Chapter III: Nouns (2)

OBS. 26.--Nouns have, in some instances, a unity or plurality of meaning, which seems to be directly at variance with their form. Thus, _cattle_, for beasts of pasture, and _pulse_, for peas and beans, though in appearance singulars only, are generally, if not always, plural; and _summons, gallows, chintz, series, superficies, molasses, suds, hunks, jakes, trapes_, and _corps_, with the appearance of plurals, are generally, if not always, singular. Dr. Webster says that _cattle_ is of both numbers; but wherein the oneness of cattle can consist, I know not. The Bible says, "God made--_cattle after their kind_."--_Gen._, i, 25. Here _kind_ is indeed singular, as if _cattle_ were a natural genus of which one must be _a cattle_; as _sheep_ are a natural genus of which one is _a sheep_: but whether properly expressed so or not, is questionable; perhaps it ought to be, "and cattle after their _kinds_." Dr. Gillies says, in his History of Greece, "_cattle was regarded_ as the most convenient _measure_ of value." This seems to me to be more inaccurate and unintelligible, than to say, "_Sheep was regarded_ as the most convenient _measure_ of value." And what would this mean? _Sheep_ is not singular, unless limited to that number by some definitive word; and _cattle_ I conceive to be incapable of any such limitation.

OBS. 27.--Of the last class of words above cited, some may assume an additional _es_, when taken plurally; as, _summonses, gallowses, chintses_: the rest either want the plural, or have it seldom and without change of form. _Corps_, a body of troops, is a French word, which, when singular, is pronounced _c=ore_, and when plural, _c=ores_. But _corpse_, a dead body, is an English word, pronounced _k~orps_, and making the plural in two syllables, _corpses_. _Summonses_ is given in Cobb's Dictionary as the plural of _summons_; but some authors have used the latter with a plural verb: as, "But Love's first _summons_ seldom _are_ obey'd."--_Waller's Poems_, p. 8. Dr. Johnson says this noun is from the verb _to summon_; and, if this is its origin, the singular ought to be _a summon_, and then _summons_ would be a regular plural. But this "singular noun with a plural termination," as Webster describes it, more probably originated from the Latin verb _submoneas_, used in the writ, and came to us through the jargon of law, in which we sometimes hear men talk of "_summonsing_ witnesses." The authorities for it, however, are good enough; as, "_This_ present _summons_."--SHAK.: _Joh. Dict._ "_This summons_ he resolved to disobey."--FELL: _ib._ _Chints_ is called by Cobb a "substantive _plural_" and defined as "cotton _cloths_, made in India;" but other lexicographers define it as singular, and Worcester (perhaps more properly) writes it _chintz_. Johnson cites Pope as speaking of "_a charming chints_," and I have somewhere seen the plural formed by adding es. "Of the Construction of single Words, or _Serieses_ of Words."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 114. Walker, in his Elements of Elocution, makes frequent use of the word "_serieses_," and of the phrase "_series of serieses_." But most writers, I suppose, would doubt the propriety of this practice; because, in Latin, all nouns of the fifth declension, such as _caries, congeries, series, species, superficies_, make their nominative and vocative cases alike in both numbers. This, however, is no rule for writing English. Dr. Blair has used the word _species_ in a plural sense; though I think he ought rather to have preferred the regular English word _kinds_: "The higher _species_ of poetry seldom _admit_ it."--_Rhet._, p. 403. _Specie_, meaning hard money, though derived or corrupted from _species_, is not the singular of that word; nor has it any occasion for a plural form, because we never speak of _a specie_. The plural of _gallows_, according to Dr. Webster, is _gallowses_; nor is that form without other authority, though some say, _gallows_ is of both numbers and not to be varied: "_Gallowses_ were occasionally put in order by the side of my windows."--_Leigh Hunt's Byron_, p. 369.

"Who would not guess there might be hopes,
The fear of _gallowses_ and ropes,
Before their eyes, might reconcile
Their animosities a while?"--_Hudibras_, p. 90.

OBS. 28.--Though the plural number is generally derived from the singular, and of course must as generally imply its existence, we have examples, and those not a few, in which the case is otherwise. Some nouns, because they signify such things as nature or art has made plural or double; some, because they have been formed from other parts of speech by means of the plural ending which belongs to nouns; and some, because they are compounds in which a plural word is principal, and put last, are commonly used in the plural number only, and have, in strict propriety, no singular. Though these three classes of plurals may not be perfectly separable, I shall endeavour to exhibit them in the order of this explanation.

1. Plurals in meaning and form: _analects, annals,[144] archives, ashes, assets, billiards, bowels, breeches, calends, cates, chops, clothes, compasses, crants, eaves, embers, estovers, forceps, giblets, goggles, greaves, hards_ or _hurds, hemorrhoids, ides, matins, nippers, nones, obsequies, orgies,[145] piles, pincers_ or _pinchers, pliers, reins, scissors, shears, skittles, snuffers, spectacles, teens, tongs, trowsers, tweezers, umbles, vespers, victuals_.

2. Plurals by formation, derived chiefly from adjectives: _acoustics, aeronautics, analytics, bitters, catoptrics, commons, conics, credentials, delicates, dioptrics, economics, ethics, extraordinaries, filings, fives, freshes, glanders, gnomonics, goods, hermeneutics, hustings, hydrodynamics, hydrostatics, hydraulics, hysterics, inwards, leavings, magnetics, mathematics, measles, mechanics, mnemonics, merils, metaphysics, middlings, movables, mumps, nuptials, optics, phonics, phonetics, physics,[146] pneumatics, poetics, politics, riches, rickets, settlings, shatters, skimmings, spherics, staggers, statics, statistics, stays, strangles, sundries, sweepings, tactics, thanks, tidings, trappings, vives, vitals, wages,[147] withers, yellows_.

3. Plurals by composition: _backstairs, cocklestairs, firearms,[148] headquarters, hotcockles, spatterdashes, self-affairs_. To these may be added the Latin words, _aborigines, antipodes, antes, antoeci, amphiscii, anthropophagi, antiscii, ascii, literati, fauces, regalia_, and _credenda_, with the Italian _vermicelli_, and the French _belles-lettres_ and _entremets_.

OBS. 29.--There are several nouns which are set down by some writers as wanting the singular, and by others as having it. Of this class are the following: _amends,[149] ancients, awns, bots, catacombs, chives, cloves, cresses, dogsears, downs, dregs,[150] entrails, fetters, fireworks, greens, gyves, hatches, intestines, lees,[151] lungs, malanders, mallows, moderns, oats, orts, pleiads, premises, relics, remains, shackles, shambles,[152] stilts, stairs, tares, vetches_. The fact is, that these words have, or ought to have, the singular, as often as there is any occasion to use it; and the same may, in general terms, be said of other nouns, respecting the formation of _the plural_.[153] For where the idea of unity or plurality comes clearly before the mind, we are very apt to shape the word accordingly, without thinking much about the authorities we can quote for it.

