An English Grammar Part 2

Besides considering persons, animals, and things separately, we may think of them in groups, and appropriate names to the groups.

Thus, men in groups may be called a _crowd_, or a _mob_, a _committee_, or a _council_, or a _congress_, etc.

These are called COLLECTIVE NOUNS. They properly belong under common nouns, because each group is considered as a unit, and the name applied to it belongs to any group of its cla.s.s.

[Sidenote: _Names for things thought of in ma.s.s._]

6. The definition given for common nouns applies more strictly to cla.s.s nouns. It may, however, be correctly used for another group of nouns detailed below; for they are common nouns in the sense that the names apply to _every particle of similar substance_, instead of to each individual or separate object.

They are called MATERIAL NOUNS. Such are _gla.s.s_, _iron_, _clay_, _frost_, _rain_, _snow_, _wheat_, _wine_, _tea_, _sugar_, etc.

They may be placed in groups as follows:--

(1) The metals: _iron_, _gold_, _platinum_, etc.

(2) Products spoken of in bulk: _tea_, _sugar_, _rice_, _wheat_, etc.

(3) Geological bodies: _mud_, _sand_, _granite_, _rock_, _stone_, etc.

(4) Natural phenomena: _rain_, _dew_, _cloud_, _frost_, _mist_, etc.

(5) Various manufactures: _cloth_ (and the different kinds of cloth), _potash_, _soap_, _rubber_, _paint_, _celluloid_, etc.

7. NOTE.--There are some nouns, such as _sun_, _moon_, _earth_, which seem to be the names of particular individual objects, but which are not called proper names.

[Sidenote: _Words naturally of limited application not proper._]

The reason is, that in proper names the intention is _to exclude_ all other individuals of the same cla.s.s, and fasten a special name to the object considered, as in calling a city _Cincinnati_; but in the words _sun_, _earth_, etc., there is no such intention. If several bodies like the center of our solar system are known, they also are called _suns_ by a natural extension of the term: so with the words _earth_, _world_, etc. They remain common cla.s.s names.

[Sidenote: _Names of ideas, not things._]

8. Abstract nouns are names of qualities, conditions, or actions, considered abstractly, or apart from their natural connection.

When we speak of a _wise man_, we recognize in him an attribute or quality. If we wish to think simply of that quality without describing the person, we speak of the _wisdom_ of the man. The quality is still there as much as before, but it is taken merely as a name. So _poverty_ would express the condition of a poor person; _proof_ means the act of proving, or that which shows a thing has been proved; and so on.

Again, we may say, "_Painting_ is a fine art," "_Learning_ is hard to acquire," "a man of _understanding_."

9. There are two chief divisions of abstract nouns:--

(1) ATTRIBUTE NOUNS, expressing attributes or qualities.

(2) VERBAL NOUNS, expressing state, condition, or action.

[Sidenote: _Attribute abstract nouns._]

10. The ATTRIBUTE ABSTRACT NOUNS are derived from adjectives and from common nouns. Thus, (1) _prudence_ from _prudent_, _height_ from _high_, _redness_ from _red_, _stupidity_ from _stupid_, etc.; (2) _peerage_ from _peer_, _childhood_ from _child_, _mastery_ from _master_, _kingship_ from _king_, etc.

[Sidenote: _Verbal abstract nouns._]

II. The VERBAL ABSTRACT NOUNS Originate in verbs, as their name implies. They may be--

(1) Of the same form as the simple verb. The verb, by altering its function, is used as a noun; as in the expressions, "a long _run_" "a bold _move_," "a brisk _walk_."

(2) Derived from verbs by changing the ending or adding a suffix: _motion_ from _move_, _speech_ from _speak_, _theft_ from _thieve_, _action_ from _act_, _service_ from _serve_.

[Sidenote: _Caution._]

(3) Derived from verbs by adding _-ing_ to the simple verb. It must be remembered that these words are _free from any verbal function_. They cannot govern a word, and they cannot _express_ action, but are merely _names_ of actions. They are only the husks of verbs, and are to be rigidly distinguished from _gerunds_ (Secs. 272, 273).

To avoid difficulty, study carefully these examples:

The best thoughts and _sayings_ of the Greeks; the moon caused fearful _forebodings_; in the _beginning_ of his life; he spread his _blessings_ over the land; the great Puritan _awakening_; our birth is but a sleep and a _forgetting_; a _wedding_ or a festival; the rude _drawings_ of the book; masterpieces of the Socratic _reasoning_; the _teachings_ of the High Spirit; those opinions and _feelings_; there is time for such _reasonings_; the _well-being_ of her subjects; her _longing_ for their favor; _feelings_ which their original _meaning_ will by no means justify; the main _bearings_ of this matter.

[Sidenote: _Underived abstract nouns._]

12. Some abstract nouns were not derived from any other part of speech, but were framed directly for the expression of certain ideas or phenomena. Such are _beauty_, _joy_, _hope_, _ease_, _energy_; _day_, _night_, _summer_, _winter_; _shadow_, _lightning_, _thunder_, etc.

The adjectives or verbs corresponding to these are either themselves derived from the nouns or are totally different words; as _glad_--_joy_, _hopeful_--_hope_, etc.

Exercises.

1. From your reading bring up sentences containing ten common nouns, five proper, five abstract.

--NOTE.--Remember that all sentences are to be _selected_ from standard literature.

2. Under what cla.s.s of nouns would you place (_a_) the names of diseases, as _pneumonia_, _pleurisy_, _catarrh_, _typhus_, _diphtheria_; (_b_) branches of knowledge, as _physics_, _algebra_, _geology_, _mathematics_?

3. Mention collective nouns that will embrace groups of each of the following individual nouns:--

man horse bird fish partridge pupil bee soldier book sailor child sheep ship ruffian

4. Using a dictionary, tell from what word each of these abstract nouns is derived:--

sight speech motion pleasure patience friendship deceit bravery height width wisdom regularity advice seizure n.o.bility relief death raid honesty judgment belief occupation justice service trail feeling choice simplicity

SPECIAL USES OF NOUNS.