There are many other words in um occurring in the arts and sciences which follow this rule.

b. Those ending in is generally change is into es; thus,

c. 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;

d. Genus makes, in the plural, genera; miasma, miasmăta; dogma, dogmata, and dogmas. Apparātus, congeries, census, hiātus, sēries, spēcies, and superficies, are the same in both numbers.

85. Less. 17. Rule 8.- 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," α trout."

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b. 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.

86. a. 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, insolence, reading, geometry, wisdom, flour, wine.

b. 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. An accurate, though a stiff, mode of expression would be to say the different sorts of wheat, of tea, &c. We may say "The specific gravities of two different bodies," because the sorts or kinds are intended. But to say "negligences or ignorances is incorrect. We should say " acts of negligence or of ignorance."

c. Proper nouns, when pluralized, follow the same rules as common nouns ; as, Venus, the Venuses; Ajax, the Ajaxes; Cato, the Catoes; Henry, the Henries,

d. With respect to two or more nouns in concordance, forming a name and a title, the name is pluralized; as, "The Sir John Sinclairs are not of every day's occurrence." So, when there are two or more of the same name, in conversation, we pluralize the name, as, the Miss Thompsons; but in addressing letters to them, we pluralize the title; as, " To the Misses Thompson." See Syntax, Rule 6.

e. In familiar expressions, some plural forms of letters are made by means of an apostrophe and s; as " Dot your i's, cross your t's. We write, however, the Ayes and Noes.

87. a. Other words are used only in the plural; as the following:

b. 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.' 1." 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."

88. With regard to the words conics, ethics, mathematics, optics, physics, pneumatics, politics, and other similar names of sciences, good writers are much divided. Analogy would recommend a plural construction, but modern usage prefers a singular verb; as, "Mathematics is the science;" or, by giving the clause a different construction; as, "The science of Mathematics is intended." Politics has generally a plural verb. With all these words, in whatever number the verb is considered, the pronouns must correspond.

Person.

LESSON 18.

89. a. Nouns have three persons, the first, the second, and the third.

b. 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.

90. a. Case is either the form or state of a noun or pronoun, to express the relation which it bears to another word.

b. 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.

91. Nouns have three cases, the Nominative, the Possessive, and the Objective.

92. The Nominative expresses the name of the person or thing which acts, or which is the subject of discourse.

93. a. 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's.

John, poss.

b. 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.

c. 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. As the sign's was never a contraction of the pronoun his, such vulgarisms as “ John his book" have long ceased to be employed by good writers.

94. a. 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."

b. When a noun does anything it is called the agent, and when something is done to it, it is called the object.

c. In substantives, the nominative and objective cases are the same in form, being distinguishable from each other only by their situation; thus,

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 :·

:

95 a. To decline a noun, means to name or write its cases and numbers.

d." 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.

e. 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?" Answer, John;" therefore John is the nominative case.

f. 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.

3.-ADJECTIVES.

LESSON 19.

96. a. An Adjective denotes the quality, size, shape, colour, number, quantity, or any other property or accident of a noun; as, 66 A good man;" a bad heart;"" large hill;" "a square table;" "the green grass;' horses;" ""much noise."

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b. Adjective is a term derived from adjectus, signifying something added to something else. Thus, an adjective has always a noun either expressed or understood.

c. English adjectives are not varied on account of the gender, number, or case of the nouns to which they are annexed; thus, we say "A good boy;" "a good girl;"" good boys ;' ;" "good girls."

d. An adjective may sometimes be known by its making sense with the addition of the word thing; as, "a good thing," "a bad thing;" also by answering the question, What sort of? thus, "What sort of a thing is it?" Answer, good, bad; the words, good, bad, are therefore adjectives.

97. Adjectives are either Common, Proper, or Numeral.

98. a. Common Adjectives denote the ordinary qualities, properties, or accidents of the nouns to which they are prefixed; as, good, bad, large, square, green.

b. Compound adjectives are such as are composed of two or more primitive words, connected by a hyphen (-); as, “ Nut-brown ale;” “Party-spirit zeal." c. Participial or Verbal adjectives (ending in ing or ed, except when irregular), retain the property of the verb, but reject the notion of time; as, “a running stream," "an agitated mind."

99. Proper adjectives are such as are derived from proper names; as, English from England; Ciceronian from Cicero.

100. Numeral adjectives distinguish the number or order of beings or things. They are of two kinds, Car

dinal and Ordinal.

101. a. The Cardinal express a number absolutely ; as, one, two, three, four, five, &c.

b. The Ordinal denote the order or succession in which any number of persons or things is mentioned; as, first, second, third, fourth, &c.

c. The Multiplicative express how many times one thing exceeds another; as, double, twofold; treble, threefold, &c.

d. Cardinal adjectives are so called, because they are, as it were, the hinge (cardo) on which the ordinals turn.

e. Numerals are a kind of definitives, as they define or limit the signification of their substantives.