OBS. 30.--In general, where both numbers exist in common use, there is some palpable oneness or individuality, to which the article _a_ or _an_ is applicable; the nature of the species is found entire in every individual of it; and a multiplication of the individuals gives rise to plurality in the name. But the nature of a mass, or of an indefinite multitude taken collectively, is not found in individuals as such; nor is the name, whether singular, as _gold_, or plural, as _ashes_, so understood. Hence, though every noun must be of one number or the other, there are many which have little or no need of both. Thus we commonly speak of _wheat, barley, or oats_, collectively; and very seldom find occasion for any other forms of these words. But chafferers at the corn-market, in spite of Cobbett,[154] will talk about _wheats_ and _barleys_, meaning different kinds[155] or qualities; and a gardener, if he pleases, will tell of an _oat_, (as does Milton, in his Lycidas,) meaning a single seed or plant. But, because _wheat_ or _barley_ generally means that sort of grain in mass, if he will mention a single kernel, he must call it a _grain of wheat_ or a _barleycorn_. And these he may readily make plural, to specify any particular number; as, _five grains of wheat_, or _three barleycorns_.

OBS. 31.--My chief concern is with general principles, but the illustration of these requires many particular examples--even far more than I have room to quote. The word _amends_ is represented by Murray and others, as being singular as well as plural; but Webster's late dictionaries exhibit _amend_ as singular, and _amends_ as plural, with definitions that needlessly differ, though not much. I judge "_an amends_" to be bad English; and prefer the regular singular, _an amend_. The word is of French origin, and is sometimes written in English with a needless final _e_; as, "But only to make a kind of honourable _amende_ to God."--_Rollin's Ancient Hist._, Vol. ii, p. 24. The word _remains_ Dr. Webster puts down as plural only, and yet uses it himself in the singular: "The creation of a Dictator, even for a few months, would have buried every _remain_ of freedom."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 70. There are also other authorities for this usage, and also for some other nouns that are commonly thought to have no singular; as, "But Duelling is unlawful and murderous, a _remain_ of the ancient Gothic barbarity."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 26. "I grieve with the old, for so many additional inconveniences, more than their small _remain_ of life seemed destined to undergo."--POPE: _in Joh. Dict._ "A disjunctive syllogism is one whose major _premise_ is disjunctive."--_Hedge's Logic_. "Where should he have this gold? It is some poor fragment, some slender _ort_ of his remainder."--SHAK.: _Timon of Athens_.

OBS. 32.--There are several nouns which are usually alike in both numbers. Thus, _deer, folk, fry, gentry, grouse, hose, neat, sheep, swine, vermin_, and _rest_, (i. e. _the rest_, the others, the residue,) are regular singulars, but they are used also as plurals, and that more frequently. Again, _alms, aloes, bellows, means, news, odds, shambles_, and _species_, are proper plurals, but most of them are oftener construed as singulars. _Folk_ and _fry_ are collective nouns. _Folk_ means _people_; _a folk, a people_: as, "The ants are _a people_ not strong;"--"The conies are but _a feeble folk_."--_Prov._, xxx, 25, 26. "He laid his hands on a few sick _folk_, and healed _them_."--_Mark_, vi, 5. _Folks_, which ought to be the plural of _folk_, and equivalent to _peoples_, is now used with reference to a plurality of individuals, and the collective word seems liable to be entirely superseded by it. A _fry_ is a swarm of young fishes, or of any other little creatures living in water: so called, perhaps, because their motions often make the surface _fry_. Several such swarms might properly be called _fries_; but this form can never be applied to the individuals, without interfering with the other. "So numerous _was the fry_."--_Cowper_. "The _fry betake themselves_ to the neighbouring pools."--_Quarterly Review_. "You cannot think more contemptuously of _these gentry_ than _they_ were thought of by the true prophets."--_Watson's Apology_, p. 93. "_Grouse_, a heathcock."--_Johnson_.

"The 'squires in scorn will fly the house
For better game, and look for _grouse_."--_Swift_.

"Here's an English tailor, come hither for stealing out of _a_ French _hose_."--_Shak_. "He, being in love, could not see to garter his _hose_."--_Id._ Formerly, the plural was _hosen_: "Then these men were bound, in their coats, their _hosen_, and their hats."--_Dan._, iii, 21. Of _sheep_, Shakspeare has used the regular plural: "Two hot _sheeps_, marry!"--_Love's Labour Lost_, Act ii, Sc. 1.

"Who both by his calf and his lamb will be known,
May well kill _a neat_ and _a sheep_ of his own."--_Tusser_.

"His droves of asses, camels, herds of _neat_,
And flocks of _sheep_, grew shortly twice as great."--_Sandys_.

"As a jewel of gold in _a swine's_ snout."--_Prov._, xi, 22. "A herd of _many swine_, feeding."--_Matt._, viii, 30. "An idle person only lives to spend his time, and eat the fruits of the earth, like a _vermin_ or a wolf."--_Taylor_. "The head of a wolf, dried and hanged up, will scare away _vermin_."--_Bacon_. "Cheslip, _a small vermin_ that lies under stones or tiles."--SKINNER: in _Joh. and in Web. Dict._ "This is flour, the _rest is_ bran."--"And the _rest were_ blinded."--_Rom._, xi, 7. "The poor beggar hath a just demand of _an alms_."--_Swift_. "Thine _alms are_ come up for a memorial before God."--_Acts_, x, 4. "The draught of air performed the function of _a bellows_."--_Robertson's Amer._, ii, 223. "As the _bellows do_."--_Bicknell's Gram._, ii, 11. "The _bellows are_ burned."--_Jer._, vi, 29. "Let _a gallows_ be made."--_Esther_, v, 14. "_Mallows are_ very useful in medicine."--_Wood's Dict._ "_News_," says Johnson, "is without the singular, unless it be considered as singular."--_Dict._ "So _is_ good _news_ from a far country."--_Prov._, xxv, 25. "Evil _news rides_ fast, while good _news baits_."--_Milton_. "When Rhea heard _these news_, she fled."--_Raleigh_. "_News were brought_ to the queen."--_Hume's Hist._, iv, 426. "The _news_ I bring _are_ afflicting, but the consolation with which _they_ are attended, ought to moderate your grief."--_Gil Blas_, Vol. ii, p. 20. "Between these two cases there _are_ great _odds_."--_Hooker_. "Where the _odds is_ considerable."--_Campbell_. "Determining on which side the _odds lie_."--_Locke_. "The greater _are the odds_ that he mistakes his author."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 1. "Though thus _an odds_ unequally they meet."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. iv, l. 789. "Preëminent by so _much odds_."--_Milton_. "To make a _shambles_ of the parliament house."--_Shak_. "The earth has been, from the beginning, a great Aceldama, _a shambles_ of blood."--_Christian's Vade-Mecum_, p. 6. "_A shambles_" sounds so inconsistent, I should rather say, "_A shamble_." Johnson says, the etymology of the word is _uncertain_; Webster refers it to the Saxon _scamel_: it means _a butcher's stall, a meat-market_; and there would seem to be no good reason for the _s_, unless more than one such place is intended. "Who sells his subjects to the _shambles_ of a foreign power."--_Pitt_. "A special idea is called by the schools _a species_."--_Watts_. "He intendeth the care of _species_, or common natures."--_Brown_. "ALOE, (al~o) _n.; plu._ ALOES."--_Webster's Dict._, and _Worcester's_. "But it was _aloe_ itself to lose the reward."-- _Tupper's Crock of Gold_, p. 16.

