is the plural of child,' and consequently children' (child-er-en) is considered a double plural. Lambren' (lamb-er-en), 'eyren (ey-er-en, eggs), are other examples from the old writers. Another view is that the syllable 'er' in those words has merely a diminutive force.

The 'er' may be another form of 'es,' a not uncommon substitution in European philology. With regard to es,' or 's,' a plural ending in various languages besides ours, the supposition has been made that it is a form of the demonstrative pronoun of the third person. The nominative singular of masculines and feminines ending in 's' (equu-s, fini-s) contains this pronoun (which had an ancient form sa'); and the plural is probably a corruption of the same pronoun put twice (pisci-sa-sa, i. e., fish that and that), the doubling being thus symbolical for repetition or plurality.— (Chambers's Enyclopædia, art. Inflection.)

4. Some Nouns have the same form in both numbers; as 'deer,'' sheep,' 'swine,' 'grouse,' 'teal,' 'mackerel,' 'trout,' 'salmon,'' heathen,' 'cannon.'

5. Many words borrowed from other languages retain their original plurals: focus, foci;' beau, beaux ;' cherub, cherubim.'

6

The following are a few of the most usual :

genus, genera;'

When a foreign word passes into common use, the tendency is to adopt the English plural. Thus we have genius-es,' crocus-es,' vivariums, memorandums,' encomiums,' 'dogmas,' 'formulas,' 'cherubs,' 'seraphs,' 'bandits.' Some foreign words have currency chiefly in the plural; as‘errata,' 'arcana,' 'dilettanti,' 'antipodes.'

6. Some Nouns have two plurals, with separate meanings.

'Penny, pennies' (a number of separate coins); 'pence' (for a collective sum) as 'fourpence;' 'die, dies' (stamps for coining); dice' (for gaming); genius, geniuses' (men of original power); 'genii' (spirits); brother, brothers' (by blood); brethren' (of a community); cloth, cloths' (different kinds of cloth); clothes' (garments); 'index, indexes' (to a book); 'indices' (signs in Algebra); shot, shot' (the number of balls); shots' (the number of times fired).

NOUNS USED ONLY IN THE PLURAL.

6

81

7. The Plurals of a few Nouns differ in meaning from the Singulars: compass, compasses;' corn, corns;' iron, irons;' 'salt, salts;' content, contents;' 'domino, dominoes;' 'good, goods;' vesper, vespers.'

Some nouns have two meanings in the plural, one corresponding to the singular, the other distinct from it: pain, pains' (trouble); 'custom, customs' (revenue duties); 'number, numbers' (in poetry); letter, letters' (literature).

8. Some Nouns are used only in the Plural.

6

Aborigines,' amends,' annals, antipodes,' assets,' 'archives,' banns,' 'bellows,' billiards,' 'bowels, calends,' 'credentials,' dregs,' entrails,' filings,' 'hustings,' 'ides,' 'lees,' 'matins,' 'measles,'' molasses,' 'news,' 'nones,' nuptials,' 'oats,' 'obsequies, ́odds,' 'pincers,' 'pliers,' premises,' scissors,' shears,' 'snuffers,' spectacles,' 'summons, thanks,' 'tidings,' 'tongs,' 'trappings,' 'trousers,' 'tweezers,' vespers,'' victuals,' 'vitals,' 'wages.'

For words like 'tongs,' scissors,' &c., the reason lies in the nature of the instrument designated. As regards the others, we must look to some circumstance in the history of each.

Some of these words are used with a verb in the singular, and often it is a matter of doubt which is the correct construction.

'News' in old English was commonly plural: these are news indeed '-Shakspeare; but now it is uniformly singular: 'ill news runs apace.' The singular form 'new' never existed.

'Means, according to most grammarians, is to be used in the singular when the signification is singular, and in the plural when the signification is plural. We may say accordingly, this means,' or those means,' as the case requires. The singular form 'mean' is to be found.

Tidings' is plural. It is commonly used by Shakspeare as a plural noun, but in some instances he makes it singular: that tidings came.' The singular tiding' is unknown to the language.

'Summons' might be considered as a true singular, for it has a regular derived plural, summonses.'

6

6

Nuptial,' thank, and 'wage,' occur in old English. The words mathematics,'' physics,' 'optics, represent plurals in the Greek language, but they are construed by us as singular: Optics is the science of light.'

6

There are some nouns apparently plural, but in reality singular, asalms' (Anglo-Saxon, celmesse'), 'riches' (French, ‘richesse'). Hence the following are mistakes: the alms they receive are—, 'riches profit not.'

9. Proper Nouns sometimes apply to one person, and are therefore Singular, and sometimes to several persons, and then admit of the Plural: There are no Ciceros in our age.'

G

10. Names of Materials have no Plural; as 'gold,' 'air,' 'butter.'

But when there are different qualities of the material, the plural is occasionally used, as sugars,' 'wines,'' clays, airs.' Also at a hotel a waiter talks of three teas,' 'two soups,' these being detached portions of tea and of soup. 'Sands' is used because the material is made up of distinct particles, which we can therefore suppose to be numbered.

11. Abstract Nouns have no Plural; as

wisdom,' 'pride,' baseness,' 'might,' 'whiteness,' 'elasticity,' 'opacity.'

Occasionally these nouns are found in the plural, but then they signify, not the abstract quality, but particular actions or particular varieties of the quality, as liberties,' 'virtues,' 'vices,'' negligencies,' 'lengths,'' forces.'

