The Grammar of English Grammars Part 40

OBS. 26.--Nouns have, in some instances, a unity or plurality of meaning, which seems to be directly at variance with their form. Thus, _cattle_, for beasts of pasture, and _pulse_, for peas and beans, though in appearance singulars only, are generally, if not always, plural; and _summons, gallows, chintz, series, superficies, mola.s.ses, suds, hunks, jakes, trapes_, and _corps_, with the appearance of plurals, are generally, if not always, singular. Dr. Webster says that _cattle_ is of both numbers; but wherein the oneness of cattle can consist, I know not. The Bible says, "G.o.d made--_cattle after their kind_."--_Gen._, i, 25. Here _kind_ is indeed singular, as if _cattle_ were a natural genus of which one must be _a cattle_; as _sheep_ are a natural genus of which one is _a sheep_: but whether properly expressed so or not, is questionable; perhaps it ought to be, "and cattle after their _kinds_." Dr. Gillies says, in his History of Greece, "_cattle was regarded_ as the most convenient _measure_ of value."

This seems to me to be more inaccurate and unintelligible, than to say, "_Sheep was regarded_ as the most convenient _measure_ of value." And what would this mean? _Sheep_ is not singular, unless limited to that number by some definitive word; and _cattle_ I conceive to be incapable of any such limitation.

OBS. 27.--Of the last cla.s.s of words above cited, some may a.s.sume an additional _es_, when taken plurally; as, _summonses, gallowses, chintses_: the rest either want the plural, or have it seldom and without change of form. _Corps_, a body of troops, is a French word, which, when singular, is p.r.o.nounced _c=ore_, and when plural, _c=ores_. But _corpse_, a dead body, is an English word, p.r.o.nounced _k~orps_, and making the plural in two syllables, _corpses_. _Summonses_ is given in Cobb's Dictionary as the plural of _summons_; but some authors have used the latter with a plural verb: as, "But Love's first _summons_ seldom _are_ obey'd."--_Waller's Poems_, p. 8. Dr. Johnson says this noun is from the verb _to summon_; and, if this is its origin, the singular ought to be _a summon_, and then _summons_ would be a regular plural. But this "singular noun with a plural termination," as Webster describes it, more probably originated from the Latin verb _submoneas_, used in the writ, and came to us through the jargon of law, in which we sometimes hear men talk of "_summonsing_ witnesses."

The authorities for it, however, are good enough; as, "_This_ present _summons_."--SHAK.: _Joh. Dict._ "_This summons_ he resolved to disobey."--FELL: _ib._ _Chints_ is called by Cobb a "substantive _plural_"

and defined as "cotton _cloths_, made in India;" but other lexicographers define it as singular, and Worcester (perhaps more properly) writes it _chintz_. Johnson cites Pope as speaking of "_a charming chints_," and I have somewhere seen the plural formed by adding es. "Of the Construction of single Words, or _Serieses_ of Words."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 114. Walker, in his Elements of Elocution, makes frequent use of the word "_serieses_," and of the phrase "_series of serieses_." But most writers, I suppose, would doubt the propriety of this practice; because, in Latin, all nouns of the fifth declension, such as _caries, congeries, series, species, superficies_, make their nominative and vocative cases alike in both numbers. This, however, is no rule for writing English. Dr. Blair has used the word _species_ in a plural sense; though I think he ought rather to have preferred the regular English word _kinds_: "The higher _species_ of poetry seldom _admit_ it."--_Rhet._, p. 403. _Specie_, meaning hard money, though derived or corrupted from _species_, is not the singular of that word; nor has it any occasion for a plural form, because we never speak of _a specie_. The plural of _gallows_, according to Dr. Webster, is _gallowses_; nor is that form without other authority, though some say, _gallows_ is of both numbers and not to be varied: "_Gallowses_ were occasionally put in order by the side of my windows."--_Leigh Hunt's Byron_, p. 369.

"Who would not guess there might be hopes, The fear of _gallowses_ and ropes, Before their eyes, might reconcile Their animosities a while?"--_Hudibras_, p. 90.