"But high in amphitheatre above,
_His_ arms the everlasting _aloes_ threw."
--_Campbell_, G. of W., ii, 10.

OBS. 33.--There are some nouns, which, though really regular in respect to possessing the two forms for the two numbers, are not free from irregularity in the manner of their application. Thus _means_ is the regular plural of _mean_; and, when the word is put for mediocrity, middle point, place, or degree, it takes both forms, each in its proper sense; but when it signifies things instrumental, or that which is used to effect an object, most writers use _means_ for the singular as well as for the plural:[156] as, "By _this means_"--"By _those means_," with reference to one mediating cause; and, "By _these means_,"--"By _those means_," with reference to more than one. Dr. Johnson says the use of _means_ for _mean_ is not very grammatical; and, among his examples for the true use of the word, he has the following: "Pamela's noble heart would needs gratefully make known the valiant _mean_ of her safety."--_Sidney._ "Their virtuous conversation was a _mean_ to work the heathens' conversion."--_Hooker._ "Whether his wits should by that _mean_ have been taken from him."--_Id._ "I'll devise a _mean_ to draw the Moor out of the way."--_Shak._ "No place will please me so, no _mean_ of death."--_Id._ "Nature is made better by no _mean_, but nature makes that _mean._"--_Id._ Dr. Lowth also questioned the propriety of construing _means_ as singular, and referred to these same authors as authorities for preferring the regular form. Buchanan insists that _means_ is right in the plural only; and that, "The singular should be used as perfectly analogous; by this _mean_, by that _mean_."--_English Syntax_, p. 103. Lord Kames, likewise, appears by his practice to have been of the same opinion: "Of this the child must be sensible intuitively, for it has no other _mean_ of knowledge."--_Elements of Criticism_, Vol. i, p. 357. "And in both the same _mean_ is employed."--_Ib._ ii, 271. Caleb Alexander, too, declares "_this means_," "_that means_." and "_a means_," to be "ungrammatical."--_Gram._, p. 58. But common usage has gone against the suggestions of these critics, and later grammarians have rather confirmed the irregularity, than attempted to reform it.

OBS. 34.--Murray quotes sixteen good authorities to prove that means may be singular; but whether it _ought_ to be so or not, is still a disputable point. Principle is for the regular word _mean_, and good practice favours the irregularity, but is still divided. Cobbett, to the disgrace of grammar, says, "_Mean_, as a noun, is _never used in the singular_. It, like some other words, has broken loose from all principle and rule. By universal consent, it _is become always a plural_, whether used with _singular or plural_ pronouns and articles, _or not_."--_E. Gram._, p. 144. This is as ungrammatical, as it is untrue. Both mean and means are sufficiently authorized in the singular: "The prospect which by this mean is opened to you."--_Melmoth's Cicero_. "Faith in this doctrine never terminates in itself, but is _a mean_, to holiness as an end."--_Dr. Chalmers, Sermons_, p. v. "The _mean_ of basely affronting him."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 19. "They used every _mean_ to prevent the re-establishment of their religion."--_Dr Jamieson's Sacred Hist._, i, p. 20. "As a necessary _mean_ to prepare men for the discharge of that duty."-- _Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 153. "Greatest is the power of a _mean_, when its power is least suspected."--_Tupper's Book of Thoughts_, p. 37. "To the deliberative orator the reputation of unsullied virtue is not only useful, as a _mean_ of promoting his general influence, it is also among his most efficient engines of persuasion, upon every individual occasion."--_J. Q. Adams's Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory_, i, 352. "I would urge it upon you, as the most effectual _mean_ of extending your respectability and usefulness in the world."--_Ib._, ii, 395. "Exercise will be admitted to be a necessary _mean_ of improvement."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 343. "And by _that means_ we have now an early prepossession in their favour."--_Ib._, p. 348. "To abolish all sacrifice by revealing a better _mean_ of reconciliation." --_Keith's Evidences_, p. 46. "As a _mean_ of destroying the distinction." --_Ib._, p. 3. "Which however is by no _mean_ universally the case."-- _Religious World Displayed_, Vol. iii, p. 155.

OBS. 35.--Again, there are some nouns, which, though they do not lack the regular plural form, are sometimes used in a plural sense without the plural termination. Thus _manner_ makes the plural _manners_, which last is now generally used in the peculiar sense of behaviour, or deportment, but not always: it sometimes means methods, modes, or ways; as, "At sundry times and in divers _manners_."--_Heb._, i, 1. "In the _manners_ above mentioned."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 100. "There be three _manners_ of trials in England."--COWELL: _Joh. Dict., w. Jury_. "These two _manners_ of representation."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 15. "These are the three primary modes, or _manners_, of expression."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 83. "In arrangement, too, various _manners_ suit various styles."--_Campbell's Phil. of Rhet._, p. 172. "Between the two _manners_."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 35. "Here are three different _manners_ of asserting."-- _Barnard's Gram._, p. 59. But _manner_ has often been put for _sorts_, without the _s_; as, "The tree of life, which bare _twelve manner_ of fruits."--_Rev._, xxii, 2. "All _manner_ of men assembled here in arms."--_Shak_. "_All manner_ of outward advantages."--_Atterbury_. Milton used _kind_ in the same way, but not very properly; as, "_All kind_ of living creatures."--_P. Lost_, B. iv, l. 286. This irregularity it would be well to avoid. _Manners_ may still, perhaps, be proper for modes or ways; and _all manner_, if allowed, must be taken in the sense of a collective noun; but for sorts, kinds, classes, or species, I would use neither the plural nor the singular of this word. The word _heathen_, too, makes the regular plural _heathens_, and yet is often used in a plural sense without the _s_; as, "Why do the _heathen_ rage?"--_Psalms_, ii, 1. "Christianity was formerly propagated among the _heathens_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 217. The word _youth_, likewise, has the same peculiarities.

OBS. 36.--Under the present head come names of fishes, birds, or other things, when the application of the singular is extended from the individual to the species, so as to supersede the plural by assuming its construction: as, Sing. "A great _fish_."--_Jonah_, i, 17. Plur. "For the multitude of _fishes_'."--_John_, xxi, 6. "A very great multitude of _fish_."--_Ezekiel_, xlvii, 9.[157] The name of the genus being liable to this last construction, men seem to have thought that the species should follow; consequently, the regular plurals of some very common names of fishes are scarcely known at all. Hence some grammarians affirm, that _salmon, mackerel, herring, perch, tench_, and several others, are alike in both numbers, and ought never to be used in the plural form. I am not so fond of honouring these anomalies. Usage is here as unsettled, as it is arbitrary; and, if the expression of plurality is to be limited to either form exclusively, the regular plural ought certainly to be preferred. But, _for fish taken in bulk_, the singular form seems more appropriate; as, "These vessels take from thirty-eight to forty-five quintals of _cod_ and _pollock_, and six thousand barrels of _mackerel_, yearly."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 28.

