the attempt, though I fear that I shall fail. 5. He speaks so low that he can not be heard. 6. Remain where you are till I return. 7. He will neither come, nor send an apology. 8. It is as cold as Iceland. 9. I know not whether to go or to remain. 10. Ask James if he is ready; and if he is ready, tell him to follow as quickly as he can. 11. He did not deserve to succeed; for he made no effort, and showed no interest. unless you call me, nor will I remain if I can avoid it. Whether he was combined

13.

With those of Norway; or did line the rebel

With hidden help and vantage; or that with both

12. I shall not go

He labor'd in his country's wrack, I know not.-Shakspeare.

14. I can wonder at nothing more than how a man can be idle; but of all others a scholar.-Hall.

15.

Some murmur when their sky is clear,

And wholly bright to view,

If one small speck of dark appear

In their great heaven of blue.-Trench.

16. The precise era of the invention and application of gunpowder is involved in doubtful traditions and equivocal language; yet we may clearly discern that it was known before the middle of the fourteenth century; and that, before the end of the same, the use of artillery in battles and sieges, by sea and land, was familiar to the states of Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and England.—Gibbon.

86. In the following Exercise, the pupil is required to name not only the part of speech, but the subdivision (if any) to which each word belongs.

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

The....The definite article, limiting paths.

paths...A common noun.

of......A preposition, linking glory to paths: adjective relation.

glory...A common noun.

lead....A complete verb.

but.....An adverb of manner (=only), modifying the adverbial expression

'to the grave.'

to......A preposition, linking grave to lead: adverbial relation,

the.....The definite article, limiting grave.

grave...A common noun.

Exercise 18.
A.

Proceed as in the Model:

1. Then shrieked the timid.-Byron.

2. The grave is the ordeal of true affection.-W. Irving.
3. So hard a winter had not been known for years.-Milman.
4. When that the poor have cried, Cæsar hath wept.-Shakspeare.
5. Each thought on the woman who loved him best.-Kingsley.

6. The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike the inevitable hour.-Gray.

7. We can show you where he lies.-Scott.

8. Surely, said I, man is but a shadow, and life a dream.-Addison.

9. What did he achieve and suffer in the world?—Carlyle.

10. When my time was expired, I worked my passage home; and glad I was to see Old England again, because I loved my country.-Goldsmith.

CHAPTER III.

INFLECTION.

87. Inflection treats of the changes made in words to express various relations and uses.

88. We can say-boy, and boy's, and boys.
We can say-man, and man's, and men.

We can say-sweet, and sweeter, and sweetest.
We can say walk, and walking, and walked.
We can say-he, and we can say his, and him.

These are some illustrations of changes in the forms
of words.

Inflection enumerates and explains all the possible forms of each part of speech; Syntax directs which form it is proper to use in each particular

case.

89. Inflections generally consist of an addition at the end; as boy-'s, lion-ess, swim-s. Sometimes, however, the change is made within the word itself; as man, men; rise, rose.

90. Of the eight classes of words, three-the Conjunction, the Preposition, and the Interjection-are uninflected. In these there is, therefore, no liability to use a wrong form. The inflected Parts of Speech are five, namely, the Noun, the Pronoun, the Adjective, the Verb, and the Adverb.

I. The Noun.

91. Nouns are inflected to express differences of Number, of Case, and of Gender.

I. NUMBER.

92. There are two Numbers, the Singular Number and the Plural Number. A noun is Singular when it names one thing, as book; Plural when it names more than one, as books.

93. RULE I. The Plural is generally formed by adding s to the Singular; as book, book-s.

There were various modes of forming the plural of Anglo-Saxon Nouns ; as in an (steor, a star, steorran) and in a (gifa, gifts, plural of gifu). Another class of Anglo-Saxon Nouns formed their plural in -as, which in later English became -es, and ultimately -s. This form of the plural-ending became the main one probably on account of its similarity to the NormanFrench plural ending s.

94. RULE II. Nouns ending in sounds that do not easily. combine with s form their plural by adding es; as loss-es, fish-es, church-es.

(a) The sounds that do not easily combine with s are ch soft, sh, ss, s,

and x.

(6) Nouns ending in o or i after a consonant form the plural by adding es; as, hero, heroes; alkali, alkalies. The reason of this is that the regu

lar plural would give the short sound of o and i=herŎs, alkalis.