OBS. 28.--Though the plural number is generally derived from the singular, and of course must as generally imply its existence, we have examples, and those not a few, in which the case is otherwise. Some nouns, because they signify such things as nature or art has made plural or double; some, because they have been formed from other parts of speech by means of the plural ending which belongs to nouns; and some, because they are compounds in which a plural word is princ.i.p.al, and put last, are commonly used in the plural number only, and have, in strict propriety, no singular. Though these three cla.s.ses of plurals may not be perfectly separable, I shall endeavour to exhibit them in the order of this explanation.

1. Plurals in meaning and form: _a.n.a.lects, annals,[144] archives, ashes, a.s.sets, billiards, bowels, breeches, calends, cates, chops, clothes, compa.s.ses, crants, eaves, embers, estovers, forceps, giblets, goggles, greaves, hards_ or _hurds, hemorrhoids, ides, matins, nippers, nones, obsequies, orgies,[145] piles, pincers_ or _pinchers, pliers, reins, scissors, shears, skittles, snuffers, spectacles, teens, tongs, trowsers, tweezers, umbles, vespers, victuals_.

2. Plurals by formation, derived chiefly from adjectives: _acoustics, aeronautics, a.n.a.lytics, bitters, catoptrics, commons, conics, credentials, delicates, dioptrics, economics, ethics, extraordinaries, filings, fives, freshes, glanders, gnomonics, goods, hermeneutics, hustings, hydrodynamics, hydrostatics, hydraulics, hysterics, inwards, leavings, magnetics, mathematics, measles, mechanics, mnemonics, merils, metaphysics, middlings, movables, mumps, nuptials, optics, phonics, phonetics, physics,[146]

pneumatics, poetics, politics, riches, rickets, settlings, shatters, skimmings, spherics, staggers, statics, statistics, stays, strangles, sundries, sweepings, tactics, thanks, tidings, trappings, vives, vitals, wages,[147] withers, yellows_.

3. Plurals by composition: _backstairs, c.o.c.klestairs, firearms,[148]

headquarters, hotc.o.c.kles, spatterdashes, self-affairs_. To these may be added the Latin words, _aborigines, antipodes, antes, antoeci, amphiscii, anthropophagi, antiscii, ascii, literati, fauces, regalia_, and _credenda_, with the Italian _vermicelli_, and the French _belles-lettres_ and _entremets_.

OBS. 29.--There are several nouns which are set down by some writers as wanting the singular, and by others as having it. Of this cla.s.s are the following: _amends,[149] ancients, awns, bots, catacombs, chives, cloves, cresses, dogsears, downs, dregs,[150] entrails, fetters, fireworks, greens, gyves, hatches, intestines, lees,[151] lungs, malanders, mallows, moderns, oats, orts, pleiads, premises, relics, remains, shackles, shambles,[152]

stilts, stairs, tares, vetches_. The fact is, that these words have, or ought to have, the singular, as often as there is any occasion to use it; and the same may, in general terms, be said of other nouns, respecting the formation of _the plural_.[153] For where the idea of unity or plurality comes clearly before the mind, we are very apt to shape the word accordingly, without thinking much about the authorities we can quote for it.

OBS. 30.--In general, where both numbers exist in common use, there is some palpable oneness or individuality, to which the article _a_ or _an_ is applicable; the nature of the species is found entire in every individual of it; and a multiplication of the individuals gives rise to plurality in the name. But the nature of a ma.s.s, or of an indefinite mult.i.tude taken collectively, is not found in individuals as such; nor is the name, whether singular, as _gold_, or plural, as _ashes_, so understood. Hence, though every noun must be of one number or the other, there are many which have little or no need of both. Thus we commonly speak of _wheat, barley, or oats_, collectively; and very seldom find occasion for any other forms of these words. But chafferers at the corn-market, in spite of Cobbett,[154]

will talk about _wheats_ and _barleys_, meaning different kinds[155] or qualities; and a gardener, if he pleases, will tell of an _oat_, (as does Milton, in his Lycidas,) meaning a single seed or plant. But, because _wheat_ or _barley_ generally means that sort of grain in ma.s.s, if he will mention a single kernel, he must call it a _grain of wheat_ or a _barleycorn_. And these he may readily make plural, to specify any particular number; as, _five grains of wheat_, or _three barleycorns_.

