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Yours for Education,
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
CLa.s.sES OF NOUNS
+59.+ We have learned that the words in a sentence are cla.s.sified according to the work which each word does. The words which a.s.sert are called verbs; the words which are the names of things are called nouns.
But now we shall see that these words are again divided into cla.s.ses according to the _special_ work which they perform. Just as we may gather the people of the world into one great cla.s.s, the working cla.s.s, then cla.s.sify them according to the industry in which they work, thus some are farmers, some teachers, some factory workers; then each cla.s.s may be subdivided according to the special work which they perform, as truck farmers, high school teachers, machinists, etc.
So we find that nouns are divided into cla.s.ses according to their meaning in the sentence.
In the sentence, _Lincoln was a man of the people_, we have two nouns referring to the same person, _Lincoln_ and _man_, but they are different kinds of names. The word _man_ is a name that may apply to any one of a million persons but the name _Lincoln_ applies to one person only. Some nouns, then, represent a thing as being of a certain kind or cla.s.s, without showing which particular one is meant. Other nouns are names given to designate a particular individual. These are called _common_ and _proper_ nouns.
+60.+ +A proper noun is a special name meant for only one person, place or thing.+
All other nouns are common nouns.
+A common noun is a name which belongs to all things of a cla.s.s of objects.+
+Every proper noun should begin with a capital letter.+
Indicate the proper nouns in the following list by drawing a line under the letters that ought to be capitals:
king month city france dog virginia war wilson november doctor colonel napoleon chicago governor independence day freedom ocean atlantic ocean thanksgiving thanksgiving day uncle william thursday week general sherman karl marx union labor united mine workers newspaper the daily call
Write the special or _proper_ names of several individuals in each of the following cla.s.ses:--as city,--Chicago, New York, etc.
River, king, author, country, state, inventor, martyr, month, book, college.
COLLECTIVE NOUNS
+61.+ Some nouns are the names of groups or collections of things and are called collective nouns.
Many soldiers taken together form collectively an _army_--a number of sheep form a _drove_. Many of these group or collective nouns will readily occur to your mind.
+A collective noun is one that in the singular form, denotes a number of separate persons or things.+
Exercise 1
Opposite each of the following collective nouns, write the name of the individuals represented by the collection; as an army of _soldiers_; a swarm of _bees_; a flock of _birds_.
A gang of......
A committee of......
A herd of......
A drove of......
A hive of......
A corps of......
A suite of......
A group of......
A cla.s.s of......
A mult.i.tude of......
Fill the following blanks with appropriate collective nouns.
A......of horses.
A......of sailors.
A......of wolves.
A......of savages.
A......of singers.
A......of girls.
A......of ships.
A......of quail.
A......of birds.
A......of workers.
ABSTRACT NOUNS
+62.+ When primitive man began to name the objects about him, doubtless he first named the things which he could see, hear, taste, smell and touch,--the objects which he could perceive by the five senses. Then gradually he came to understand that these objects had certain qualities which he could consider apart from the object itself.
He hunted among the stones to find those which were suitable for making his arrow-heads. For this purpose he needed the hardest stone which he could find, so _hardness_ became something which he could think of as something apart from the object itself.
He saw the men about him and found a name for them. Then he knew that some men were stronger than others, so _strength_ was a quality which he could consider apart from the man himself.
These men performed certain actions; they ran, they climbed,--so _running_ and _climbing_ became actions which he could think of as something apart from any individual.
He noted too that men lived in certain conditions; for example, some men were free, some were slaves, so he came to think of _slavery_ and _freedom_ as conditions which could be thought of as something apart from the individual.
So we draw away, or separate certain ideas; the _quality_ from the thing which has it and the _action_ from the thing which does it and the _condition_ from the thing which is in it. These nouns which are used to describe these qualities, actions or conditions are called _abstract_ nouns. Abstract is a word derived from the Latin _abs_, _away from_, and _tractus_, _drawn_, so it literally means _drawn away from_.
The nouns which are names of things which we can see, hear, taste, smell and touch or perceive by any of the five senses are called _concrete_ nouns.
+63.+ +A concrete noun is the name of an object which may be perceived by one or more of the five senses.+
+An abstract noun is the name of a quality, a condition or an action.+
+64.+ You remember we found in the study of adjectives that we have a cla.s.s of adjectives which are used to describe the qualities of objects, as for example--_good_, _n.o.ble_, _honest_, _true_, _wise_, etc. Since abstract nouns are the names of qualities, many of our abstract nouns are formed from adjectives. Study carefully the following list of adjectives and nouns. Note that the word is an _adjective_ when it is used with a noun to _describe_ certain qualities. It is a _noun_ when it is used by itself to _name_ that quality.
+Adjectives+ +Abstract Nouns+
1. honest honesty 2. pure purity 3. true truth 4. strong strength 5. wise wisdom 6. good goodness 7. bold boldness 8. just justice 9. silent silence 10. wide width 11. patient patience 12. stupid stupidity
+65.+ You will notice that another use of abstract nouns is to name actions. The verb is the part of speech which expresses action, therefore many abstract nouns are formed from verbs. Notice the following list:
+Verbs+ +Abstract Nouns+
