object or more than one.
A =singular= noun denotes one object.
A =plural= noun denotes more than one object.
Nouns form their plural =regularly= by adding _s_ or _es_ to the singular.
Many nouns form their plural =irregularly=.
=Exercise 1.=—Tell the plural of each of the following nouns. Tell how it
is formed. Consult the dictionary when you are in doubt.
alto
apostrophe
box
brush
calf
chromo
crisis
cupful
deer
Dutchman
elf
enemy
fez
fife
foot
German
half
hero
hoof
lasso
lioness
loaf
monkey
motto
mouse
negro
noose
Norman
oasis
piano
pony
sheaf
size
soprano
tableau
tooth
vertebra
volcano
wharf
court-martial
Dr. Wright
eyelash
flagstaff
General Allen
hanger-on
jack-in-the-pulpit
Miss Davis
passer-by
postmaster general
will-o’-the-wisp
=Exercise 2.=—Select all the nouns in the following sentences, and tell
whether they are singular or plural. Give the singular of each plural
word, and the plural of each singular word.
1. Listen! In yonder pine woods what a cawing of crows!
2. A washstand in the corner, a chest of carved mahogany
drawers, a looking-glass in a filigree frame, and a high-backed
chair studded with brass nails like a coffin constituted the
furniture.
3. There have always been medicine men, rain makers, wizards,
conjurers, sorcerers, astrologers, and fortune tellers, ready
to trade on the fears of the weak, the ignorant, and the
superstitious.
4. April brought the blue scylla and the sweet violet; May
brought the much-loved narcissus and lily of the valley.
5. In came the three Miss Fezziwigs, beaming and lovable.
6. People hardly ever do know where to be born until it is too
late.
7. The bell in the church tower was striking six, but I
undressed for the night and buried myself under the bedclothes.
8. As it fell out, the three princesses were talking one night
of whom they would marry.
9. Poor Mrs. Wise! I’m sure she’s to be pitied, living here
with all these grandchildren.
10. As soon as Pussy heard me shut the gate in the yard at
noon, when school was done, she would run up the stairs as hard
as she could go.
11. The puppy’s nightly couch was outside the stable, even
during the coldest weather.
12. The fish, strange creatures called groupers, with great
sluggish bodies and horribly human faces, come crowding up to
be fed.
13. What a hardy set of men they were, those Northmen of old!
14. The streams that have entered into our American life come
from springs very wide apart,—from the Puritan whom James I was
persecuting, and from the courtiers whom he was patronizing;
from the Dutchmen whom Charles II was fighting, and from the
Covenanters whom he was trying to convert at the pistol’s
point; from the Scotchmen who had captured the north of
Ireland, and from the Huguenots who had been driven out of the
south of France.
What is the use of _listen_, sentence 1, _furniture_, 2, _horribly_, 12?
How are the adjectives _weak_, _ignorant_, and _superstitious_ used in
sentence 3?
XXIX. NOUNS: GENDER
=107.= One of the characteristics of living things is sex; that is, all
living things are male or female. Many nouns that are names of living
things indicate sex. The noun _king_ indicates the male sex. The noun
_queen_ indicates the female sex. The property of a noun by which it
indicates the sex of the object named is called =gender=.
=108.= Since there are two sexes, there must be at least two genders.
Nouns that indicate the male sex are said to be of the =masculine=
gender; as, _hero_, _grandfather_.
Nouns that indicate the female sex are said to be of the =feminine=
gender; as, _hen_, _tigress_, _sister_.
Note that sex, male or female, refers to a distinction, or difference,
in the living creatures themselves, while gender is merely a property
of their names that shows this distinction. It is absurd, therefore, to
speak of a person of the masculine gender, but it is allowable to speak
of masculine qualities, masculine attire, a masculine voice, etc.
=109.= Since things without life have no sex, the nouns that name such
things have no gender; as, _sky_, _tent_, _pie_. Such words are said to
be of the =neuter= gender. _Neuter_ means _neither_.
=110.= Some nouns that may be applied to persons of either male or female
sex are said to be of =common= gender; as, _child_, _cousin_, _parent_,
_clerk_.
=111.= Gender is denoted in three ways:—
(1) By a pair of words; as, _man_, _woman_; _bull_, _cow_; _lad_, _lass_.
(2) By inflection, that is, by adding a syllable to the masculine noun
to form the feminine; as, _hero_, _heroine_; _lion_, _lioness_; _host_,
_hostess_.
