3. By a noun, pronoun, or adjective, being pre

fixed to the substantive; as,

A cock-sparrow.

A man-servant.

A he-goat.

A he-bear.

A male child.

Male descendants.

A hen-sparrow.

A maid-servant.

A she-goat.

A she-bear.

A female child.

Female descendants.

NUMBER.

Number is the consideration of an object, as

one or more.

Substantives are of two numbers, the singular and the plural.

The singular number expresses but one object; as, a chair, a table.

The plural number signifies more objects than one; as, chairs, tables.

Some nouns, from the nature of the things which they express, are used only in the singular, others only in the plural; as, wheat, bread, pitch, gold, sloth, pride, drunkenness, &c., which are of the singular; and bellows, scissors, ashes, riches, minutiæ, &c., which are of the plural number.

Nouns of the singular number, containing many individuals, are called nouns of multitude; as, the people, the nobility.

Some words are the same in both numbers; as, deer, sheep, swine, apparatus, brace, dozen, species, &c.

The plural number of nouns is generally formed by adding s to the singular; as, dove, doves; face, faces; thought, thoughts. But when the sub

stantive singular ends in x, ch, sh, o, ss, or s, we add es in the plural; as, box, boxes; church, churches; genius, geniuses; hero, heroes; kiss, kisses; lash, lashes; rebus, rebuses.

But nouns ending in ch hard, and many technical names ending in o, are exceptions to this rule, and form their plural regularly; as, stomach, stomachs; epoch, epochs; folio, folios; trio, trios; canto, cantos; junto, juntos; tyro, tyros; solo, solos; quarto, quartos.

Nouns ending in ƒ or fe, are sometimes rendered plural by the change of those terminations into ves; as, loaf, loaves; wife, wives. A large number, however, form their plurals regularly by adding s only; as, dwarf, dwarfs; chief, chiefs; gulf, gulfs; hoof, hoofs; and all those which end in ff; as, muff, muffs; ruff, ruffs.

Such as have y in the singular, with no other vowel in the same syllable, change it into ies in the plural; as, beauty, beauties; fly, flies; but the

y is not changed, when a vowel comes before it; as, key, keys; delay, delays.

Nouns in um or on have a in the plural; as, stratum, strata; memorandum, memoranda; &c. Nouns in is have es; as, axis, axes; basis, bases. A large number of other words, derived from

the Latin and other foreign languages, retain the plurals, which they have in those languages; as, apex, apices; appendix, appendices or appendexes; calx, calces; cherub, cherubim or cherubs; focus, foci or focuses; genus, genera; index, indices or indexes; lamina, laminæ; magus, magi; stamen, stamina; seraph, seraphim or seraphs; stimulus, stimuli; virtuoso, virtuosi.

In general, common nouns only have a plural: proper names, however, are also made plural when several persons of the same name or family are signified; as, the Scotts, the Williams, the Henries.

The old ending of plural substantives was en, which is still retained in some words; as, ox, oxen; brother, brethren; child, children.

CASE.

English substantives have three cases, the Nominative, Possessive, and Objective.*

The nominative case simply expresses the name of a thing, or the subject of the verb; as, "The boy plays;" "The girls learn."

* On the propriety of this objective case, see the Duodecimo grammar, Twelfth, or any subsequent edition, pp. 54,

55.

The possessive case denotes property or possession; and is formed by adding an apostrophe with s to the nominative; as, "The scholar's duty;" "My father's house."

When the plural nominative ends in S, the possessive is formed by adding the apostrophe only; as, "On eagles' wings;" "The drapers' company."

Sometimes, also, when the singular ends in ss, the apostrophic s is not added; as, "For goodness' sake;"" For righteousness' sake."

If two or more possessive cases are coupled together by a conjunction, the apostrophe and s are added only to the last; as, "John and Richard's father is come."

If any word or words immediately follow the possessive, describing more accurately the person or thing intended, the apostrophic s is placed after them; as, "The King of England's crown;" i. e. the crown of the King of England.

In many cases, where the addition of the apostrophic s would cause the noun to have an unpleasant sound, it is better to change the possessive into the objective case governed by of; as, "The sake of conscience;" "The justice of Aristides."