95. RULE III. Nouns ending in y, following a consonant, change the y for i, and add es for the plural; as duty, duties; glory, glories.

A reason for this irregularity may be found in the fact that, formerly, such words as 'duty,' 'glory,' were written dutie, glorie, and the plural was regularly formed by adding s.

96. RULE IV. Nouns ending in for fe make the plural by changing for fe into v, and adding es sounded like z; as wolf, wolves; wife, wives.

(a) The reason of this irregularity is that, in Anglo-Saxon, the singular of these nouns ended in ve.

(b) Some few nouns ending in ff, oof, rf, and fe, follow the general rule, and add merely s; as hoof, turf, stuff, fife, strife, reef.

(c) Wharf has two plurals, wharfs and wharves.

97. SAXON NOUNS. A few nouns of Saxon origin form their plural by changing the vowel sound of the singular. They are man, men, woman, women; foot, feet; goose, geese; tooth, teeth; mouse, mice; louse, lice.

A few old Saxon nouns form their plurals in en; as, ox, oxen; brother, brethren. Children, the plural of child, has a peculiar double termination. It is thus accounted for: The Scandinavian plural ending er would make the word childer (still to be heard in Ireland); the English plural would be childen. Our plural is a compound of both.

98. FOREIGN NOUNS. Most foreign nouns retain their foreign plurals.

1. Pure Latin nouns adopted into our language generally retain their Latin endings:

2. Pure Greek nouns adopted into our language retain the Greek endings in the plural; thus

Nouns in is form the plural in es; as, crisis, crises.

66

66

66

66

on

66

a; as, phenomenon, phenomena.

3. Some words adopted from other sources retain their original plurals. Thus

Hebrew.-Cherub becomes cherubim.

99. DOUBLE PLURALS. Certain nouns have two forms of the plural, one regular, the other irregular. These distinctive forms have usually different meanings. Thus

Sing.

Plur.

Brother... ...brothers (by birth). ..brethren (of a community). ..cloth (kinds of cloth)......clothes (garments).

Cloth

...dies (stamps for coining)..dice (for play).

.geniuses (men of talent)...genii (spirits).

Die....

Genius..

Index..

.indexes (contents)..

.indices (algebraic signs).

Pea..

peas (regular)...

pease (collective).

Penny

.pennies (regular)..

.pence (collective).

.staffs (military term).

Shot.

..shot (balls)...

..shots (number of rounds).

Fish ..fish (collective)..

..fishes (individuals).

..letters (of the alphabet)...letters (literature).

101. Compound nouns generally form their plural by inflecting the principal noun; as, sons-in-law; courts-martial; maid-servants.

(a) When the words are so closely joined in sense that the meaning is not complete till the whole is known, the s is added at the end; as, pailfuls, cup-fuls, forget-me nots.

(b) We may say either the Misses Brown,' or 'the Miss Browns,' or even the Misses Browns.'

(c) A firm of Browns is named in England 'the Messrs. Brown,' but we say 'Brown Brothers.'

102. The following peculiarities are to be noted:

News.....

Means.....

Summons..

Entrails.

Hustings.

Lees.

Summons.

Matins.

Thanks.

Measles.

Tidings.

News.

Tongs.

Nuptials.

Trowsers.

Oats.

Vespers.

Obsequies.

Odds.

Pincers.

..seems to be plural, but it is really
rived from the French richesse.
should be riches profits not.

Victuals.
Vitals.
Pantaloons.

singular, being deRiches profit not

.in old English was plural. It is now uniformly singu-
lar; as, ill news runs apace.

is to be used in the singular when the signification is.
singular, and in the plural when the signification is
plural. We may say, this means or those means.
.has a regular, derived plural, summonses.

..is plural in form, but is really singular, being derived
from the Anglo-Saxon almesse.

represent Greek plurals, but are now treated as singular. Mathematics is an improving study. Optics is the science of light.

Some of these words have also regular plurals, with a distributive meaning; as, fishes, cannons, pikes.

3. Nouns with a different meaning in the Plural:

Give the PLURAL of the following Nouns:

1. Pen; desk; book; knife; fox; ox; foot; foot-man.
2. Candle; map; cage; calf; class; hat; sky; toy.