What can you say of the words _widow_ and _widower_?
(3) By prefixing a word whose gender is well known; as, _bull moose_,
_maidservant_, _she bear_.
NOTE. —Some feminine nouns are going out of use. We no longer
use the words _poetess_ or _authoress_. If a woman preaches,
she is a minister; if she practices medicine, she is a doctor,
not a “lady doctor.”
=Summary.=—=Gender= is that property of a noun which indicates the sex or
non-sex of the object named.
There are four genders:—
A noun of the =masculine gender= indicates the male sex.
A noun of the =feminine gender= indicates the female sex.
A noun of the =neuter gender= indicates the absence of sex.
A noun of =common gender= may indicate either the male or the female sex.
Gender is denoted (1) by different words, (2) by inflection, (3) by
prefixing some gender word.
=Exercise.=—Tell the gender of each noun in the following sentences. Tell
how its gender is denoted. If you are in doubt about any word, consult
the dictionary.
1. The she wolf lay agonizing in the darkest corner of the
cave, licking in grim silence the raw stump of her right
foreleg.
2. The wild goose winging at the head of the V knew of good
feeding grounds near by, which he was ready to revisit.
3. Not vague was the fear of the brooding grouse in the far-off
thicket, though the sound came to her but dimly.
4. At the captain’s signal the _Seabird_ came alongside, and
Mr. Wintermute left Mrs. Howe and her little family to go on
their journey alone.
5. Having sniffed the air for several minutes, without
discerning anything to interest him, the great bull moose
bethought him of his evening meal.
6. Here on the ridge a buck, with his herd of does and fawns,
has established his winter “yard.”
7. Without a second’s hesitation the cow flung up her tail,
gave a short bellow, and charged the bear.
8. Another thing that attracts attention is the animals
tethered here, there, and everywhere. You see donkeys, goats,
cows, even cats, hens, and turkeys, confined by the inevitable
tether.
9. Never before since the nestlings broke the shell had her
mate been so long away.
10. The pupils never entered the study except upon the most
formal occasions.
11. A fine cock grouse alighted on a log some forty paces
distant, stretched himself, strutted, spread his ruff and wings
and tail, and was about to begin drumming.
12. Pedestrians walk where they will, here, there, or yonder.
13. Several men-of-war, with a multitude of smaller craft, are
at anchor in Grassy Bay, and the admiral’s ship is lying on the
great floating dock for repairs.
14. Some civilians are buried here, and many little children;
and I came upon a pathetic memorial to a fair young English
wife, who followed her soldier husband hither with her little
child, only to die on these far-off shores.
15. Any animal that had died from natural causes the wolves
would not touch, and they even rejected anything that had been
killed by the stockmen. Their choice and daily food was the
tenderer part of a freshly killed yearling heifer. An old bull
or cow they disdained, and though they occasionally took a
young calf or colt, it was quite clear that veal or horseflesh
was not their favorite diet. It was also known that they were
not fond of mutton, although they often amused themselves by
killing sheep.
XXX. POSSESSIVE NOUNS
=112.= Instead of saying, “I borrowed the knife belonging to Will,” we
are likely to say, “I borrowed Will’s knife.” Here we have a new form of
the noun _Will_. It is used with the noun _knife_ to denote ownership of
the knife, and is called a =possessive= noun.
=113.= Since a possessive noun denotes ownership, it must be used with
another noun, the name of the thing owned. The possessive noun is said to
modify this other noun. In the expression _doctor’s car_, the possessive
noun _doctor’s_ modifies the noun _car_.
When the name of the thing owned is well known, it is often omitted. We
say, “I bought these skates at Percy’s,” and omit the word _store_. A
word omitted in this way is said to be “understood.”
=114.= Possessive nouns have a certain form of their own. The possessive
singular of a noun is formed by adding to it the apostrophe and _s_; as,
_girl’s_ desk; _friend’s_ home; _George’s_ boat.
NOTE.—In a few common expressions, like _for Jesus’ sake_, _for
conscience’ sake_, the possessive is formed, for the sake of
euphony, by adding merely the apostrophe.
When the plural of a noun ends in _s_, the possessive plural is formed by
adding an apostrophe; as, _girls’_ league; _ladies’_ bonnets.
When the plural of a noun does not end in _s_, the possessive plural is
formed by adding the apostrophe and _s_; as, _women’s_ shoes; _oxen’s_
yokes.
=115.= When two persons are joint owners of one thing, we give the
possessive form to the name of the second person only; as, _Lewis and
Fred’s_ boat.
