feminine. Abstract nouns, and the names of ships, cities, and countries, are usually considered as feminine. Examples:-"They arrived too late to save the ship, for the violent current had set her more and more upon the bank.”. ."—Irving. "Statesmen scoffed at Virtue, and she avenged herself by bringing their counsels to naught.”—Russell. "Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God." Coleridge. 66 'Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound, Save his own dashings."-Bryant. 66 "The oak Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould."-Bryant. Child of the Sun, refulgent Summer comes: He comes attended by the sultry hours, And ever-fanning breezes, on his way; While, from his ardent looks, the turning Spring ON THE FORMATION OF THE PLURAL NUMBER OF NOUNS. The plural of nouns is generally formed by adding s or es to the singular. Words ending in a sound, which will unite with the sound of s, form the plural by adding s only; as, herd, herds; tree, trees. Words ending in a sound, which will not unite with the sound of s, form the plural by adding es ; as, fox, foxes; lash, lashes. Words ending in silent e, whose last sound will not combine with the sound of s, add s only for the plural; as, rose, roses; voice, voices. Most nouns ending in o, preceded by a consonant, form the plural by the addition of es; as, cargo, cargoes; hero, heroes; but the following nouns are commonly written in the plural with s only :-canto, folio, grotto, junto, motto, memento, nuncio, punctilio, portico, quarto, octavo, solo, zero, seraglio, and tyro. There are also a few others, with respect to which, usage is not uniform. Several nouns ending in for fe change their termination into ves in the plural; as, loaf, loaves; life, lives; beef, beeves; shelf, shelves; knife, knives. Others, as, chief, dwarf, five, grief, gulf, handkerchief, hoof, proof, roof, reproof, safe, scarf, strife, surf, turf, and most of those ending in ff, form the plural regularly; as, gulf, gulfs; muff, muffs. Staff has staves in the plural, but its compounds are regular; as, flagstaff, flagstaffs. Nouns ending in y after a consonant form the plural by changing y into ies; as, lady, ladies. But nouns ending in y after a vowel form the plural regularly; as, day, days. Many words ending in y. were formerly spelled with ie in the singular; as, glorie, vanitie. The termination ie in the singular is now laid aside for y, while the old plural termination ies is retained; as, glory, glories; vanity, vanities. The plurals of the following nouns are variously formed :-man, men; woman, women; child, children; ox, oxen; mouse, mice; tooth, teeth; goose, geese; foot, feet; brother, brothers [when applied to persons of the same family]; brother, brethren [when applied to persons of the same society or profession]; die, dies [stamps for coining]; die, dice [small cubes for gaming]; genius, genii [aërial spirits]; genius, geniuses [men of genius]; pea, pease [the species]; pea, peas [the seeds as distinct objects]; penny, pence [in computation]; penny, pennies [as distinct pieces of coin]. Spoonful, mouse-trap, camera-obscura, Ave-Maria, and other similiar compound nouns form the plural regularly; as, spconfuls, mouse-traps, camera-obscuras, Ave-Marias. But words, composed of an adjective and a noun, or of two nouns connected by a preposition, generally form the plural by adding s to the first words; as, court-martial, courts-martial; knight-errant, knights-errant; aide-de-camp, aidesde-camp; cousin-german, cousins-german; son-in-law, sons-in-law. Letters and numeral figures are generally pluralised by adding an apostrophe with the letter s; as, Twelve a's; three 5's. The plural of words, considered as words merely, is formed in the same manner. Examples: I busied myself in crossing my t's and dotting my i's very industriously."-Willis. "The first or leading figures change from 9's to O's."-Hutton. " Who, that has any taste, can endure the incessant, quick returns of the also's, and the likewise's, and the moreover's, and the however's, and the notwithstanding's ?"-Campbell's "Philosophy of Rhetoric." |