| 251. We cannot always use nouns correctly in sentences, without having some regard to the classes into which they are divided according to their meaning. The study of meaning undertaken in this section belongs to the division of grammar called Semantics. |
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252. Some nouns, such as “man” or “water,” refer to a thing as being of a certain kind or class, without showing which particular one or which part is meant.
Other nouns are names given to designate a particular individual. Thus the name man may apply to any one of millions of persons, but the name William E. Gladstone applies to one person only. The noun city is held in common by hundreds of places, because they are in some respects alike; but Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, are names given to certain cities, to be, as it were, their exclusive property. |
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253. A name held in common by all of a kind is called a Common noun; and a special name given to one individual for its own is called a Proper noun. “Proper” is derived from a word meaning one’s own. |
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254. Common nouns, such as clock, kitchen, tree, glass, putty, oysters, weight, writing, mercy, have meanings that describe things and show what they are by nature. Proper nouns, as we use them, have no longer any meaning in themselves, and like the word Dick, which may name a horse, a man, a boy, a dog, or a bird, they serve only to designate one particular individual person, place, or thing or one particular set of them. We can judge by looking at an object what common nouns to apply to it; but if it has a proper noun as a name, that noun has to be learned in some other way. |
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254a. In certain cases a common noun will apply to a unique object that has no proper noun as a name, such as, the sun, the moon, the earth, the equator.
Some such objects may indeed have a proper noun correlate, one whose use, however, is restricted to special situations: (old) Sol, Luna, Gaia.
These may fall in with words capitalized because of their reference to an aspect of God, Nature, Life Force. Conversely the word the often appears with certain kinds of proper nouns, such as, the North Pole, the Duke of Brunswick, the Niagara, the Empire State Building, the Bible. Even when proper nouns designate sets, they may or may not be plural in form (cf § 284), thus: the Netherlands, New York City, the Vatican, Cassiopeia, the Pleiades. |
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255. A Proper Noun is a special name meant for only one individual. All other nouns are common nouns. |
| 256. A Common Noun is a general name for any or all of a certain kind. |
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257. Capitals RULE — Proper nouns and words formed from them must begin with capitals (§§ 9, 9a). (a ) When a proper noun is made up of several parts, each noun must begin with a capital. Thus: — John Greenleaf Whittier; the Duke of Brunswick Salt Lake City, St. Lawrence Seaway. |
| 265. A Gender Specific Noun is one that shows by its form which sex is meant. |
| 266. Some nouns, even in the singular form, may be plural in meaning, and are called Collective nouns, because they denote a collection of individuals. |
| 267. A Collective Noun is one that even in the singular form denotes a number of separate persons or things. |
| 268. Of the many classes of nouns three that we have studied, — proper, collective, and gender specific nouns, — are the only ones that may affect the form of what we write. It is good to know about another important class. | ||
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269. Nouns of this class apply to what cannot take up room, or be weighed, or touched, or moved.
Thus, — Motion, movement, hurry, race, speed, distance, absence. Beauty, color, freshness, brilliancy, gleam, warmth. Harmony, music, tune, discord, sound, disturbance, war. They are called Abstract nouns because they are names of qualities, etc., considered separately from the objects to which they belong. “Abstract” means drawn off, separated. | ||
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270. Kinds. Of the many kinds of abstract nouns, the most important are — 1. Nouns that name a quality or condition; as, —
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| 271. An Abstract Noun is the name of a quality, a condition, or an action. |
| 272. Besides using adjectives or other modifiers to show just what a word refers to, it is often necessary to change the form of the word according to its different uses or applications; i.e., to inflect it. The study of forms undertaken in this section belongs to the division of grammar called Morphology (cf. Appendix B). When we describe the written form, the morphology relates to Orthography (cf. Appendix C). If the description were to be in terms of the sound, the morphology would relate to Phonology (cf. Appendix A). |
| 273. The most common change in the form of a noun is that by which we express Number. [See §§ 229f.] | |||||||||||||||||||||
274. Most nouns have two number forms, the singular and the plural.
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275. RULE I. — Most nouns are made plural by adding s to the singular.
Thus: —
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276. RULE II. — Letters, figures, signs, etc., are made plural by adding ’s.
Thus: — Do not make your r’s and v’s alike. Cancel the 9’s. Make the +’s and –’s larger. |
| 277. Some nouns end with a sound so much like that of s that the conventions of English pronunciation require us to make another syllable. Thus: — | |||||||||||||||
278. RULE III. — Nouns ending in s, x, z, sh, ch (soft) form the plural by adding es to the singular.
Thus: —
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279. Some nouns require other changes to be made in forming the plural. Notice those ending in y. Which of them end in y after a consonant? What is the change in the plural?
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280. RULE IV. — If the singular ends in y after a consonant, y becomes ie in the plural.
Thus: — Pony, ponies; sty, sties; cry, cries; body, bodies. Also, soliloquy, soliloquies; colloquy, colloquies. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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281. RULE V. — Thirteen nouns ending in f, and three in fe, form the plural in ves.
They are — Beef, beeves; calf, calves; elf, elves; half, halves; leaf, leaves; loaf, loaves; self, selves; sheaf, sheaves; shelf, shelves; staff, staves; thief, thieves; wharf, wharves; wolf, wolves; knife, knives; life, lives; wife, wives. All other nouns in f or fe are regular, adding only s. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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282. RULE VI. — About forty nouns ending in o, after a consonant form the plural in es. The most common ones are — Buffalo, cargo, calico, echo, embargo, flamingo, hero, mosquito, motto, mulatto, negro, potato, tomato, tornado, torpedo, volcano, veto. (Plural: buffaloes, cargoes, calicoes, etc.) Most nouns in o (several hundred in all) are regular, adding only s. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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283. RULE VII. — Nine common nouns always form their plural without s.