When two persons own separate things, the name of each person must have
the possessive form; as, I went to _Mandel’s_ and _Field’s_, meaning two
different stores.
=116.= Compound nouns form the possessive by adding the sign of
possession to the last word; as, singular, _son-in-law’s_; plural,
_sons-in-law’s_.
=117.= The possessive noun does not always express actual ownership.
Thus, “an _hour’s_ walk” means a walk lasting an hour, “_Lowell’s_
poems,” means the poems written by Lowell, “a _child’s_ grief” means the
grief felt by a child. What is the meaning of _the day’s work_? _a good
night’s rest_? _a year’s vacation_? _the king’s death_?
=118.= Possession may be denoted by a phrase beginning with the
preposition _of_. This phrase is much used. We say _the back of the
chair_, not _the chair’s back_; _the roots of the elm_, not _the elm’s
roots_. This phrase enables us to avoid some awkward possessives. What
may we say instead of _my cousin’s wife’s sister_? _the king of Greece’s
court_?
=119.= In the expression “this book of John’s,” we have what is called a
=double possessive=, for we have the possessive noun _John’s_, and the
phrase introduced by _of_. We use the double possessive when the noun
denoting the thing owned is first modified by some adjective, as _a_,
_the_, _this_, _every_, _both_, _no_.
=Summary.=—A =possessive noun= denotes ownership.
A possessive noun modifies another noun, expressed or understood.
The possessive singular is formed by adding the apostrophe and _s_.
The possessive plural is formed by adding the apostrophe and _s_ if the
noun does not end in _s_, and the apostrophe alone if the noun does end
in _s_.
A =double possessive= is a phrase consisting of the preposition _of_
followed by some possessive word.
=Exercise 1.=—Write the possessive of each of these nouns. Tell whether
it is singular or plural.
attorney-general
chairman
city
colonies
Colonel Cleveland
commander in chief
Charles Dickens
daughters-in-law
dwarfs
foxes
geese
goddess
groomsman
Frenchman
John Keats
ladies
major generals
Miss James
mulatto
sailor boy
thief
witches
woodpecker
yeoman
=Exercise 2.=—Select all the possessive nouns in the following sentences.
Tell what nouns they modify, and whether they are singular or plural.
Tell also the gender of each possessive.
1. The lady’s fondness and the gentleman’s blindness were
topics ably handled at every sewing circle in the town.
2. St. Paul’s is the largest Protestant church in the world.
3. Last year’s nuts are this year’s black earth.
4. On the way home we stopped at the baker’s to get some cream
puffs.
5. Every debt of my partner’s has been paid.
6. The woodsman’s aim was true.
7. The singers’ seats, where the pretty girls sat, were the
most conspicuous of all.
8. A half hour’s tramp through difficult woods brought him to
the nearest of the waters.
9. In August we had two weeks’ vacation.
10. This editorial of Roosevelt’s is attracting much attention.
11. Sulphur they could buy at the apothecary’s.
12. The horse is coal-black, which is the regulation color of
the Horse-Guards’ horses.
13. My clothes and my father’s were packed in a little leather
valise.
14. The backwoodsman cast a tender look on the sleepers’ faces,
and slipped out of the cabin door as silently as a shadow.
15. Just where we leave the highway to go to Gibbs’s Hill we
pass a ruined house.
16. He had melted up his wife’s gold thimble and his
great-grandfather’s gold-bowed spectacles.
17. I called on Nancy because she was a friend of Miss Davis’s.
18. Can you give a traveler a night’s lodging?
19.
When beechen buds begin to swell,
And woods the bluebird’s warble know,
The yellow violet’s modest bell
Peeps from the last year’s leaves below.
Analyze sentences 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 16.
XXXI. NOUNS: CASE
=120.= We have seen that a noun may be used in different relations to
other words in the sentence. It may be related to a verb, for instance,
as subject, as object, and as subjective complement. That property of
a noun which shows its relation to some other word in the sentence is
called =case=.
=121.= The three most important and striking relations that a noun may
bear are these: subject of a verb, object of a verb, and possessive
modifier. Hence there are three cases.
When a noun is the subject of a verb, we say that it is in the
=nominative= case.
When it is the object of a verb, we say that it is in the =objective=
case.
When it is a possessive modifier, we say that it is in the =possessive=
case.
The pronoun has the same three cases as a noun.
=122.= A noun is said to be =declined= when we give its three case forms
in both the singular and the plural number.
