62. Participial Nouns are usually formed by adding ing to the verb from which they are derived. EXAMPLES of participial nouns : 1. Running tires me. 2. Writing is a good exercise. 3. Speaking relieved him. 4. He loves hunting. 5. Men are punished for stealing. 6. Withholding the truth is almost as bad as lying." 63. In these examples running, writing, speaking, and withholding are participial nouns, names of certain acts; they are all subjects of sentences. Hunting is a participial noun, object in a sentence. Stealing is a participial noun, the essential element of a phrase. 64. Verbal nouns which are infinitives have the same form as the verb, with the word to generally prefixed. EXAMPLES of infinitives which are verbal nouns : 1. To err is human. 2. To hear him is pleasant. 3. They wish to depart. 4. He undertook to astonish us. 5. His ambition is to excel. Το 65. In the above examples, to err, to hear, to depart, to astonish, and to excel are verbal nouns, infinitives. They are used as the names of certain acts. hear and to err are subjects, to depart and to astonish are objects, and to excel is complement of a neuter sentence. Verbal nouns will be more fully explained hereafter. (See 383.) QUESTIONS, EXAMPLES, AND. EXERCISES. From what do words take their names? How are they arranged? Point out the nouns in the following examples. Define nouns. 1. The city was built on a hill. 2. Wellington commanded the British at Waterloo. 4. Silkworms feed on the leaves of a certain tree. 5. The thievish boys stole the apples. 6. Corn grows in the field. What is a collective noun? Give examples. Define a verbal noun. How many kinds are there? What are they? How are they formed? Point out the collective and the verbal nouns in the following exercises. 1. The army now became a turbulent mob. 2. The Indian hates farming. 3. Studying tires me. 4. The company heard the firing. 5. The crowd poured through the streets. Point out the nouns in the following quotation. [Note.-A few of the more difficult ones in this and some succeeding lessons are italicized.] "It was pleasant to see Dot, with her little figure, and her baby in her arms; a very doll of a baby; glancing with a coquettish thoughtfulness at the fire, and inclining her delicate little head just enough on one side to let it rest in an odd, half-natural, half-affected, wholly nestling and agreeable manner, on the great, rugged figure of the Carrier. It was pleasant to see him, with his tender awkwardness endeavoring to adapt his rude support to her slight need, and make his burly middle-age a leaning-staff not inappropriate to her blooming youth. It was pleasant to observe how Tilly Slowboy, waiting in the background for the baby, took special cognizance (though in her earliest teens) of this grouping; and stood with her mouth and eyes wide open, and her head thrust forward, taking it in as though it were air. Nor was it less agreeable to observe how John the Carrier, reference being made by Dot to the aforesaid baby, checked his hand when on the point of touching the infant, as if he thought he might crack it; and, bending down, surveyed it from a safe distance, with a kind of puzzled pride, such as an amiable mastiff might be supposed to show if he found himself, one day, the father of a young canary.” -Cricket on the Hearth. LESSON XIII. 66. TO THE TEACHER.-Impress upon the learner the fact that all names-names of feelings, emotions, passions, causes, effects, actions, states of being, names of words, syllables, letters, etc., etc.—are nouns; also, that words which are usually adverbs, when used as the name of a time or place are nouns; in short, that the name of any thing that is an object of perception or of thought is a noun, and the following lesson will present no unconquerable difficulties. Some teachers will, however, pre fer to defer it till the review. If the exercises in the book are not suf ficient, add more, and proceed slowly and thoroughly. A pleasant exercise may be introduced here, an exercise which will be found useful with other parts of speech as the class advances. Read very slowly from a book, allowing the class to say noun whenever one is read. Care must be taken not to mark the nouns with special emphasis, inflection, or tone. 67. Point out all the nouns in the following quotations and examples. 1. If you can not parse he, you can not parse it. 2. And is a co-ordinate connective. 3. "The line A, B, let fall on the line C, D, forms a right angle." 4. Anger is a stormy passion. 5. Prejudice distorts our judgment. 6. Can you spell "that"? 7. Is "strike" a verb ? 8. Tell me the truth without any "ifs" or "ands." 9. We want to know the how of it. 10. The why of it is as plain as day. 11. Until then he was unruly. 12. Can't is a little word, but a mischief-making one. 13. Danger and death are on every side. 14. You have been obedient till now. 15. Thou too sail on, O Ship of State ! With all its hopes of coming years, Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, Are all with thee,—are all with thee ! LESSON XIV. GENDER.-MASCULINE AND FEMININE GENDERS.-EITHER AND NEITHER GENDER.-HOW GENDER IS DISTINGUISHED. PERSONIFICATION. 68. To nouns belong gender, person, number, and office call १ GENDER. 69. Gender is that variation of nouns which distinguishes sex. 70. Nouns have two genders, viz., Masculine and Feminine. 71. The Masculine Gender includes the names of males. EXAMPLES.-Ox, boy, Thomas, lion, bull. 72. The Feminine Gender includes the names of females. EXAMPLES.-Girl, cow, Mary, lioness. 73. Names of objects that have an unknown sex are said to be Either or Common Gender. EXAMPLES.-Parent, bird, cousin, sheep. 74. Names of objects which have no sex are said to be Neither or Neuter Gender. EXAMPLES.-Rock, stone, tree, dust, cloud, road. 75. TO THE TEACHER.-In parsing nouns or pronouns that are not plainly masculine or feminine, it is useless to say any thing respecting |