Practical Grammar and Composition Part 2

5. Most nouns ending in _o_ add _s_; as, _cameo, cameos_. A number of nouns ending in _o_ preceded by a consonant add _es_; as, _volcano, volcanoes_. The most important of the latter cla.s.s are: _buffalo, cargo, calico, echo, embargo, flamingo, hero, motto, mulatto, negro, potato, tomato, tornado, torpedo, veto_.

6. Letters, figures, characters, etc., add the apostrophe and _s_ (_'s_); as, _6's, c's, t's, that's_.

7. The following common words always form their plurals in an irregular way; as, _man, men; ox, oxen; goose, geese; woman, women; foot, feet; mouse, mice; child, children; tooth, teeth; louse, lice_.

COMPOUND NOUNS are those formed by the union of two words, either two nouns or a noun joined to some descriptive word or phrase.

8. The princ.i.p.al noun of a compound noun, whether it precedes or follows the descriptive part, is in most cases the noun that changes in forming the plural; as, _mothers-in-law, knights-errant, mouse-traps_. In a few compound words, both parts take a plural form; as, _man-servant, men-servants; knight-templar, knights-templars_.

9. Proper names and t.i.tles generally form plurals in the same way as do other nouns; as, _Senators Webster and Clay, the three Henrys_.

Abbreviations of t.i.tles are little used in the plural, except _Messrs._ (_Mr._), and _Drs._ (_Dr._).

10. In forming the plurals of proper names where a t.i.tle is used, either the t.i.tle or the name may be put in the plural form. Sometimes both are made plural; as, _Miss Brown, the Misses Brown, the Miss Browns, the two Mrs. Browns_.

11. Some nouns are the same in both the singular and the plural; as, _deer, series, means, gross_, etc.

12. Some nouns used in two senses have two plural forms. The most important are the following:

BROTHER _brothers_ (by blood) _brethren_ (by a.s.sociation) CLOTH _cloths_ (kinds of cloth) _clothes_ (garments) DIE _dies_ (for coinage) _dice_ (for games) FISH _fishes_ (separately) _fish_ (collectively) GENIUS _geniuses_ (men of genius) _genii_ (imaginary beings) HEAD _heads_ (of the body) _head_ (of cattle) INDEX _indexes_ (of books) _indices_ (in algebra) PEA _peas_ (separately) _pease_ (collectively) PENNY _pennies_ (separately) _pence_ (collectively) SAIL _sails_ (pieces of canvas) _sail_ (number of vessels) SHOT _ shots_ (number of discharges) _shot_ (number of b.a.l.l.s)

13. Nouns from foreign languages frequently retain in the plural the form that they have in the language from which they are taken; as, _focus, foci; terminus, termini; alumnus, alumni; datum, data; stratum, strata; formula, formul?; vortex, vortices; appendix, appendices; crisis, crises; oasis, oases; axis, axes; phenomenon, phenomena; automaton, automata; a.n.a.lysis, a.n.a.lyses; hypothesis, hypotheses; medium, media; vertebra, vertebr?; ellipsis, ellipses; genus, genera; fungus, fungi; minimum, minima; thesis, theses_.

EXERCISE 3

_Write the plural, if any, of every singular noun in the following list; and the singular, if any, of every plural noun. Note those having no singular and those having no plural_.

News, goods, thanks, scissors, proceeds, puppy, studio, survey, attorney, arch, belief, chief, charity, half, hero, negro, majority, Mary, vortex, memento, joy, lily, knight-templar, knight-errant, why, 4, x, son-in-law, Miss Smith, Mr. Anderson, country-man, hanger-on, major-general, oxen, geese, man-servant, brethren, strata, sheep, mathematics, pride, money, pea, head, piano, veto, knives, ratios, alumni, feet, wolves, president, sailor-boy, spoonful, rope-ladder, grandmother, attorney-general, cupful, go-between.

_When in doubt respecting the form of any of the above, consult an unabridged dictionary._

14. CASE. There are three cases in English: the Nominative, the Possessive, and the Objective.

The NOMINATIVE CASE; the form used in address and as the subject of a verb.

The OBJECTIVE CASE; the form used as the object of a verb or a preposition. It is always the same in form as is the nominative.

Since no error in grammar can arise in the use of the nominative or the objective cases of nouns, no further discussion of these cases is here needed.

The POSSESSIVE CASE; the form used to show ownership. In the forming of this case we have inflection.

15. THE FOLLOWING ARE THE RULES FOR THE FORMING OF THE POSSESSIVE CASE:

1. Most nouns form the possessive by adding the apostrophe and _s_ (_'s_); as, _man, man's; men, men's; pupil, pupil's; John, John's_.

2. Plural nouns ending in _s_ form the possessive by adding only the apostrophe ('); as, _persons, persons'; writers, writers'_. In stating possession in the plural, then one should say: _Carpenters'

tools sharpened here, Odd Fellows' wives are invited_, etc.

3. Some singular nouns ending in an _s_ sound form the possessive by adding the apostrophe alone; as, _for appearance' sake, for goodness' sake_. But usage inclines to the adding of the apostrophe and _s_ (_'s_) even if the singular noun does end in an _s_ sound; as, _Charles's book, Frances's dress, the mistress's dress_.

4. When a compound noun, or a group of words treated as one name, is used to denote possession, the sign of the possessive is added to the last word only; as, _Charles and John's mother_ (the mother of both Charles and John), _Brown and Smith's store_ (the store of the firm Brown & Smith).

5. Where the succession of possessives is unpleasant or confusing, the subst.i.tution of a prepositional phrase should be made; as, _the house of the mother of Charles's partner_, instead of, _Charles's partner's mother's house_.

6. The sign of the possessive should be used with the word immediately preceding the word naming the thing possessed; as, _Father and mother's house, Smith, the lawyer's, office, The Senator from Utah's seat_.

7. Generally, nouns representing inanimate objects should not be used in the possessive case. It is better to say _the hands of the clock_ than _the clock's hands_.

NOTE.--One should say _somebody else's_, not _somebody's else_.

The expression _somebody else_ always occurs in the one form, and in such cases the sign of the possessive should be added to the last word. Similarly, say, _no one else's, everybody else's_, etc.

EXERCISE 4

_Write the possessives of the following:_

Oxen, ox, brother-in-law, Miss Jones, goose, man, men, men-servants, man-servant, Maine, dogs, attorneys-at-law, Jackson & Jones, John the student, my friend John, coat, shoe, boy, boys, Mayor of Cleveland.

EXERCISE 5

_Write sentences ill.u.s.trating the use of the possessives you have formed for the first ten words under Exercise 4._

EXERCISE 6

_Change the following expressions from the prepositional phrase form to the possessive:_

1. The ships of Germany and France.

2. The garden of his mother and sister.

3. The credit of Jackson & Jones.

4. The signature of the president of the firm.

5. The coming of my grandfather.

6. The lives of our friends.

7. The dog of both John and William.

8. The dog of John and the dog of William.

9. The act of anybody else.

10. The shortcomings of Alice.

11. The poems of Robert Burns.

12. The wives of Henry the Eighth.

13. The home of Mary and Martha.

14. The novels of d.i.c.kens and the novels of Scott.

15. The farm of my mother and of my father.

16. The recommendation of Superintendent Norris.

EXERCISE 7

_Correct such of the following expressions as need correction. If apostrophes are omitted, insert them in the proper places:_

1. He walked to the precipices edge.

2. Both John and William's books were lost.

3. They sell boy's hats and mens' coats.

4. My friends' umbrella was stolen.