in the plural: others of precisely similar character occur in the plural, but always in some special sense. Men means more than one man, but tins does not mean more than a certain quantity of tin, nor sugars more than a certain quantity of sugar. Tins means cases made of tin; coppers means coins made of copper; irons, fetters made of iron; slates, tiles made of slate; sugars, teas, calicoes, wines, mean different sorts or varieties of these commodities, and in these plural forms the nouns are common nouns. +

77. A Collective Noun is one which denotes a number of things regarded as forming a whole. Such nouns as mob, regiment, flock, congregation, are collective. Both plurals and collectives denote a number of things: boys, cricketers, soldiers, sailors, are plurals. But collectives denote a number of things taken in the aggregate and viewed as forming a single group; school, team, army, crew, are collectives. Collective nouns are

mostly common: there are several schools, teams, armies, crews. Sometimes however we use them in a restricted sense as applicable to only one object. Thus, if I say 'The Queen opened Parliament,' the common collective noun parliament has its application narrowed down to one assembly, just as the common noun queen has its application narrowed down to one person.

Collective nouns are also called Nouns of Multitude, and in using them we sometimes think of the individuals included in the group rather than of the group as a whole. Hence these nouns are found with either singular or plural predicates. We may say 'Parliament was unanimous,' if the thought uppermost in our minds is the assembly as a whole, but we may say 'Parliament were all sixes and sevens,' if we are thinking of the assembly as divided into different parties.

78. Abstract and Concrete Nouns.

Not that the qualiboy, or from some

Consider the qualities of the boy sitting opposite. You say he is handsome or plain, clever or stupid, industrious or lazy, thin or fat, tall or short, and so on. To these qualities we give names and speak of the handsomeness or plainness, cleverness or stupidity, etc., of the boy. ties can actually exist apart from the other subject which possesses them. We cannot separate the boy's stupidity or fatness and say 'There is the boy, and here I have got his stupidity.' But though the qualities have no separate and independent existence, we can consider them separately. We can abstract our thoughts from the boy's other qualities and can think and speak of his stupidity; and then, abstracting our attention from the other points of interest which he presents, we can think and speak of his fatness. The names of the qualities which we isolate from the rest by this process of abstraction are called Abstract Nouns: the names of the things which possess the qualities are called Concrete Nouns.

A Concrete Noun is the name of a thing regarded as possessing attributes.

An Abstract Noun is the name of an attribute or quality of a thing.

For many qualities or attributes no abstract names exist. If a boy is brown-haired or first man out of the eleven, he has the qualities of brown-hairedness and of first-man-outof-the-elevenness; but when there is seldom occasion to speak of qualities, such qualities have not received names, especially if the names would be long and awkward. We can speak of squareness and redness; not of oblongness and vermilionness.

79. Many nouns are abstract in one sense and concrete in another. When we say 'His industry

is remarkable,' the word industry is abstract; it denotes a quality or attribute. But when we say 'The cotton industry is carried on in the north,' industry is concrete. We can use it in this latter sense in the plural and speak of 'the cotton and iron industries.' Now an abstract noun while it remains abstract cannot be used in the plural. It seems, no doubt, as if it could be so used sometimes. Thus the Prayer-Book has the expression 'negligences and ignorances.' But these plurals signify acts or instances of negligence and ignorance, and the words have become concrete. If we say 'Beauty is a perishable gift,' beauty is an abstract noun; if we say 'The baby is a little beauty,' it is concrete. Length is abstract when we speak of 'the length of the course;' it is concrete when we say that 'Oxford won by two lengths.'

80. Modes of formation of Abstract Nouns.

(a) Most abstract nouns are formed from adjectives by adding -ness, as goodness from good: some are formed by adding -th, as truth, sloth, from true, slow: these forms are of English origin. Latin abstract terminations are seen in -ty or -ity, as honesty, stupidity, and in -ce, as justice, temperance.

(b) Some are formed from verbs by adding -ion, as possession, instruction.

(c) Some from nouns, as priesthood, bondage, serfdom, friendship, hatred, slavery.

QUESTIONS.

I. Take these names and say of each whether it is Proper, Singular, Common, Collective, Abstract, Concrete :-island, Somerset House, hope, a Nero, fleet, the last Chancellor of the Exchequer, truth, universe, chloroform, friendship, nobility. Give the reason for your answer in each

case.

2. State what nouns we get from the following names (a) of persons: -Augustus Caesar, Captain Boycott, Epicurus, Dr Guillotin, James II. (Lat. Jacobus), Colonel Negus, Philip of Macedon, Simon Magus, Duns Scotus: (b) of places:—Bayonne, Calicut, Canterbury, Damascus, Milan, Spain.

3. The following nouns are names of materials, but they can be used in the plural. When so used, what meanings do they bear?— paper, tea, stone, wood, sand, salt.

4. What is a noun? Is the paper on which you are writing a noun? Shew that the second part of your answer is consistent with your definition.

5. Give examples of collective nouns and of names of materials. When are collective nouns treated as singular, and when as plural? Do names of materials ever admit of a plural?

6.

Correct-'We must be careful of our healths.'

7. Assign each of the nouns in italics in the following sentences to its proper class. Give reasons for your answers.

(a) The Terror sailed yesterday.

(b) The nobility opposed the Crown.

(c) At the noise of the thunder she lost courage.

8. Define Abstract Noun, and give the derivation of the term abstract. Form an Abstract Noun from (1) an Adjective, (2) a Verb, (3) a Common Noun.

CHAPTER IX.

INFLEXION OF NOUNS.-I. GENDER.

81. Nouns are inflected, that is to say, they undergo a change of form, to indicate Gender, Number, and Case. In English however these distinctions are often made without any inflexion.

82. Sex is a natural distinction which we find existing in the sentient creatures around us; they are male or female. Gender is a grammatical distinction which we make in words, corresponding, in English, to the natural distinction in the sentient creatures. Words are masculine or feminine according as the objects to which they are applied are male or female. The names of the things around us which are without sex,—and such names form by far the largest portion of the nouns in our vocabulary,—are said to be of neuter gender, i.e. of neither masculine nor feminine gender. Some nouns are used to denote objects of either sex, such as parent, sovereign painter, attendant. These nouns are said to be of common gender.

83. Comparing gender in English with gender as we see it in Latin or German, we note these points of difference.

1. In English, gender corresponds with sex.