They are — Man, men; ox, oxen; goose, geese; woman, women; foot, feet; mouse, mice; child, children; tooth, teeth; louse, lice. German, Mussulman, Turcoman, ottoman, talisman, are not compounds of man, and therefore form their plural in s. |
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284. Proper nouns, when made plural, generally follow the same rules as common nouns.
Thus we write: — All the Beechers; the Adamses; the Alleghanies; several Mr. Smiths; both the Miss Hudsons; the two Gen. Johnstons; one of the Dr. Davises; the Mrs. Wrights. But — ( a ) To prevent confusion, we may make the fewest changes possible in the forms of proper nouns, and may write, for example, the eight Henrys, the Marys, the two Miss Carys, instead of the Henries, the Maries, the Caries. This has nowadays become obligatory, especially in BrE. ( b ) In referring to members of one family, or to partners in business, we may give the plural form to the title “Mr.” or “Miss” instead of the name itself. Thus we may say — Mr. Hayes, or the Messrs. Hayes; Miss Sands, or the Misses Sands. ( c ) A title is, of course, made plural when used with several names. Thus: — Messrs. Long and Collins; Misses Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë; Drs. Brown and White; Gens. Lee and Jackson. This construction is now generally avoided. |
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285. Most Compound nouns form their plural like simple nouns by changing the final syllable.
Thus: — Frenchmen; greenhouses; flagstaffs; handfuls; courtyards; major generals; four-in-hands; forget-me-nots; jack-in-the-pulpits; three-per-cents; pianofortes. ( a ) A few compounds are made plural by changing the first part, which the rest of the word merely describes. Thus: — Brothers-in-law; sisters-in-law; sons-in-law; daughters-in-law; fathers-in-law; mothers-in-law; attorneys-general; postmasters-general; commanders-in-chief; generals-in-chief; aides-de-camp; courts-martial; cousins-german; hangers-on; lookers-on; knights-errant; men-of-war; and a few others. ( b ) Exceptionally both parts are changed, as in man-servant, men-servants. |
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286. Foreign Plurals. Many words taken without change from other languages retain their foreign plurals.
This is particularly true of nouns taken by scientists and philosophers from Latin and Greek.
Thus: — Larva, larvæ; vertebra, vertebræ; alumnus, alumni; focus, foci; fungus, fungi; radius, radii; stratum, strata; axis, axes; crisis, crises; ellipsis, ellipses; oasis, oases; genus, genera; phenomenon, phenomena; etc. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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287. Some nouns have the same form for both singular and plural meanings.
We can tell the number of such nouns only by the context.
Among them are — ( a ) Deer, sheep, swine, alms, gross, — always singular in form. ( b ) Amends, means, odds, pains, wages, — always plural in form. ( c ) Brick, cannon, heathen, shot, sail; grouse, salmon, and many names of fish and of game; head, brace, score, hundred, and other words referring to number or to quantity. These have also regular plurals with a meaning different from that of the singular. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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288. ( a ) Some nouns, from the nature of what is meant, are almost always singular.
[See § 270.]
As, — Wisdom, music, temperance, honesty, etc. ( b ) And some are always plural. As, — Ashes, annals, antipodes, measles, nuptials, scissors, shears, tidings, victuals, vitals, etc. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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289. ( a ) Some nouns are plural in form but singular in meaning.
As, — News, gallows, and nouns in -ics, — politics, mathematics, ethics, etc. ( b ) And some singular in form, may be plural in meaning. As, — Army, kin, committee, and other collective nouns. Also, cattle, people. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
290. Some nouns used in two senses have two plural forms.
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| 291. Besides having number forms to show singular or plural meaning, nouns have also what are called Case forms, according to their use in a sentence. But there is only one of the various uses for which a special form is required. | |||||||
| 292. Nouns have two case forms or cases, — the general or common form, for all uses but one; and the special or possessive form, used to show ownership or possession. | |||||||
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293. The possessive form of nouns is made by adding to the common form an apostrophe and s [’s], or an apostrophe alone [’], according to the following RULE. — To plural nouns ending in s add an apostrophe; to all other nouns add an apostrophe and s. Thus: — Day’s, days’; man’s, men’s; lady’s, ladies’; Mr. Hay’s; Mr. Hayes’s house; ostrich’s, ostriches’. NOTE 1. In words ending with a sound that resembles that of s, the apostrophe with s forms an additional syllable. Thus: — James’s; Miss Finch’s [pron. James-ez, Finch-ez]. NOTE 2. The only exception to the rule occurs in such expressions as conscience’ sake, goodness’ sake, righteousness’ sake, Jesus’ sake, where the apostrophe alone is added to avoid the long hissing sound. NOTE 3. In forming the possessive of compound nouns or of noun phrases, the possessive sign is always placed at the end. [§ 285.] Thus: —
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294. The meaning of the possessive case may often be expressed by the use of the preposition of and its object.
Thus: — “My uncle’s death” or “The death of my uncle.” |
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295. A possessive does not always show ownership.
It may denote — 1. Origin; as in — “I own Scott’s novels” and “She uses Buttrick’s patterns.” Or — 2. Kind; as in — “He sells women’s shoes and men’s hats,” and “She has a man’s voice.” |