OBS. 37.--The following examples will illustrate the unsettled usage just mentioned, and from them the reader may judge for himself what is right. In quoting, at second-hand, I generally think it proper to make double references; and especially in citing authorities after Johnson, because he so often gives the same passages variously. But he himself is reckoned good authority in things literary. Be it so. I regret the many proofs of his fallibility. "Hear you this Triton of the _minnows?_"--_Shak_. "The shoal of _herrings_ was of an immense extent."--_Murray's Key_, p. 185. "Buy my _herring_ fresh."--SWIFT: _in Joh. Dict._ "In the fisheries of Maine, _cod, herring, mackerel alewives, salmon_, and other _fish_, are taken."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 23. "MEASE, _n._ The quantity of 500; as, a _mease_ of _herrings_."--_Webster's Dict._ "We shall have plenty of _mackerel_ this season."--ADDISON: _in Joh. Dict._ "_Mackarel_ is the same in both numbers. Gay has improperly _mackarels_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 208. "They take _salmon_ and _trouts_ by groping and tickling them under the bellies."--CAREW: _in Joh. Dict._ "The pond will keep _trout_ and _salmon_ in their seasonable plight."--_Id., ib., w. Trout_. "Some _fish_ are preserved fresh in vinegar, as _turbot_."--_Id., ib., w. Turbot_. "Some _fish_ are boiled and preserved fresh in vinegar, as _tunny_ and _turbot_."--_Id., ib., w. Tunny_. "Of round _fish_, there are _brit, sprat, barn, smelts_."--_Id., ib., w. Smelt._ "For _sprats_ and _spurlings_ for your house."--TUSSEE: _ib., w. Spurling_. "The coast is plentifully stored with _pilchards, herrings_, and _haddock_."--CAREW: _ib., w. Haddock_. "The coast is plentifully stored with round _fish, pilchard, herring, mackerel_, and _cod_"--_Id., ib., w. Herring_. "The coast is plentifully stored with _shellfish, sea-hedgehogs, scallops, pilcherd, herring_, and _pollock_."--_Id., ib., w. Pollock_. "A _roach_ is _a fish_ of no great reputation for his dainty taste. It is noted that _roaches_ recover strength and grow a fortnight after spawning."--WALTON: _ib., w. Roach_. "A friend of mine stored a pond of three or four acres with _carps_ and _tench_."--HALE: _ib., w. Carp_. "Having stored a very great pond with _carps, tench_, and other _pond-fish_, and only put in two small _pikes_, this pair of tyrants in seven years devoured the whole."--_Id., ib., w. Tench_. "Singular, _tench_; plural, _tenches_."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 78. "The polar bear preys upon _seals, fish_, and the carcasses of _whales_."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 172. "_Trouts_ and _salmons_ swim against the stream."--BACON: _Ward's Gram._, p. 130.

"'Tis true no _turbots_ dignify my boards,
But _gudgeons, flounders_, what my Thames affords."--_Pope_.

OBS. 38.--Prom the foregoing examples it would seem, if fish or fishes are often spoken of without a regular distinction of the grammatical numbers, it is not because the words are not susceptible of the inflection, but because there is some difference of meaning between the mere name of the sort and the distinct modification in regard to number. There are also other nouns in which a like difference may be observed. Some names of building materials, as _brick, stone, plank, joist_, though not destitute of regular plurals, as _bricks, stones, planks, joists_, and not unadapted to ideas distinctly singular, as _a brick, a stone, a plank, a joist_, are nevertheless sometimes used in a plural sense without the _s_, and sometimes in a sense which seems hardly to embrace the idea of either number; as, "Let us make _brick_, and burn _them_ thoroughly."--_Gen._, xi, 3. "And they had _brick_ for _stone_."--_Ib._ "The tale of _bricks_."--_Exod._, v, 8 and 18. "Make _brick_."--_Ib._, v, 16. "From your _bricks_."--_Ib._, v, 19. "Upon altars of _brick_."--_Isaiah_. lxv, 3. "The _bricks_ are fallen down."--_Ib._, ix, 10. The same variety of usage occurs in respect to a few other words, and sometimes perhaps without good reason; as, "Vast numbers of sea _fowl_ frequent the rocky cliffs."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 231. "Bullocks, sheep, and _fowls_."--_Ib._, p. 439. "_Cannon_ is used alike in both numbers."--_Everest's Gram._, p. 48. "_Cannon_ and _shot_ may be used in the singular or plural sense."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 37. "The column in the Place Vendome is one hundred and thirty-four feet high, and is made of the brass of the _cannons_ taken from the Austrians and Prussians."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 249. "As his _cannons_ roar."--_Dryden's Poems_, p. 81. "Twenty _shot_ of his greatest cannon."--CLARENDON: _Joh. Dict._ "Twenty _shots_" would here, I think, be more proper, though the word is not made plural when it means _little balls of lead_. "And _cannons_ conquer armies."--_Hudibras_, Part III, Canto iii, l. 249.

"Healths to both kings, attended with the roar
Of _cannons_ echoed from th' affrighted shore."--_Waller_, p. 7.

OBS. 39.--Of foreign nouns, many retain their original plural; a few are defective; and some are redundant, because the English form is also in use. Our writers have laid many languages under contribution, and thus furnished an abundance of irregular words, necessary to be explained, but never to be acknowledged as English till they conform to our own rules.

1. Of nouns in _a, saliva_, spittle, and _scoria_, dross, have no occasion for the plural; _lamina_, a thin plate, makes _laminæ_; _macula_, a spot, _maculæ_; _minutia_, a little thing, _minutiæ_; _nebula_, a mist, _nebulæ_; _siliqua_, a pod, _siliqiuæ_. _Dogma_ makes _dogmas_ or _dogmata_; _exanthema, exanthemas_ or _exanthemata_; _miasm_ or _miasma, miasms_ or _miasmata_; _stigma, stigmas_ or _stigmata_.

2. Of nouns in _um_, some have no need of the plural; as, _bdellium, decorum, elysium, equilibrium, guaiacum, laudanum, odium, opium, petroleum, serum, viaticum_. Some form it regularly; as, _asylums, compendiums, craniums, emporiums, encomiums, forums, frustums, lustrums, mausoleums, museums, pendulums, nostrums, rostrums, residuums, vacuums_. Others take either the English or the Latin plural; as, _desideratums_ or _desiderata, mediums_ or _media, menstruums_ or _menstrua, memorandums_ or _memoranda, spectrums_ or _spectra, speculums_ or _specula, stratums_ or _strata, succedaneums_ or _succedanea, trapeziums_ or _trapezia, vinculums_ or _vincula_. A few seem to have the Latin plural only: as, _arcanum, arcana; datum, data; effluvium, effluvia; erratum, errata; scholium, scholia_.