OBS. 31.--My chief concern is with general principles, but the ill.u.s.tration of these requires many particular examples--even far more than I have room to quote. The word _amends_ is represented by Murray and others, as being singular as well as plural; but Webster's late dictionaries exhibit _amend_ as singular, and _amends_ as plural, with definitions that needlessly differ, though not much. I judge "_an amends_" to be bad English; and prefer the regular singular, _an amend_. The word is of French origin, and is sometimes written in English with a needless final _e_; as, "But only to make a kind of honourable _amende_ to G.o.d."--_Rollin's Ancient Hist._, Vol. ii, p. 24. The word _remains_ Dr. Webster puts down as plural only, and yet uses it himself in the singular: "The creation of a Dictator, even for a few months, would have buried every _remain_ of freedom."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 70. There are also other authorities for this usage, and also for some other nouns that are commonly thought to have no singular; as, "But Duelling is unlawful and murderous, a _remain_ of the ancient Gothic barbarity."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 26. "I grieve with the old, for so many additional inconveniences, more than their small _remain_ of life seemed destined to undergo."--POPE: _in Joh. Dict._ "A disjunctive syllogism is one whose major _premise_ is disjunctive."--_Hedge's Logic_.

"Where should he have this gold? It is some poor fragment, some slender _ort_ of his remainder."--SHAK.: _Timon of Athens_.

OBS. 32.--There are several nouns which are usually alike in both numbers. Thus, _deer, folk, fry, gentry, grouse, hose, neat, sheep, swine, vermin_, and _rest_, (i. e.

_the rest_, the others, the residue,) are regular singulars, but they are used also as plurals, and that more frequently. Again, _alms, aloes, bellows, means, news, odds, shambles_, and _species_, are proper plurals, but most of them are oftener construed as singulars. _Folk_ and _fry_ are collective nouns. _Folk_ means _people_; _a folk, a people_: as, "The ants are _a people_ not strong;"--"The conies are but _a feeble folk_."--_Prov._, x.x.x, 25, 26. "He laid his hands on a few sick _folk_, and healed _them_."--_Mark_, vi, 5. _Folks_, which ought to be the plural of _folk_, and equivalent to _peoples_, is now used with reference to a plurality of individuals, and the collective word seems liable to be entirely superseded by it. A _fry_ is a swarm of young fishes, or of any other little creatures living in water: so called, perhaps, because their motions often make the surface _fry_. Several such swarms might properly be called _fries_; but this form can never be applied to the individuals, without interfering with the other. "So numerous _was the fry_."--_Cowper_.

"The _fry betake themselves_ to the neighbouring pools."--_Quarterly Review_. "You cannot think more contemptuously of _these gentry_ than _they_ were thought of by the true prophets."--_Watson's Apology_, p. 93.

"_Grouse_, a heathc.o.c.k."--_Johnson_.

"The 'squires in scorn will fly the house For better game, and look for _grouse_."--_Swift_.

"Here's an English tailor, come hither for stealing out of _a_ French _hose_."--_Shak_. "He, being in love, could not see to garter his _hose_."--_Id._ Formerly, the plural was _hosen_: "Then these men were bound, in their coats, their _hosen_, and their hats."--_Dan._, iii, 21. Of _sheep_, Shakspeare has used the regular plural: "Two hot _sheeps_, marry!"--_Love's Labour Lost_, Act ii, Sc. 1.

"Who both by his calf and his lamb will be known, May well kill _a neat_ and _a sheep_ of his own."--_Tusser_.

"His droves of a.s.ses, camels, herds of _neat_, And flocks of _sheep_, grew shortly twice as great."--_Sandys_.

