ON GENDER.

Gender is the distinction of objects with regard tc

sex.

There are three genders,-the masculine, the feminine, and the neuter.

Nouns, which denote males, are of the masculine gender; as, man, brother, king, father.

Nouns, which denote females, are of the feminine gender; as, woman, sister, queen, mother.

Nouns, which denote objects neither male nor female, are of the neuter gender; as, rock, wind, paper, knowledge.

Some nouns are equally applicable to both sexes: as, cousin, friend, neighbour, parent, person, servant. The gender of these is usually determined by the context. To such words some grammarians have applied the unnecessary and improper term common gender. Murray justly observes, "There is no such gender belonging to the language. The business of parsing can be effectually performed without having recourse to a common gender."-The term is more useful, and less liable to objection, as applied to the learned languages; but with us it is plainly a solecism.

Nouns of the masculine or feminine gender are frequently used in a general sense, including both sexes; as, "And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider," Jer. li. 21. "Go to the ant, thou sluggard conside: her ways, and be wise," Prov. vi. 6.

When we speak of males and females of our own species without regard to sex, we generally employ a term in the masculine gender; as, "Man is mor “The authors and poets of the age.”

tal;"

In speaking of young children, and of animate objects, whose sex is unknown, we often employ the neuter pronoun it; as, "The child was well, when I saw it;" "He caught the bird, but it soon escaped from him."

In the English language the gender of nouns follows the order of nature; but in the Greek, Latin,, and German tongues, the grammatical genders are frequently assigned without regard to sex; while in the French, Italian, &c., which have no neuter gender, every object is, of necessity, regarded as either masculine or feminine.

By a figure of speech called Personification, gender is sometimes attributed to objects without sex. Thus the sun, time, death, &c., are usually considered as masculine; and the earth, a ship, virtue, &c.. are commonly characterised as feminine.

This figurative mode of expression, by which we give life and sex to things inanimate, contributes greatly to the force and beauty of our language, and renders it, in this respect, superior to the polished languages of Greece and Rome.

No fixed rule can be given to determine, in all cases, which gender should be assigned to inanimate objects personified. Those, which are distinguished for boldness or strength, are generally regarded as masculine; and those, which are distinguished for beauty or timidity, are generally characterised as

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.

"Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound, Save his own dashings."-Bryant.

"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
Averts her blushful face."-Thomson.

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 o tly 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, ge niuses [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, spoonfuls, 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 ?"-Camp bell's "Philosophy of Rhetoric.”