3. Of nouns in _us_, a few have no plural; as, _asparagus, calamus, mucus_. Some have only the Latin plural, which usually changes _us_ to _i_; as, _alumnus, alumni; androgynus, androgyni; calculus, calculi; dracunculus, dracunculi; echinus, echini; magus, magi_. But such as have properly become English words, may form the plural regularly in _es_; as, _chorus, choruses_: so, _apparatus, bolus, callus, circus, fetus, focus, fucus, fungus, hiatus, ignoramus, impetus, incubus, isthmus, nautilus, nucleus, prospectus, rebus, sinus, surplus_. Five of these make the Latin plural like the singular; but the mere English scholar has no occasion to be told which they are. _Radius_ makes the plural _radii_ or _radiuses_. _Genius_ has _genii_, for imaginary spirits, and _geniuses_, for men of wit. _Genus_, a sort, becomes _genera_ in Latin, and _genuses_ in English. _Denarius_ makes, in the plural, _denarii_ or _denariuses_.

4. Of nouns in _is_, some are regular; as, _trellis, trellises_: so, _annolis, butteris, caddis, dervis, iris, marquis, metropolis, portcullis, proboscis_. Some seem to have no need of the plural; as, _ambergris, aqua-fortis, arthritis, brewis, crasis, elephantiasis, genesis, orris, siriasis, tennis_. But most nouns of this ending follow the Greek or Latin form, which simply changes _is_ to _=es_: as, _amanuensis, amanuenses; analysis, analyses; antithesis, antitheses; axis, axes; basis, bases; crisis, crises; diæresis, diæreses; diesis, dieses; ellipsis, ellipses; emphasis, emphases; fascis, fasces; hypothesis, hypotheses; metamorphosis, metamorphoses; oasis, oases; parenthesis, parentheses; phasis, phases; praxis, praxes; synopsis, synopses; synthesis, syntheses; syrtis, syrtes; thesis, theses_. In some, however, the original plural is not so formed; but is made by changing _is_ to _~ides_; as, _aphis, aphides; apsis, apsides; ascaris, ascarides; bolis, bolides; cantharis, cantharides; chrysalis, chrysalides; ephemeris, ephemerides; epidermis, epidermides_. So _iris_ and _proboscis_, which we make regular; and perhaps some of the foregoing may be made so too. Fisher writes _Praxises_ for _praxes_, though not very properly. See his _Gram_, p. v. _Eques_, a Roman knight, makes _equites_ in the plural.

5. Of nouns in _x_, there are few, if any, which ought not to form the plural regularly, when used as English words; though the Latins changed _x_ to _ces_, and _ex_ to _ices_, making the _i_ sometimes long and sometimes short: as, _apex, apices_, for _apexes; appendix, appendices_, for _appendixes; calix, calices_, for _calixes_; _calx, calces_, for _calxes; calyx, calyces_, for _calyxes; caudex, caudices_, for _caudexes; cicatrix, cicatrices_, for _cicatrixes; helix, helices_, for _helixes; index, indices_, for _indexes; matrix, matrices_, for _matrixes; quincunx, quincunces_, for _quincunxes; radix, radices_, for _radixes; varix, varices_, for _varixes; vertex, vertices_, for _vertexes; vortex, vortices_, for _vortexes_. Some Greek words in _x_ change that letter to _ges_; as, _larynx, larynges_, for _larinxes; phalanx, phalanges_, for _phalanxes_. _Billet-doux_, from the French, is _billets-doux_ in the plural.

6. Of nouns in _on_, derived from Greek, the greater part always form the plural regularly; as, _etymons, gnomons, ichneumons, myrmidons, phlegmons, trigons, tetragons, pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, octagons, enneagons, decagons, hendecagons, dodecagons, polygons_. So _trihedrons, tetrahedrons, pentahedrons_, &c., though some say, these last may end in _dra_, which I think improper. For a few words of this class, however, there are double plurals in use; as, _automata_ or _atomatons, criteria_ or _criterions, parhelia_ or _parhelions_; and the plural of _phenomenon_ appears to be always _phenomena_.

7. The plural of _legumen_ is _legumens_ or _legumina_; of _stamen, stamens_ or _stamina_: of _cherub, cherubs_ or _cherubim_; of _seraph, seraphs_ or _seraphim_; of _beau, beaus_ or _beaux_; of _bandit, bandits_ or _banditti_. The regular forms are in general preferable. The Hebrew plurals _cherubim_ and _seraphim_, being sometimes mistaken for singulars, other plurals have been formed from them; as, "And over it the _cherubims_ of glory."--_Heb_. ix, 5. "Then flow one of the _seraphims_ unto me."--_Isaiah_, vi, 6. Dr. Campbell remarks: "We are authorized, both by use and by analogy, to say either _cherubs_ and _seraphs_, according to the English idiom, or _cherubim_ and _seraphim_, according to the oriental. The former suits better the familiar, the latter the solemn style. I shall add to this remark," says he, "that, as the words _cherubim_ and _seraphim_ are plural, the terms _cherubims_ and _seraphims_, as expressing the plural, are quite improper."--_Phil. of Rhet._, p. 201.

OBS. 40.--When other parts of speech become nouns, they either want the plural, or form it regularly,[158] like common nouns of the same endings; as, "His affairs went on at _sixes_ and _sevens_."--_Arbuthnot_. "Some mathematicians have proposed to compute by _twoes_; _others_, by _fours_; _others_, by _twelves_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 81. "Three _fourths_, nine _tenths_."--_Ib._, p. 230. "Time's _takings_ and _leavings_."-- _Barton_. "The _yeas_ and _nays_."--_Newspaper_. "The _ays_ and _noes_."--_Ib._ "_Oes_ and _spangles_."--_Bacon_. "The _ins_ and the _outs_."--_Newspaper_."--We find it more safe against _outs_ and _doubles_."--_Printer's Gram._ "His _ands_ and his _ors_."--_Mott_. "One of the _buts_."--_Fowle_. "In raising the mirth of _stupids_."--_Steele_. "_Eatings, drinkings, wakings, sleepings, walkings, talkings, sayings, doings_--all were for the good of the public; there was not such a things as a secret in the town."--LANDON: _Keepsake_, 1833. "Her innocent _forsooths_ and _yesses_."--_Spect._, No. 266.

"Henceforth my wooing mind shall be expressed
In russet _yeas_ and honest kersey _noes_."
--SHAK. See _Johnson's Dict., w. Kersey_.

GENDERS.

Genders, in grammar, are modifications that distinguish objects in regard to sex.

There are three genders; the _masculine_, the _feminine_, and the _neuter_.

The _masculine gender_ is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind; as, _man, father, king_.