"As a jewel of gold in _a swine's_ snout."--_Prov._, xi, 22. "A herd of _many swine_, feeding."--_Matt._, viii, 30. "An idle person only lives to spend his time, and eat the fruits of the earth, like a _vermin_ or a wolf."--_Taylor_. "The head of a wolf, dried and hanged up, will scare away _vermin_."--_Bacon_. "Cheslip, _a small vermin_ that lies under stones or tiles."--SKINNER: in _Joh. and in Web. Dict._ "This is flour, the _rest is_ bran."--"And the _rest were_ blinded."--_Rom._, xi, 7. "The poor beggar hath a just demand of _an alms_."--_Swift_. "Thine _alms are_ come up for a memorial before G.o.d."--_Acts_, x, 4. "The draught of air performed the function of _a bellows_."--_Robertson's Amer._, ii, 223. "As the _bellows do_."--_Bicknell's Gram._, ii, 11. "The _bellows are_ burned."--_Jer._, vi, 29. "Let _a gallows_ be made."--_Esther_, v, 14. "_Mallows are_ very useful in medicine."--_Wood's Dict._ "_News_," says Johnson, "is without the singular, unless it be considered as singular."--_Dict._ "So _is_ good _news_ from a far country."--_Prov._, xxv, 25. "Evil _news rides_ fast, while good _news baits_."--_Milton_. "When Rhea heard _these news_, she fled."--_Raleigh_. "_News were brought_ to the queen."--_Hume's Hist._, iv, 426. "The _news_ I bring _are_ afflicting, but the consolation with which _they_ are attended, ought to moderate your grief."--_Gil Blas_, Vol. ii, p. 20. "Between these two cases there _are_ great _odds_."--_Hooker_.

"Where the _odds is_ considerable."--_Campbell_. "Determining on which side the _odds lie_."--_Locke_. "The greater _are the odds_ that he mistakes his author."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 1. "Though thus _an odds_ unequally they meet."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. iv, l. 789. "Preeminent by so _much odds_."--_Milton_. "To make a _shambles_ of the parliament house."--_Shak_.

"The earth has been, from the beginning, a great Aceldama, _a shambles_ of blood."--_Christian's Vade-Mec.u.m_, p. 6. "_A shambles_" sounds so inconsistent, I should rather say, "_A shamble_." Johnson says, the etymology of the word is _uncertain_; Webster refers it to the Saxon _scamel_: it means _a butcher's stall, a meat-market_; and there would seem to be no good reason for the _s_, unless more than one such place is intended. "Who sells his subjects to the _shambles_ of a foreign power."--_Pitt_. "A special idea is called by the schools _a species_."--_Watts_. "He intendeth the care of _species_, or common natures."--_Brown_. "ALOE, (al~o) _n.; plu._ ALOES."--_Webster's Dict._, and _Worcester's_. "But it was _aloe_ itself to lose the reward."-- _Tupper's Crock of Gold_, p. 16.

"But high in amphitheatre above, _His_ arms the everlasting _aloes_ threw."

--_Campbell_, G. of W., ii, 10.

OBS. 33.--There are some nouns, which, though really regular in respect to possessing the two forms for the two numbers, are not free from irregularity in the manner of their application. Thus _means_ is the regular plural of _mean_; and, when the word is put for mediocrity, middle point, place, or degree, it takes both forms, each in its proper sense; but when it signifies things instrumental, or that which is used to effect an object, most writers use _means_ for the singular as well as for the plural:[156] as, "By _this means_"--"By _those means_," with reference to one mediating cause; and, "By _these means_,"--"By _those means_," with reference to more than one. Dr. Johnson says the use of _means_ for _mean_ is not very grammatical; and, among his examples for the true use of the word, he has the following: "Pamela's n.o.ble heart would needs gratefully make known the valiant _mean_ of her safety."--_Sidney._ "Their virtuous conversation was a _mean_ to work the heathens' conversion."--_Hooker._ "Whether his wits should by that _mean_ have been taken from him."--_Id._ "I'll devise a _mean_ to draw the Moor out of the way."--_Shak._ "No place will please me so, no _mean_ of death."--_Id._ "Nature is made better by no _mean_, but nature makes that _mean._"--_Id._ Dr. Lowth also questioned the propriety of construing _means_ as singular, and referred to these same authors as authorities for preferring the regular form. Buchanan insists that _means_ is right in the plural only; and that, "The singular should be used as perfectly a.n.a.logous; by this _mean_, by that _mean_."--_English Syntax_, p. 103. Lord Kames, likewise, appears by his practice to have been of the same opinion: "Of this the child must be sensible intuitively, for it has no other _mean_ of knowledge."--_Elements of Criticism_, Vol. i, p.

