote: In Anglo-Saxon, the mother-tongue of our language, gender was grammatical, as in the French and the German; but, since the union of the Norman-French with the Anglo-Saxon to form the English, gender has followed sex.]

 

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+DEFINITIONS+.

+_Gender_ is that modification of a noun or pronoun which denotes sex+.

+The Masculine Gender denotes the male sex+.

+The Feminine Gender denotes the female sex+.

+The Neuter Gender denotes want of sex+.

Gender Forms.

No English nouns have distinctive neuter forms, but a lew have different forms to distinguish the masculine from the feminine.

The masculine is distinguished from the feminine in three ways:—

1st. By a difference in the ending of the words.

2d. By different words in the compound names.

3d. By using words wholly or radically different.

Ess is