DECLENSION OF _child_
_Singular_ _Plural_
_Nom._ child children
_Poss._ child’s children’s
_Obj._ child children
=123.= The noun in the nominative case is used in other relations besides
that of subject of a verb. The subjective complement is in the nominative
case, as well as the noun used independently.
When a noun is object of a preposition, it is in the objective case.
=Summary.=—=Case= is that property of a noun or a pronoun which shows its
relation to some other word in the sentence.
There are three cases.
A noun used as subject of a verb, as subjective complement, as an
exclamatory noun, or as a term of address is in the =nominative case=.
A noun used as object of a verb or of a preposition is in the =objective
case=.
A noun used as a possessive modifier is in the =possessive case=.
=Declension= is the arrangement of the three case forms of a noun in the
two numbers.
=Exercise.=—Tell the use, the case, the number, and the gender of every
noun in these sentences.
1. The chill glitter of the northern summer sunrise was washing
down over the rounded top of old Sugar Loaf.
2. Thank him according to our customs, Mowgli.
3. What a good draught the nag takes!
4. Alas! Kitty Clover, they say it is wicked; that I must not
catch grasshoppers for a pussy cat on Sunday.
5. Why doesn’t your mother make a fresh cup of coffee?
6. We might shovel off the snow, and dig down to some of last
year’s onions.
7. Pilgrim fathers! why should we not glorify the pilgrim
mothers?
8. What did Peterson Sahib mean by the elephant dance?
9. The boy is the shoemaker’s friend.
10.
Mistress Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
11. I didn’t ask the captain’s leave when I attended this
ceremony, for I had a general idea that he wouldn’t give it.
12. Cæsar is certainly the handsomest and most gentlemanly cat
I ever saw.
13. How was the Princess’s nose ring the cause of your
misfortune?
14.
Comrade, where wilt thou be to-night.
When the loosed storm breaks furiously?
15. Indeed all the really pretty girls that you see are
Americans.
16. When I opened the goldfinch’s door on the morning of the
blackbird’s arrival, he paid no attention to his beloved
bath, but instantly flew over and alighted on the cage of the
newcomer.
17. These ten cows knew their names after a while, and would
take their places as I called them.
18. Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, was
Scrooge.
19.
O time and change! how strange it seems
With so much gone to still live on!
XXXII. NOUNS: THE APPOSITIVE
=124.= It is frequently necessary to explain some term we use, and there
is a convenient way for doing this without making a new sentence. For
instance, an author writes, “One of these buildings belongs to the Horse
Guards.” Then, for fear we may not know who the Horse Guards are, he adds
these explanatory words, “a very fine body of English cavalry.”
This group of words consists of the noun _body_ used as a base word,
modified by the prepositional phrase _of English cavalry_, the adjective
element _very fine_, and the article _a_. The whole group is placed
beside the term it explains, and is separated from it by a comma. Such
a group of words is called an =appositive=, and the base word _body_ is
called =a noun in apposition=.
=125.= Sometimes we explain who a person is by using his name; as, “I
heard your friend, _John Richards_, say that he was going to write to
you.”
Sometimes the name of a person or animal or place is used first, and then
explained by a group of words; as, “Akela, _the great gray Lone Wolf_,
lay out at full length on his rock.”
=126.= The appositive and the term it explains are in reality two names
for the same person or thing. You might think that either one could be
called the appositive, but this is not so. It is the explanatory term
that is the appositive, and this is the second of the two terms.
=127.= Sometimes, when there is no danger of any misunderstanding, the
appositive comes at a little distance from the word it modifies; as,
“Splendid buildings meet our eyes at every turn,—churches, private
residences, places of business, and public edifices.” Can you account for
this arrangement?
=128.= Sometimes an appositive has been used so long with the word it
modifies that the two have become united into one name; as, Peter the
Hermit, Peter the Great, William the Conqueror. Such an appositive is not
set off by a comma.
NOTE.—In the term Peter the Great, the adjective _great_ has
become a noun, and is modified by the adjective _the_.
=129.= When ownership is to be denoted, the sign of possession is added
to the appositive instead of to the term that it explains; as, “The poet
Milton’s daughter,” “Mr. Taft, the president’s, cow,” “My friend Julia’s
husband.”
=Summary.=—An =appositive= is a word or a group of words placed after a
term to explain it.
When the base word of an appositive is a noun, it is called a =noun in
apposition=.
The case of a noun in apposition is the same as that of the noun it
explains.