357. "And in both the same _mean_ is employed."--_Ib._ ii, 271. Caleb Alexander, too, declares "_this means_," "_that means_." and "_a means_,"

to be "ungrammatical."--_Gram._, p. 58. But common usage has gone against the suggestions of these critics, and later grammarians have rather confirmed the irregularity, than attempted to reform it.

OBS. 34.--Murray quotes sixteen good authorities to prove that means may be singular; but whether it _ought_ to be so or not, is still a disputable point. Principle is for the regular word _mean_, and good practice favours the irregularity, but is still divided. Cobbett, to the disgrace of grammar, says, "_Mean_, as a noun, is _never used in the singular_. It, like some other words, has broken loose from all principle and rule. By universal consent, it _is become always a plural_, whether used with _singular or plural_ p.r.o.nouns and articles, _or not_."--_E. Gram._, p. 144.

This is as ungrammatical, as it is untrue. Both mean and means are sufficiently authorized in the singular: "The prospect which by this mean is opened to you."--_Melmoth's Cicero_. "Faith in this doctrine never terminates in itself, but is _a mean_, to holiness as an end."--_Dr.

Chalmers, Sermons_, p. v. "The _mean_ of basely affronting him."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 19. "They used every _mean_ to prevent the re-establishment of their religion."--_Dr Jamieson's Sacred Hist._, i, p. 20. "As a necessary _mean_ to prepare men for the discharge of that duty."-- _Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 153. "Greatest is the power of a _mean_, when its power is least suspected."--_Tupper's Book of Thoughts_, p. 37. "To the deliberative orator the reputation of unsullied virtue is not only useful, as a _mean_ of promoting his general influence, it is also among his most efficient engines of persuasion, upon every individual occasion."--_J. Q.

Adams's Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory_, i, 352. "I would urge it upon you, as the most effectual _mean_ of extending your respectability and usefulness in the world."--_Ib._, ii, 395. "Exercise will be admitted to be a necessary _mean_ of improvement."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 343. "And by _that means_ we have now an early prepossession in their favour."--_Ib._, p. 348.

"To abolish all sacrifice by revealing a better _mean_ of reconciliation."

--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 46. "As a _mean_ of destroying the distinction."

--_Ib._, p. 3. "Which however is by no _mean_ universally the case."-- _Religious World Displayed_, Vol. iii, p. 155.

OBS. 35.--Again, there are some nouns, which, though they do not lack the regular plural form, are sometimes used in a plural sense without the plural termination. Thus _manner_ makes the plural _manners_, which last is now generally used in the peculiar sense of behaviour, or deportment, but not always: it sometimes means methods, modes, or ways; as, "At sundry times and in divers _manners_."--_Heb._, i, 1. "In the _manners_ above mentioned."--_Butler's a.n.a.logy_, p. 100. "There be three _manners_ of trials in England."--COWELL: _Joh. Dict., w. Jury_. "These two _manners_ of representation."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 15. "These are the three primary modes, or _manners_, of expression."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 83. "In arrangement, too, various _manners_ suit various styles."--_Campbell's Phil. of Rhet._, p. 172. "Between the two _manners_."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 35. "Here are three different _manners_ of a.s.serting."-- _Barnard's Gram._, p. 59. But _manner_ has often been put for _sorts_, without the _s_; as, "The tree of life, which bare _twelve manner_ of fruits."--_Rev._, xxii, 2. "All _manner_ of men a.s.sembled here in arms."--_Shak_. "_All manner_ of outward advantages."--_Atterbury_. Milton used _kind_ in the same way, but not very properly; as, "_All kind_ of living creatures."--_P. Lost_, B. iv, l. 286. This irregularity it would be well to avoid. _Manners_ may still, perhaps, be proper for modes or ways; and _all manner_, if allowed, must be taken in the sense of a collective noun; but for sorts, kinds, cla.s.ses, or species, I would use neither the plural nor the singular of this word. The word _heathen_, too, makes the regular plural _heathens_, and yet is often used in a plural sense without the _s_; as, "Why do the _heathen_ rage?"--_Psalms_, ii, 1. "Christianity was formerly propagated among the _heathens_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p.

