words, so called, because the one denotes a substance, or an object, and the other an attribute.

4. It will be seen, moreover, that an attribute, when regarded as an independent existence, that is, when abstracted from the object to which it belongs, becomes an object of itself. The name of such an attribute is a noun, and is usually derived from the word denoting the attribute; as, good, good-ness, bright, bright-ness.

5. Whenever a word, syllable, letter, or symbol of any kind is spoken of as an object, it must be regarded as a noun; as, “We is a personal pronoun. "Un is a prefix." "A is a vowel.” addition." " is a comma."

is the sign of

6. So, again, when a phrase, or a clause of a sentence, is used to denote an object, it becomes a noun; as, "To see the sun is pleasant." "That you have wronged me doth appear in this."

7. The noun is often called a substantive. All phrases or clauses, when used as nouns, and even pronouns, are called substantives.

36. Proper and Common Nouns.

1. Nouns are divided into two classes-proper and common. 2. A proper noun is the name of an individual object; as, James, Erie.

3. A common noun is a name which applies to each individual of a class of objects; as, man, boy, house.

4. As a proper noun denotes simply an individual by itself, whenever it is made to represent an individual as belonging to a class, it becomes a common noun; as, "He is the Cicero of his age," i. e., a distinguished orator. Still, when the same name, as Thomas, happens to be given to several persons, but to each individually, it is as truly a proper name, as though it had been given to one alone.

66

5. Common nouns, on the contrary, may become proper, when, by personification, or special use, the object named is regarded as an individual, not belonging to a class; as, "O Justice, thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason." "The Common." 66 Park." (See Introduction, Lesson XV.)

'The

6. Under the head of common nouns are commonly reckoned collective, abstract, and verbal nouns.

7. A collective noun is one which, in the singular, denotes more than one object; as, army, family, flock.

8. An abstract noun is the name of a quality or an action, considered

An abstract attribute. Symbols and letters used as objects. Substantive. Nouns, proper and common. Collective and abstract nouns.

apart from the object to which it belongs; as, goodness, virtue, wisdom,

movement..

9. A verbal noun is a participle used as a noun; as, "He was convicted of stealing."

10. The infinitive is a kind of verbal noun; as, "To see the sun is pleasant."

37. Exercise.

1. Tell which of the following words designate objects and which properties; then select the nouns :

Horse, old, good, peach, vine, heavy, hard, strong, hill, star, empty, ocean, hilly, wright, William, European, engine, road, stile, rose, upright, smoke, balloon, oyster, sea, chariot, wild, hungry.

2. Select the nouns from the following sentence:

As soon as the sun was seen coming over the hills, the farmer aroused the laborers from slumber, who, with their scythes on their shoulders, and pitchforks in their hands, marched gayly to the field to begin the labors of the day.

3. Tell which of the following nouns are common, and which are proper :— Posterity, virtue, Rome, tea, Nero, Cicero, Germany, Paris, pomp, sunshine, meadow, Pekin, gulf, Medici, astronomy, Darius, father, calico, London, dungeon, district, Japan.

4. Tell which of the following common nouns are abstract, which are collective, which are verbal :

Army, tasting, goodness, heat, harmless, rising, sailing, wisdom, flock, wonder, teaching, energy, frankness, freedom, multitude, teething, shutting, dulness, company.

5. Change the following names of properties into abstract nouns :— Good, cheerful, diligent, rapid, dark, strong, heavy, lovely, brilliant, beautiful, flaming, brave, swift, solid, easy. Thus, good ness.

6. Write the names of fifteen objects in this room. Select all the nouns from page in your Reader. (Let the teacher assign the page.)

7. Fill the blanks in the following examples with nouns of your own selection:

38. Properties of Nouns.

To nouns belong the properties of person, number, gender, and

case.

39. Person of Nouns.

1. Person is that property of a noun or pronoun which shows the relation of the speaker to the object (35, 2) spoken of.

2. The object spoken of may be, (1.) the speaker himself, (2.) the person spoken to, or (3.) a party neither speaking, nor spoken to, but merely spoken of. Hence

3. There are three persons-the first, second, and third.

4. The first person denotes the speaker; as, "I, John, saw these things."

5. The second person denotes the person spoken to; as, "Children, obey your parents."

as,

6. The third person denotes the person or thing spoken of; "Thomas did not come." “The harvest is abundant.”

7. Person, as a property of the noun or pronoun, should be carefully distinguished from person, as used in common language to denote an intelligent being. It denotes, in Grammar, a personal or party relation, that is, the relation of the party speaking to the party spoken of, whether the latter happen to be the speaker himself, the hearer, or any other object.

8. These relations of person, though truly attributes of the noun, are never indicated by any change of the word, but are properly represented by personal pronouns, a class of words made to take the place of nouns for this express purpose.