An appositive is a modifier of a noun or a pronoun.
An appositive is set off from the rest of the sentence by commas unless
it makes one term with the word it modifies.
=Exercise.=—Select all the appositives in the following sentences, and
tell what they modify. Find the nouns in apposition. Tell the case of
each, giving the reason in each instance. Analyze sentences 1, 2, 3, 5,
6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16.
1. Alfred the Great loved books and strangers and travelers.
2. In the neatest, sandiest hole of all lived Benjamin’s aunt
and his cousins,—Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter.
3. The conversation turned to rheumatism, a subject of very
remote interest to Polly.
4. My son William became a telegraph operator before he was
seventeen.
5. James II, the bigoted successor of Charles I, had annulled
the charters of all the colonies.
6. The geography lesson that day was the rivers of Asia,—the
Obi, Yenisei, Lena, Amoor, Hoang Ho, and Yang-tse-kiang.
7. Some writers tell us that Edward the Confessor had made a
will appointing Duke William his successor.
8. Foremost among the envious ones was the Princess Panka, the
daughter of a neighboring king.
9. Close to Charing Cross is Trafalgar Square, a fine open
space with a fountain, and a column to Lord Nelson.
10. The body of Warwick the kingmaker was exposed for three
days on the pavement of St. Paul’s, and then deposited among
the ashes of his fathers in the abbey of Bilsam.
11. The pass was crowned with dense, dark forest,—deodar,
walnut, wild cherry, wild olive, and wild pear.
12. Kaa, the big Rock Python, had changed his skin for perhaps
the two hundredth time since his birth.
13. Eric the Red, a wandering Norseman who was dwelling in
Iceland, went to sea and discovered Greenland.
14. There are so many things to distract a boy’s attention,—a
chipmunk in the fence, a bird on a near tree, and a henhawk
circling high in the air over the barnyard.
15. Very soundly it slept, that doomed hare crouching under the
fir bush!
16. They had never been accounted for, Rebecca’s eyes.
XXXIII. APPOSITIVE ADJECTIVES
=130.= Adjectives are not always placed before the noun they modify. When
they are used as subjective complements, they follow the verb, although
they modify the subject; as, “Life is _real_,” “The air seems _moist_.”
We also find many sentences like the following, “The camel, restless and
weary, groans and occasionally shows his teeth.”
Here it is evident that the adjectives _restless_ and _weary_ are in the
sentence to describe the camel; hence they modify the noun _camel_; but
instead of preceding this noun, they follow it. Because of their position
such adjectives are called =appositive adjectives=.
=131.= An appositive adjective is usually set off by a comma or commas.
It is frequently modified by a phrase, as in the expressions, “restless
under his heavy load,” “weary with the long journey.”
=Summary.=—An adjective with or without modifiers may be used as an
appositive.
An appositive adjective is usually set off from the rest of the sentence
by a comma.
=Exercise.=—Select all the appositive adjectives in these sentences, and
tell what they modify. Give the modifiers of each adjective. Account for
the punctuation. Analyze sentences 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12.
1. His tunic, scarlet in color, is of the softest woolen fabric.
2. The skirt drops to the knee in folds heavy with embroidery.
3. Grandfather Nutter was a hale, cheery old gentleman, as
straight and as bald as an arrow.
4. The pink rose, dear for its old associations, was
transplanted to a sunny place close by the south door.
5. Presently the Colonel came in, bluff, warm, and hearty.
6. From the other window one saw the distant forest, so deep,
black, and mysterious.
7. The April night, softly chill and full of the sense of thaw,
was closing down over the wide salt marshes!
8. Presently, from far along the dark heights of the sky, came
voices, hollow, musical, confused.
9. Here is a foot passenger, dusty and tired, who comes with
lagging steps.
10. There is no nation known to history in which all citizens,
male and female, old and young, native and foreign born, have
had the suffrage.
11. Ginger hurried off into the darkness, wild with excitement.
12. The chief engineer entered the smoking room for a moment,
red, smiling, and wet.
XXXIV. INDIRECT OBJECT
=132.= We have seen that the direct object names the receiver of the
action asserted by the verb. In the sentence, “Kotuko made his dog a
tiny harness,” the direct object of the verb _made_ is a _tiny harness_,
for this group of words tells what received the making, and answers the
question _made what?_
If we go further and ask the question, _made a harness for what?_ the
answer is, _his dog_. This group of words is called the indirect object.
It names the receiver of the direct object; that is, the dog received the
harness.