78. [There are many other foreign nouns, especially Greek and Latin ones, in use, and the following general rules will enable pupils to form their plurals 1. When the sing. ends in a, the plural ends in a as formula, formulæ. (But dogma, plur. dogmăta; and miasma, plur. miasmăta.) 2. When the sing. ends in is, the plural ends in es, as hypothesis, hypotheses. 3. When the sing. ends in um or on, the plural ends a, ‚as errātum, errāta; animalculum, animalcăla; automăton, automăta. in 4. When the sing. ends in us, the plural ends in i, as magus, māgi. (But genus has genĕra.) 5. When the sing. ends in ex or ix, the plural ends in ices, as apex, apices; vertex, vertices; appendix, appendices. Some of the Greek and Latin nouns in use are only employed in the plural; as antipodes, aborigines, literāti, minutia, agenda, epheměra, &c.] LESSON IX. Irregular and Peculiar Plurals. 79. Nouns ending in a single f, or in lf or fe, change ƒ into v in the plural, as leaf, leaves; wolf, wolves; knife, knives. (Fife, however, has fifes, and strife, strifes). But nouns ending in ff, oof, ief, and rf, have regular plurals, except staff, staves; thief, thieves; wharf, wharves.-Staff has the regular plural when it signifies a number of officers in attendance on a General. And the compounds of staff have also regular plurals. 80. The following nouns have peculiar plurals : man, men, woman, women; child, children; ox, oxen; goose, geese; foot, feet; tooth, teeth; mouse, mice. 81. Some nouns have two different plurals according to the sense in which they are used; The noun penny has two plurals, pennies and pence. The former refers to number, and denotes separate coins, as six pennies; the latter refers to value or sum, as sixpence, and hence sixpence is commonly used as a singular noun, as a sixpence, a silver sixpence. 82. Compound Nouns do not all form their plurals after the same manner. (1.) Compound nouns made up of two nouns joined together, pluralize the last noun only, as bookseller, booksellers; mousetrap, mousetraps; (but both nouns are pluralized in manservant, menservants ; womanservant, womenservants). (2.) Compound nouns made up of two nouns joined by a The names of sciences ending in ics are plural in form, but are commonly singular in sense, as mathematics, optics, physics, &c. LESSON X. Case. 83. Nouns have three cases in each number: the Nominative case, the Possessive case, and the Objective case. 84. The Nominative case denotes the person or thing that acts. [Thus in the sentence: The boy learns his lesson, the noun boy is in the Nominative case because it denotes the person that performs the act of learning.] 85. The Possessive case denotes the possessor of something, as The boy's books. 86. The Objective case denotes the object of an action, that is, the person or thing that the action is performed upon. [Thus in the sentence: The boy learns his lesson, the noun lesson is in the Objective case because it denotes the thing affected by the act of learning.] 87. The Nominative case and the Objective case are always alike in nouns. 88. The Possessive case singular is formed from the Nominative singular by adding to it an apostrophe and the letters; as father, father's. 89. The Possessive case plural is formed from the Nominative plural by adding to it the apostrophe only; as fathers, fathers'. 90. [Apostrophe is a Greek word which means" a turning away;" and the little mark, like a comma, used in forming the Possessive case, is called an apostrophe, because it shows that a letter has been turned away from the place it formerly occupied. This letter was generally e, but sometimes i. Thus smith's was formerly written smithes, and king's was often written kingis.] 91. When the Nominative singular ends in any sound that will not readily combine with the sound of 8, the Possessive case singular is sometimes formed by adding the apostrophe only to the Nominative singular. 92. [This occurs in nouns ending in es, ss, and ce. Thus we say Moses' rod, instead of Moses's rod; For goodness' sake, instead of For goodness's sake; For justice' sake, instead of For justice's sake, &c. 93. [Such possessives, however, are very rarely used, and indeed should be always avoided. Instead of Moses' rod, For justice' sake, &c. we should rather say: The rod of Moses, For the sake of justice, &c. We should never say: The duchess' carriage, or The Princess' retinue, or The actress' robes, or James' brother, &c.] 94. When the Nominative plural does not end in 8, the Possessive plural is formed by adding the apostrophe and the letter s, as men, men's; women, women's; children, children's. 95. To decline a noun, or the declension of a a noun, means the stating of the three cases of each number in regular order. Nom. Sing. Father Thus :- 96. Strictly speaking, it is only nouns denoting persons and other animals that are used in the possessive case. [Thus, while it is proper to say: John's book, My father's house, The horse's mane, The cow's horns, The cat's tail, &c., it is not proper to say: The tree's bark, or The rose's smell, The house's windows, or The garden's flowers. In poetry such possessives are sometimes found, but in speaking and in prose writing they should never be used.] LESSON XI. Adjectives. 97. An Adjective is a word used to qualify a noun; as a good man, a large town, an expensive book, great goodness, five shillings. 98. [The phrase: "to qualify a noun" means simply "to express some quality or circumstance belonging to the PERSON or THING denoted by the noun."] 99. An Adjective always refers to a noun; but |