English Grammar and Composition for Public Schools. G. H. Armstrong

czarina, sultan, sultana, infante, infanta, widower, widow, bridegroom, bride, fox, vixen.

      Gender is sometimes distinguished by prefixing words; as—

Masculine.	Feminine.
man-servant,	maid-servant,
cock-sparrow,	hen-sparrow,
he-goat,	she-goat.

      EXERCISE.

      Select the gender-nouns in the following sentences, and give the gender of each:—

1.	Mary and her friend went for a sail on the lake.
2.	The hero of this story is a young boy.
3.	Great authors are seldom seen by the people.
4.	Tell my mother that her other sons shall comfort her old age.
5.	He fled with his wife and child.
6.	My sister went home with her aunt.
7.	Both a prince and a poet were there.
8.	Little Effie shall go with me to-morrow to the green,
	And you’ll be there, too, mother, to see me made the Queen:
	For the shepherd lads on every side ’ill come from far away,
	And I’m to be Queen of the May, mother, I’m to be Queen of the May.—Tennyson.

LESSON XV.

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      NUMBER.

      Which form of the following words denotes one thing, and which more than one thing?—

	pen,	slate,	church,	city,	tooth,
	pens,	slates,	churches,	cities,	teeth.

      The form of a word which names one thing is called singular, and the noun is said to be in the singular number. The form of a word which names more than one thing is called plural, and the noun is said to be in the plural number.

      1. The plural is generally formed by adding s to the singular form; as pin, pins; book, books.

      2. Some nouns form the plural by adding es to the singular form; as, match, matches; tax, taxes.

      Note the following words:—fox, bush, glass, loss, hero, negro, cargo, echo, potato, tomato.

      3. Nouns ending in y preceded by a vowel, form the plural by adding s to the singular form; as, day, days; valley, valleys.

       Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant, form the plural by changing the y into i and adding es; as, lily, lilies; copy, copies.

      4. Some nouns ending in f or fe form the plural by changing f or fe to v and adding es; as, knife, knives.

      Note the following:—wife, life, wolf, loaf, half, leaf, thief, shelf, calf, self.

      5. A few nouns form the plural by adding en to the singular form; as, ox, oxen; child, children; brother, brethren.

      6. Some nouns form the plural by changing the vowel of the singular; as, man, men; goose, geese.

      7. Most nouns taken from foreign languages retain their foreign plurals:

	Singular.	Plural.
	radius,	radii.
	beau,	beaux.
	analysis,	analyses.
	index,	indices.
	axis,	axes.
	basis,	bases.
	seraph,	seraphim.
	memorandum,	memoranda.
	phenomenon,	phenomena.
	crisis,	crises.
	erratum,	errata.
	stratum,	strata.
	oasis,	oases.
	cherub,	cherubim.

      8. Some compound nouns make the principal word plural, and some make both words plural; as, son-in-law, sons-in-law; man-servant, men-servants.

      EXERCISE.

      Write the plural of the following nouns:—

1.	desk, woman, calf, foot, mouse, class.
2.	cargo, piano, sky, toy, crisis, potato.
3.	story, church, enemy, spoonful, chimney.
4.	lily, valley, mother-in-law, wolf, pencil.
5.	memorandum, sheaf, child, man-of-war.

LESSON XVI.

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      Note the following peculiarities:

      1. Nouns used only in the plural:—