The _feminine gender_ is that which denotes persons or animals of the female kind; as, _woman, mother, queen_.

The _neuter gender_ is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female; as, _pen, ink, paper_.

Hence, names of males are masculine; names of females, feminine; and names of things inanimate, literally, neuter.

Masculine nouns make regular feminines, when their termination is changed to _ess_: as, _hunter, huntress_; _prince, princess_; _lion, lioness_.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--The different genders in grammar are founded on the natural distinction of sex in animals, and on the absence of sex in other things. In English, they belong only to nouns and pronouns; and to these they are usually applied, not arbitrarily, as in some other languages, but agreeably to the order of nature. From this we derive a very striking advantage over those who use the gender differently, or without such rule; which is, that our pronouns are easy of application, and have a fine effect when objects are personified. Pronouns are of the same gender as the nouns for which they stand.

OBS. 2.--Many nouns are equally applicable to both sexes; as, _cousin, friend, neighbour, parent, person, servant_. The gender of these is usually determined by the context; and they are to be called masculine or feminine accordingly. To such words, some grammarians have applied the unnecessary and improper term _common gender_. Murray justly observes, "There is no such gender belonging to the language. The business of parsing can be effectually performed, without having recourse to a _common gender_."--_Gram._, 8vo. p. 39. The term is more useful, and less liable to objection, as applied to the learned languages; but with us, whose genders _distinguish objects in regard to sex_, it is plainly a solecism.

OBS. 3.--A great many of our grammars define gender to be "_the distinction of sex_," and then speak of a _common gender_, in which the two sexes are left _undistinguished_; and of the _neuter gender_, in which objects are treated as being of _neither sex_. These views of the matter are obviously inconsistent. Not genders, or a gender, do the writers undertake to define, but "gender" as a whole; and absurdly enough, too; because this whole of gender they immediately distribute into certain _other genders_, into genders of gender, or kinds of gender, and these not compatible with their definition. Thus Wells: "Gender is _the distinction_ of objects, with regard to sex. There are four genders;--the _masculine_, the _feminine_, the _common_, and the _neuter_."--_School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 49. [Those] "Nouns which are applicable _alike to both sexes_, are of the _common_ gender."--_Ib._ This then is manifestly no gender under the foregoing definition, and the term _neuter_ is made somewhat less appropriate by the adoption of a third denomination before it. Nor is there less absurdity in the phraseology with which Murray proposes to avoid the recognition of the _common gender_: "Thus we may say, _Parents_ is a noun of the _masculine and feminine_ gender; _Parent_, if doubtful, is of the _masculine or feminine_ gender; and _Parent_, if the gender is known by the construction, is of the gender so ascertained."--_Gram._, 8vo, p. 39. According to this, we must have _five genders_, exclusive of that which is called _common_; namely, the _masculine_, the _feminine_, the _neuter_, the _androgynal_, and the _doubtful_.

OBS. 4.--It is plain that many writers on grammar have had but a confused notion of what a gender really is. Some of them, confounding gender with sex, deny that there are more than two genders, because there are only two sexes. Others, under a like mistake, resort occasionally, (as in the foregoing instance,) to an _androgynal_, and also to a _doubtful_ gender: both of which are more objectionable than the _common gender_ of the old grammarians; though this _common_ "distinction with regard to sex," is, in our language, confessedly, no distinction at all. I assume, that there are in English the three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter, and no more; and that every noun and every pronoun must needs be of some gender; consequently, of some one of these three. A gender is, literally, a sort, a kind, a sex. But genders, _in grammar_, are attributes of words, rather than of persons, or animals, or things; whereas sexes are attributes, not of words, but of living creatures. He who understands this, will perceive that the absence of sex in some things, is as good a basis for a grammatical distinction, as the presence or the difference of it in others; nor can it be denied, that the neuter, according to my definition, is a gender, is a distinction "in _regard_ to sex," though it does not embrace either of the sexes. There are therefore three genders, and only three.

OBS. 5.--Generic names, even when construed as masculine or feminine, often virtually include both sexes; as, "Hast thou given _the horse_ strength? hast thou clothed _his_ neck with thunder? Canst thou make _him_ afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of _his_ nostrils is terrible."--_Job_, xxxix, 19. "Doth _the hawk_ fly by thy wisdom, and stretch _her_ wings toward the south? Doth _the eagle_ mount up at thy command, and make _her_ nest on high?"--_Ib._, ver. 26. These were called, by the old grammarians, _epicene_ nouns--that is, _supercommon_; but they are to be parsed each according to the gender of the pronoun which is put for it.

OBS. 6.--The gender of words, in many instances, is to be determined by the following principle of universal grammar. Those terms which are equally applicable to both sexes, (if they are not expressly applied to females,) and those plurals which are known to include both sexes, should be called masculine in parsing; for, in all languages, the masculine gender is considered the most worthy,[159] and is generally employed when both sexes are included under one common term. Thus _parents_ is always masculine, and must be represented by a masculine pronoun, for the gender of a word is a property indivisible, and that which refers to the male sex, always takes the lead in such cases. If one say, "Joseph took _the young child and his mother_ by night, and fled with _them_ into Egypt," the pronoun _them_ will be masculine; but let "_his_" be changed to _its_, and the plural pronoun that follows, will be feminine. For the feminine gender takes precedence of the neuter, but not of the masculine; and it is not improper to speak of a young child without designating the sex. As for such singulars as _parent, friend, neighbour, thief, slave_, and many others, they are feminine when expressly applied to any of the female sex; but otherwise, masculine.

OBS. 7.--Nouns of multitude, when they convey the idea of unity or take the plural form, are of the neuter gender; but when they convey the idea of plurality without the form, they follow the gender of the individuals which compose the assemblage. Thus a _congress_, a _council_, a _committee_, a _jury_, a _sort_, or a _sex_, if taken collectively, is neuter; being represented in discourse by the neuter pronoun _it_: and the formal plurals, _congresses, councils, committees, juries, sorts, sexes_, of course, are neuter also. But, if I say, "The committee disgraced _themselves_," the noun and pronoun are presumed to be masculine, unless it be known that I am speaking of a committee of females. Again: "The _fair sex, whose_ task is not to mingle in the labours of public life, have _their_ own part assigned _them_ to act."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 132. Here _sex_, and the three pronouns which have that word for their antecedent, are all feminine. Again: "_Each sex_, dressing _themselves_ in the clothes of the other."--_Wood's Dictionary_, v. _Feast of Purim_. Here _sex_, and the pronoun which follows, are masculine; because, the male sex, as well as the female, is here spoken of plurally.