Or they may really signify something in the concrete, as transparencies.'

12. Nouns of Multitude, although singular in form, have a Plural meaning and construction: vermin,' 'cattle,' crowd,'' people,' 'folk,' 'infantry,' 'tenantry,' Englishry.'

13. The omission of the Indefinite Article in Nouns that take that Article before them, is a sign of the Plural.

The proper declension of a noun is: (singular) a house, (plural) houses; a man, men ;' 'a sheep, sheep.'

14. With a numeral, the sign of the Plural is often dispensed with five pound,'ten sail,' 'two brace of birds,' 'four pair,' 'two dozen,' 'a three-foot rule,' twenty year,' forty head of cattle,' 'a thousand horse.'

This omission evidently arises out of the circumstance that the numeral indicates the fact of plurality, and therefore renders the plural inflection unnecessary. Indeed the means of making known plurality are superabundant, as we may see from such an instance as the following: Four children were at their lessons, the good creatures.' Here the plurality is expressed by six different marks; 1st, the numeral; 2nd, the plural inflection, children;' 3rd, the verb 'were;' 4th, by their;' 5th, by the plural of the word in apposition, 'creatures;' 6th, by the omission of the article.

6

15. Strictly speaking, the Plural form declares only that there are more than one of the thing named; but we are able often to infer besides something as to the extent of the number.

COMPOUND NOUNS.

6

83

We are to have friends this evening,' means some or a few. 'He keeps horses,' implies the same. He sells books,' refers to the nature of his occupation. Men say' is men in general; all that have an opportunity of speaking on the subject. 'Sheep are meek animals;' the whole race of sheep. Men are mortal;' all men. Thus the context may indicate sufficiently that the number spoken of is a few, a great number, or the whole of the thing spoken of.

16. The Plural of Compound Nouns is generally formed by inflecting the principal Noun; as sons-inlaw,' 'goings out,' maids of honour,' 'maid-servants,' 6 man-stealers.'

Where the words are so closely allied that the meaning is incomplete till the whole is known, the 's' is added at the end, as 'pailfuls,' the three per cents,' 'forget-me-nots.'

We may say either the Misses Brown,' or 'the Miss Browns,' or even the Misses Browns.' 'The Misses Brown' has a collective

But

effect; the Miss Browns' rather implies separate action. in commercial life we say 'the Misses Brown.' Such an example as 'Knights Templars,' where the two nouns in apposition are inflected, is an unusual form.*

There are some Scotticisms connected with the plural inflection: He has no objections (objection);' 'I was in his favours (favour);' they were dressed in blacks (black).'

CASE.

1. Case is an inflection of the Noun, showing its relation to other words; as the master's voice,' where the addition of s to 'master' shows that 'voice' is the property of 'master.'

Besides

In many languages these inflections are more numerous. the relation expressed above, called the possessive or genitive relation, there are others in Latin, denominated dative, ablative, &c. In English, prepositions serve the purpose served in those languages by their various case-endings; patri is 'to a father,' patre is by a father.' We can also substitute for the possessive inflection in our own language the preposition of;' the voice of the master.'

2. There are said to be three cases in English, Nominative, Possessive, and Objective; but in nouns the Possessive is the only case where inflection occurs. Nominative, man;' possessive, 'man's;' objective, 'man.'

* Dr. Angus on the English Tongue, art. 206.

Except for the pronouns, the distinction of nominative and objective would not be kept up, as the form of the noun can never show whether it is nominative or objective. These names have a meaning only in construction with verbs; the one corresponding to the subject (the nominative), the other to the object of the sentence.

6

3. The Possessive is formed by adding to the Noun the letter 's' preceded by an apostrophe: John, John's.' In the Plural no addition is made, except the apostrophe: fathers, fathers'. If the Plural does not end in s, the general rule for the Singular is then applied the children's bread.'

The reason for not adding 's' to the regular plurals is the difficulty of pronunciation:‘fathers, fathers's.'

In Anglo-Saxon, the possessive ending was es: bird, birdes.' This survives in Wedn-es-day' (Woden-es-day).

The omission of the vowel, and the consequent sounding of the 's' in the same syllable as the letter preceding, leads to varieties of pronunciation, such as those described for the formation of plurals; the 's' being sometimes sounded sharp, as life's,' and sometimes flat: 'God's,' Jacob's.' (See Number.)

4. The 's' is omitted in the Singular when too many hissing sounds would come together; Socrates' wife,' 'for conscience' sake,' for goodness' sake,' for Jesus' sake.'

We say 'St. James's and St. Giles's,' 'Moses's,' Douglas's,' 'Burns's.' The general rule is adhered to as much as possible. When the word consists of more than two syllables, the 's' is dropped, as Euripides' dramas.' In poetry it is frequently omitted: 'Bacchus','' Æneas',' 'Epirus',' 'Hellas'.'

5. In Compound Nouns the suffix is attached to the last word; as heir-at-law's,' the queen of England's.' Even when there are two separate names, the s is added only to the last, as, Robertson and Reid's office;' John, William, and Mary's uncle.'

6

6. The Possessive Inflection is principally limited to persons, animals, and personified objects. We may say John's occupation,' the king's crown,' the lion's mane,' 'the mountain's brow;' but not 'the house's roof' (for the roof of the house), 'the street's width,' the book's price.'

Thus it is only a select number of nouns that admit of inflection : for the great mass we must use the preposition of.' This very much diminishes the importance of the only case-inflection that the lan