2. By a difference of termination: as, Landgrave landgravine Abbot abbess Actor actress Lion lioness 3. By a noun pronoun, or adjective, be ing prefixed to the substantive: as, A cock-sparrow 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 plural. The singular number expresses but one bject; 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, form; as, wheat, pitch, gold, sloth, pride, &c. and bellows, scissors, lungs, riches, &c. Some words are the same in both numbers; as, deer, sheep, swine, &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 substantive singular ends in x, ch, sh, ss,or s, we add es in the plural; as, box, boxes; church, churches; lash, lashes; kiss, kisses; rebus, rebuses. Nouns ending in f or fe, are generally rendered plural by the change of those terminations into ves; as, loaf, loaves; wife, wives. Those which end in ff, have the regular plural; 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 there is another vowel in the syllable; as, key, keys; delay, delays. CASE. In English, substantives have three cases, B2 the Nominative, the Possessive, and the Ob jective.* The nominative case simplyexpresses the name of a thing, or the subject of the verb; as, "The boy plays ;""The girls learn." The possessive case expresses the relation of property or possession; and has an apostrophe with the letter s coming after it; as, "The scholar's duty;" "My father's house." When the plural ends in s, the others is omitted, but the apostrophe is retained; as, "On eagles' wings;" "The drapers' company." Sometimes, also, when the singular terminates in ss, the apostrophic s is not added; as, "For goodness' sake;" "For righteousness' sake." The objective case expresses the object of an action, or of a relation; and generally follows a verb active, or a preposition; as, "John assists Charles;" "They live in London." English substantives are declined in the following manner: *On the propriety of this objective case, see the large grammar, pp. 54, 55. Nominative Case. Possessive Case. Objective Case. A bush A tree A flower An apple A hood A house A hunter An hour An honour The garden Singular. The man The man's The man EXERCISES IN PARSING. The scholar's duty The horizon Virtue The vices An earthquake Article and substantive.* The king's prerogative A prince A rivulet The Humber Gregory The pope An abbess An owl A building The Grocer's Co. The sciences The planets The continent Roundness A declivity Blackness An inclination *The teacher will refer the pupil to the appropriate rules' of Syntax, in all these Exercises of Parsing. An adjective is a word added to a substantive, to express its quality; as, "An industrious man;" "A virtuous woman;" 66 A benevolent mind." Thus In English, the adjective is not varied on account of gender, number, or case. we say, "A careless boy; careless girls." The only variation which it admits, is that of the degrees of comparison. There are commonly reckoned three degrees of comparison; the positive, comparative and the superlative. The positive state expresses the quality of an object, without any increase or diminution; as good, wise, great. The comparative degree increases or les sens the positive in signification; as, wiser, greater, less wise. The superlative degree increases or lessens the positive to the highest or lowest degree; as, wisest, greatest, least wise. |