OBS. 8.--To _persons_, of every description, known or unknown, real or imaginary, we uniformly ascribe sex.[160] But, as personality implies intelligence, and sex supposes some obvious difference, a _young child_ may be spoken of with distinction of sex or without, according to the notion of the speaker; as, "I went to see the _child_ whilst they were putting on _its cloaths_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 125. "Because the _child_ has no idea of any nurse besides _his_ own."--_Ib._, p. 153. To _brute animals_ also, the same distinction is generally applied, though with less uniformity. Some that are very small, have a gender which seems to be merely occasional and figurative; as, "Go to the _ant_, thou sluggard; consider _her_ ways, and be wise."--_Prov._, vi, 6. "The _spider_ taketh hold with _her_ hands, and is in kings' palaces."--_Prov._, xxx, 28. So the _bee_ is usually made feminine, being a little creature of admirable industry and economy. But, in general, irrational creatures whose sex is unknown, or unnecessary to be regarded, are spoken of as neuter; as, "And it became a _serpent_; and Moses fled from before _it_. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take _it_ by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught _it_, and _it_ became a rod in his hand."--_Exod._, iv, 3, 4. Here, although the word _serpent_ is sometimes masculine, the neuter pronoun seems to be more proper. So of some imaginary creatures: as, "_Phenix_, the fowl which is said to exist single, and to rise again from _its_ own ashes."--_Webster's Dict._ "So shall the _Phoenix_ escape, with no stain on _its_ plumage."--_Dr. Bartlett's Lect._, p. 10.

OBS. 9.--But this liberty of representing animals as of no sex, is often carried to a very questionable extent; as, "The _hare_ sleeps with _its_ eyes open."--_Barbauld_. "The _hedgehog_, as soon as _it_ perceives _itself_ attacked, rolls _itself_ into a kind of ball, and presents nothing but _its_ prickles to the foe."--_Blair's Reader_, p. 138. "The _panther_ is a ferocious creature: like the tiger _it_ seizes _its_ prey by surprise."--_Ib._, p. 102. "The _leopard_, in _its_ chace of prey, spares neither man nor beast."--_Ib._, p. 103. "If a man shall steal an _ox_, or a _sheep_, and kill _it_, or sell _it_."--_Exod._, xxii, 1. "A _dog_ resists _its_ instinct to run after a hare, because _it_ recollects the beating _it_ has previously received on that account. The _horse_ avoids the stone at which _it_ once has stumbled."--_Spurzheim, on Education_, p. 3. "The _racehorse_ is looked upon with pleasure; but it is the _warhorse_, that carries grandeur in _its_ idea."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 30.

OBS. 10.--The sexes are distinguished _by words_, in four different ways. First, by the use of different terminations: as, _Jew, Jewess; Julius, Julia; hero, heroine_. Secondly, by the use of entirely different names: as, _Henry, Mary; king, queen_. Thirdly, by compounds or phrases including some distinctive term: as, _Mr. Murray, Mrs. Murray; Englishman, Englishwoman; grandfather, grandmother; landlord, landlady; merman, mermaid; servingman, servingmaid; man-servant, maid-servant; schoolmaster, schoolmistress; school-boy, school-girl; peacock, peahen; cock-sparrow, hen-sparrow; he-goat, she-goat; buck-rabbit, doe-rabbit; male elephant, female elephant; male convicts, female convicts_. Fourthly, by the pronouns _he, his, him_, put for nouns masculine; and _she, her, hers_, for nouns feminine: as, "Ask _him_ that fleeth, and _her_ that escapeth, and say, What is done?"--_Jer._, xlviii, 19.

"O happy _peasant!_ Oh unhappy _bard!_
_His_ the mere tinsel, _hers_ the rich reward."--_Cowper_.

OBS. 11.--For feminine nouns formed by inflection, the regular termination is _ess_; but the manner in which this ending is applied to the original or masculine noun, is not uniform:--

1. In some instances the syllable _ess_ is simply added: as, _accuser, accuseress; advocate, advocatess; archer, archeress; author, authoress; avenger, avengeress; barber, barberess; baron, baroness; canon, canoness; cit, cittess;[161] coheir, coheiress; count, countess; deacon, deaconess; demon, demoness; diviner, divineress; doctor, doctoress; giant, giantess; god, goddess; guardian, guardianess; Hebrew, Hebrewess; heir, heiress; herd, herdess; hermit, hermitess; host, hostess; Jesuit, Jesuitess; Jew, Jewess; mayor, mayoress; Moabite, Moabitess; monarch, monarchess; pape, papess_; or, _pope, popess; patron, patroness; peer, peeress; poet, poetess; priest, priestess; prior, prioress; prophet, prophetess; regent, regentess; saint, saintess; shepherd, shepherdess; soldier, soldieress; tailor, tailoress; viscount, viscountess; warrior, warrioress_.

2. In other instances, the termination is changed, and there is no increase of syllables: as, _abbot, abbess; actor, actress; adulator, adulatress; adulterer, adulteress; adventurer, adventuress; advoutrer, advoutress; ambassador, ambassadress; anchorite, anchoress_; or, _anachoret, anachoress; arbiter, arbitress; auditor, auditress; benefactor, benefactress; caterer, cateress; chanter, chantress; cloisterer, cloisteress; commander, commandress; conductor, conductress; creator, creatress; demander, demandress; detractor, detractress; eagle, eagless; editor, editress; elector, electress; emperor, emperess_, or _empress; emulator, emulatress; enchanter, enchantress; exactor, exactress; fautor, fautress; fornicator, fornicatress; fosterer, fosteress_, or _fostress; founder, foundress; governor, governess; huckster, huckstress_; or, _hucksterer, hucksteress; idolater, idolatress; inhabiter, inhabitress; instructor, instructress; inventor, inventress; launderer, launderess_, or _laundress; minister, ministress; monitor, monitress; murderer, murderess; negro, negress; offender, offendress; ogre, ogress; porter, portress; progenitor, progenitress; protector, protectress; proprietor, proprietress; pythonist, pythoness; seamster, seamstress; solicitor, solicitress; songster, songstress; sorcerer, sorceress; suitor, suitress; tiger, tigress; traitor, traitress; victor, victress; votary, votaress_.

3. In a few instances the feminine is formed as in Latin, by changing _or_ to _rix_; but some of these have also the regular form, which ought to be preferred: as, _adjutor, adjutrix; administrator, administratrix; arbitrator, arbitratrix; coadjutor, coadjutrix; competitor, competitress_, or _competitrix; creditor, creditrix; director, directress_, or _directrix; executor, executress_, or _executrix; inheritor, inheritress_, or _inheritrix; mediator, mediatress_, or _mediatrix; orator, oratress_, or _oratrix; rector, rectress_, or _rectrix; spectator, spectatress_, or _spectatrix; testator, testatrix; tutor, tutoress_, or _tutress_, or _tutrix; deserter, desertress_, or _desertrice_, or _desertrix_.

4. The following are irregular words, in which the distinction of sex is chiefly made by the termination: _amoroso, amorosa: archduke, archduchess; chamberlain, chambermaid; duke, duchess; gaffer, gammer; goodman, goody; hero, heroine; landgrave, landgravine; margrave, margravine; marquis, marchioness; palsgrave, palsgravine; sakeret, sakerhawk; sewer, sewster; sultan, sultana; tzar, tzarina; tyrant, tyranness; widower, widow_.