9. Nouns in the first or second person are never used as the subject or object of a verb, but may be put in apposition with either, for the purpose of explanation; as, "I, Paul, beseech you."

10. The names of inanimate objects are in the second person, when the objects to which they apply are spoken to. Objects thus addressed are personified, and are treated as though they were actual hearers; as, "And I have loved thee, Ocean."

40. Exercise.

1. Tell the person of the nouns in the following sentences:

Nero was a tyrant. Children, obey your parents. Philip, thou art a

Properties of nouns. Person, first, second, third.

man. Delays are dangerous. His praise, ye brooks, attune. The ferryman took us safely across the river. Keep thy heart with all diligence. King Philip was the last of the Wampanoags. "Let my country be thine," said his preserver. Babylon, how art thou fallen! I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit.

2. Fill the blanks in the following expressions; tell the person of the noun or pronoun inserted:

1. Number is that property of a noun (or pronoun) which distinguishes one object from more than one.

2. Nouns have two numbers-the singular and the plural.

3. The singular number denotes but one object; as, horse, river, nation.

4. The plural denotes more than one object; as, horses, rivers, nations. (See Introduction. Lesson XVI.)

42. Regular Formation of the Plural.

1. The plural of nouns is regularly formed,

(a.) By adding s, when the singular ends with a sound that can unite or coalesce with s; as, book, books; tree, trees,—

(b.) By adding es, when the singular ends with a sound that cannot coalesce with s; as, box, boxes; church, churches.

2. When es is added, s has the sound of z; as, fox, foxes; when s only is added, it has the sound of z when it unites or coalesces with a vowel; as, folio, folios; flea, fleas. It follows the rule (13, 3) for the combination of consonants, when it follows a consonant; that is, it is s aspirate when it unites with an aspirate; as, hat, hats; cap, caps; surf, surfs; clock, clocks; it is s subvocal (or 2) when it follows a subvocal; as, lad, lads ; log, logs; ball, balls; farm, farms; fan, fans; war, wars.

Number. Singular, Plural. Plurals regularly formed. Added syllable.

Sound of 8.

3. The s or es adds a syllable when it does not coalesce with the final syllable of the singular; as, church, church-es; race, rac-es; cage, cag-es. The s or es does not add a syllable when it does coalesce with the final syllable; as, work, works; echo, echoes.

43. Irregular Formation of the Plural.

1. When the final s, contrary to the rule (42, 2), is subvocal, after the aspirate sounds f, fe, the ƒ must be changed (13, 3) into its correlative v; as, loaf, loaves; life, lives; sheaf, sheaves; thief, thieves. When s is aspirate, as in the plural of dwarf, brief, scarf, reef, chief, grief, kerchief, handkerchief, gulf, surf, turf, serf, proof, hoof, roof, safe, fife, strife, the f is not changed. Staff, when meaning a stick, has staves for its plural; when meaning a set of officers, it has staffs. The plural of wharf, in the United States, is wharves; in England, wharfs.

2. The s added to th aspirate is also subvocal (except in truth, youth, and, it may be, a few others), and would cause a similar change in the orthography of the plural, were not the correlative (6.) also represented by th; as, oath, oaths; bath, baths.

3. Most nouns ending in o, preceded by a consonant, add es, notwithstanding s alone would coalesce with o (42, 1); as, cargo, cargoes. Zero, canto, grotto, quarto, junto, duodecimo, octavo, solo, portico, tyro, halo, add only s. Yet by some writers es is added. Nouns ending in o, preceded by a vowel, follow the general rule; as, folio, folios; cameo, cameos.

4. Nouns ending in y, preceded by a consonant (25, 4), change y into ies; as, glory, glories; mercy, mercies. Formerly, these words in the singular, ended in ie; as, glorie, mercie; their plurals were then formed regularly. Nouns ending in y, preceded by a vowel, form the plural regularly; as, day, days; key, keys.

5. The following plurals are very irregular; as, man, men; woman, women; ox, oxen; goose, geese; child, children; foot, feet; louse, lice; mouse, mice; cow, formerly kine, but now regular, cows; tooth, teeth.

6. Some nouns have both a regular and an irregular plural, but the two forms have usually different significations; as, brother, brothers (of the same family); brethren (of the same society); die, dies (stamps); dice (cubes used in gaming); genius, geniuses (men of genius); genii (spirits); index, indexes (tables of reference); indices (signs in algebra); pea, peas (distinct seeds); pease (quantity); penny, pennies (coins); pence (a sum, or value).

7. Names of substances, and most abstract nouns, commonly have no plural form; as, gold, cider, flax, milk, tar, goodness, darkness. When dif

Plural irregularly formed. Nouns ending in ƒ, fe,—in th,-in o,—in y. Man, woman, &c. Brother, die &c. Names of substances.