An English Grammar Part 8

(3) In the case of some words ending in -_f_ or -_fe_, which have the plural in _-ves_: _calf_--_calves_, _half_--_halves_, _knife_--_knives_, _shelf_--_shelves_, etc.

Special Lists.

43. Material nouns and abstract nouns are always singular. When such words take a plural ending, they lose their ident.i.ty, and go over to other cla.s.ses (Secs. 15 and 17).

44. Proper nouns are regularly singular, but may be made plural when we wish to speak of several persons or things bearing the same name; e.g., _the Washingtons_, _the Americas_.

45. Some words are usually singular, though they are plural in form. Examples of these are, _optics_, _economics_, _physics_, _mathematics_, _politics_, and many branches of learning; also _news_, _pains_ (care), _mola.s.ses_, _summons_, _means_: as,--

_Politics_, in its widest extent, is both the science and the art of government.--_Century Dictionary_.

So live, that when thy _summons comes_, etc.--BRYANT.

It served simply as _a means_ of sight.--PROF. DANA.

[Sidenote: Means _plural_.]

Two words, means and politics, _may be plural_ in their construction with verbs and adjectives:--

Words, by strongly conveying the pa.s.sions, by _those means_ which we have already mentioned, fully compensate for their weakness in other respects.--BURKE.

With great dexterity _these means_ were now applied.--MOTLEY.

By _these means_, I say, riches will acc.u.mulate.--GOLDSMITH.

[Sidenote: Politics _plural_.]

Cultivating a feeling that _politics_ are tiresome.--G.W. CURTIS.

The _politics_ in which he took the keenest interest _were politics_ scarcely deserving of the name.--MACAULAY.

Now I read all the _politics_ that _come_ out.--GOLDSMITH.

46. Some words have no corresponding singular.

aborigines amends annals a.s.sets antipodes scissors thanks spectacles vespers victuals matins nuptials oats obsequies premises bellows billiards dregs gallows tongs

[Sidenote: _Occasionally singular words_.]

Sometimes, however, a few of these words have the construction of singular nouns. Notice the following:--

They cannot get on without each other any more than one blade of _a scissors_ can cut without the other.--J.L. LAUGHLIN.

A relic which, if I recollect right, he p.r.o.nounced to have been _a tongs_.--IRVING.

Besides this, it is furnished with _a forceps_.--GOLDSMITH.

The air,--was it subdued when...the wind was trained only to turn a windmill, carry off chaff, or work in _a bellows_?--PROF. DANA.

In Early Modern English _thank_ is found.

What _thank_ have ye?--_Bible_

47. Three words were _originally singular_, the present ending _-s_ not being really a plural inflection, but they are regularly construed as plural: _alms, eaves, riches_.

[Sidenote: _two plurals_.]

48. A few nouns have two plurals differing in meaning.

brother--brothers (by blood), brethren (of a society or church).

cloth--cloths (kinds of cloth), clothes (garments).

die--dies (stamps for coins, etc.), dice (for gaming).

fish--fish (collectively), fishes (individuals or kinds).

genius--geniuses (men of genius), genii (spirits).

index--indexes (to books), indices (signs in algebra).

pea--peas (separately), pease (collectively).

penny--pennies (separately), pence (collectively).

shot--shot (collective b.a.l.l.s), shots (number of times fired).

In speaking of coins, _twopence_, _sixpence_, etc., may add _-s_, making a double plural, as two _sixpences_.

[Sidenote: _One plural, two meanings._]

49. Other words have one plural form with two meanings,--one corresponding to the singular, the other unlike it.

custom--customs: (1) habits, ways; (2) revenue duties.

letter--letters: (1) the alphabet, or epistles; (2) literature.

number--numbers: (1) figures; (2) poetry, as in the lines,--

I lisped in _numbers_, for the numbers came.--POPE.