OBS. 12.--The proper names of persons almost always designate their sex; for it has been found convenient to make the names of women different from those of men. We have also some appellatives which correspond to each other, distinguishing the sexes by their distinct application to each: as, _bachelor, maid; beau, belle; boy, girl; bridegroom, bride; brother, sister; buck, doe; boar, sow; bull, cow; cock, hen; colt, filly; dog, bitch; drake, duck; earl, countess; father, mother; friar, nun; gander, goose; grandsire, grandam; hart, roe; horse, mare; husband, wife; king, queen; lad, lass; lord, lady; male, female; man, woman; master, mistress_; Mister, Missis; (Mr., Mrs.;) _milter, spawner; monk, nun; nephew, niece; papa, mamma; rake, jilt; ram, ewe; ruff, reeve; sire, dam; sir, madam; sloven, slut; son, daughter; stag, hind; steer, heifer; swain, nymph; uncle, aunt; wizard, witch; youth, damsel; young man, maiden_.

OBS. 13.--The people of a particular country are commonly distinguished by some name derived from that of their country; as, _Americans, Africans, Egyptians, Russians, Turks_. Such words are sometimes called _gentile names_. There are also adjectives, of the same origin, if not the same form, which correspond with them. "Gentile names are for the most part considered as masculine, and the feminine is denoted by the gentile adjective and the noun _woman_: as, a _Spaniard_, a _Spanish woman_; a _Pole_, or _Polander_, a _Polish woman_. But, in a few instances, we always use a compound of the adjective with _man_ or _woman_: as, an _Englishman_, an _Englishwoman_; a _Welshman_, a _Welshwoman_; an _Irishman_, an _Irishwoman_; a _Frenchman_, a _Frenchwoman_; a _Dutchman_, a _Dutchwoman_: and in these cases the adjective is employed as the collective noun; as, _the Dutch, the French_, &c. A _Scotchman_, and a _Scot_, are both in use; but the latter is not common in prose writers: though some employ it, and these generally adopt the plural, _Scots_, with the definite article, as the collective term."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 70.

OBS. 14.--The names of things without life, used literally, are always of the neuter gender: as, "When Cleopatra fled, Antony pursued her in a five-oared galley; and, coming along side of her _ship_, entered _it_ without being seen by her."--_Goldsmith's Rome_, p. 160. "The _sun_, high as _it_ is, has _its_ business assigned; and so have the stars."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 138. But inanimate objects are often represented figuratively as having sex. Things remarkable for power, greatness, or sublimity, are spoken of as masculine; as, the _sun, time, death, sleep, fear, anger, winter, war_. Things beautiful, amiable, or prolific, are spoken of as feminine; as, a _ship_, the _moon_, the _earth, nature, fortune, knowledge, hope, spring, peace_. Figurative gender is indicated only by the personal pronouns of the singular number: as, "When we say of the _sun, He_ is setting; or of a _ship, She_ sails well."--_L. Murray_. For these two objects, the _sun_ and a _ship_, this phraseology is so common, that the literal construction quoted above is rarely met with.

OBS. 15.--When any inanimate object or abstract quality is distinctly personified, and presented to the imagination in the character of a living and intelligent being, there is necessarily a change of the gender of the word; for, whenever personality is thus ascribed to what is literally neuter, there must be an assumption of one or the other sex: as, "_The Genius of Liberty_ is awakened, and springs up; _she_ sheds her divine light and creative powers upon the two hemispheres. A great _nation_, astonished at seeing _herself_ free, stretches _her_ arms from one extremity of the earth to the other, and embraces the first nation that became so."--_Abbé Fauchet_. But there is an inferior kind of personification, or of what is called such, in which, so far as appears, the gender remains neuter: as, "The following is an instance of personification and apostrophe united: 'O _thou sword_ of the Lord! how long will it be ere _thou_ be quiet? put _thyself_ up into _thy_ scabbard, rest, and be still! How can _it_ be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given _it_ a charge against Askelon, and against the sea-shore? there hath he appointed _it_.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 348. See _Jer._, xlvii, 6.

OBS. 16.--If what is called personification, does not always imply a change of gender and an ascription of sex, neither does a mere ascription of sex to what is literally of no sex, necessarily imply a personification; for there may be sex without personality, as we see in brute animals. Hence the gender of a brute animal personified in a fable, may be taken literally as before; and the gender which is figuratively ascribed to the _sun_, the _moon_, or a _ship_, is merely metaphorical. In the following sentence, _nature_ is animated and made feminine by a metaphor, while a lifeless object bearing the name of _Venus_, is spoken of as neuter: "Like that conceit of old, which declared that the _Venus of Gnidos_ was not the work of Praxiteles, since _nature herself_ had concreted the boundary surface of _its_ beauty."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. xxv.

OBS. 17.--"In personifications regard must be had to propriety in determining the gender. Of most of the passions and moral qualities of man the ancients formed deities, as they did of various other things: and, when these are personified, they are usually made male or female, according as they were gods or goddesses in the pagan mythology. The same rule applies in other cases: and thus the planet Jupiter will be masculine; Venus, feminine: the ocean, _Oce=anus_, masculine: rivers, months, and winds, the same: the names of places, countries, and islands, feminine."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 71.

OBS. 18.--These suggestions are worthy of consideration, but, for the gender which ought to be adopted in personifications, there seems to be no absolute general rule, or none which English writers have observed with much uniformity. It is well, however, to consider what is most common in each particular case, and abide by it. In the following examples, the sex ascribed is not that under which these several objects are commonly figured; for which reason, the sentences are perhaps erroneous:--

"_Knowledge_ is proud that _he_ has learn'd so much;
_Wisdom_ is humble that _he_ knows no more."--_Cowper_.

"But hoary _Winter_, unadorned and bare,
Dwells in the dire retreat, and freezes there;
There _she_ assembles all her blackest storms,
And the rude hail in rattling tempests forms."--_Addison_.

"_Her_ pow'r extends o'er all things that have breath,
A cruel tyrant, and _her_ name is _Death_."--_Sheffield_.

CASES.

Cases, in grammar, are modifications that distinguish the relations of nouns or pronouns to other words.

There are three cases; the _nominative_, the _possessive_, and the _objective_.

The _nominative case_ is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb: as, The _boy_ runs; _I_ run.

The subject of a finite verb is that which answers to _who_ or _what_ before it; as, "The boy runs."--_Who_ runs? "The _boy_." Boy is therefore here in the _nominative_ case.

The _possessive case_ is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the relation of property: as, The _boy's_ hat; _my_ hat.

The possessive case of nouns is formed, in the singular number, by adding to the nominative _s preceded by an apostrophe_; and, in the plural, when the nominative ends in _s_, by adding _an apostrophe only_: as, singular, _boy's_; plural, _boys'_;--sounded alike, but written differently.

The _objective case_ is that form or state of a noun or pronoun which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition: as, I know the _boy_, having seen _him_ at _school_; and he knows _me_.