217. The word _youth_, likewise, has the same peculiarities.

OBS. 36.--Under the present head come names of fishes, birds, or other things, when the application of the singular is extended from the individual to the species, so as to supersede the plural by a.s.suming its construction: as, Sing. "A great _fish_."--_Jonah_, i, 17. Plur. "For the mult.i.tude of _fishes_'."--_John_, xxi, 6. "A very great mult.i.tude of _fish_."--_Ezekiel_, xlvii, 9.[157] The name of the genus being liable to this last construction, men seem to have thought that the species should follow; consequently, the regular plurals of some very common names of fishes are scarcely known at all. Hence some grammarians affirm, that _salmon, mackerel, herring, perch, tench_, and several others, are alike in both numbers, and ought never to be used in the plural form. I am not so fond of honouring these anomalies. Usage is here as unsettled, as it is arbitrary; and, if the expression of plurality is to be limited to either form exclusively, the regular plural ought certainly to be preferred. But, _for fish taken in bulk_, the singular form seems more appropriate; as, "These vessels take from thirty-eight to forty-five quintals of _cod_ and _pollock_, and six thousand barrels of _mackerel_, yearly."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 28.

OBS. 37.--The following examples will ill.u.s.trate the unsettled usage just mentioned, and from them the reader may judge for himself what is right. In quoting, at second-hand, I generally think it proper to make double references; and especially in citing authorities after Johnson, because he so often gives the same pa.s.sages variously. But he himself is reckoned good authority in things literary. Be it so. I regret the many proofs of his fallibility. "Hear you this Triton of the _minnows?_"--_Shak_. "The shoal of _herrings_ was of an immense extent."--_Murray's Key_, p. 185. "Buy my _herring_ fresh."--SWIFT: _in Joh. Dict._ "In the fisheries of Maine, _cod, herring, mackerel alewives, salmon_, and other _fish_, are taken."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 23. "MEASE, _n._ The quant.i.ty of 500; as, a _mease_ of _herrings_."--_Webster's Dict._ "We shall have plenty of _mackerel_ this season."--ADDISON: _in Joh. Dict._ "_Mackarel_ is the same in both numbers. Gay has improperly _mackarels_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p.

208. "They take _salmon_ and _trouts_ by groping and tickling them under the bellies."--CAREW: _in Joh. Dict._ "The pond will keep _trout_ and _salmon_ in their seasonable plight."--_Id., ib., w. Trout_. "Some _fish_ are preserved fresh in vinegar, as _turbot_."--_Id., ib., w. Turbot_. "Some _fish_ are boiled and preserved fresh in vinegar, as _tunny_ and _turbot_."--_Id., ib., w. Tunny_. "Of round _fish_, there are _brit, sprat, barn, smelts_."--_Id., ib., w. Smelt._ "For _sprats_ and _spurlings_ for your house."--TUSSEE: _ib., w. Spurling_. "The coast is plentifully stored with _pilchards, herrings_, and _haddock_."--CAREW: _ib., w. Haddock_. "The coast is plentifully stored with round _fish, pilchard, herring, mackerel_, and _cod_"--_Id., ib., w. Herring_. "The coast is plentifully stored with _sh.e.l.lfish, sea-hedgehogs, scallops, pilcherd, herring_, and _pollock_."--_Id., ib., w. Pollock_. "A _roach_ is _a fish_ of no great reputation for his dainty taste. It is noted that _roaches_ recover strength and grow a fortnight after sp.a.w.ning."--WALTON: _ib., w. Roach_. "A friend of mine stored a pond of three or four acres with _carps_ and _tench_."--HALE: _ib., w. Carp_. "Having stored a very great pond with _carps, tench_, and other _pond-fish_, and only put in two small _pikes_, this pair of tyrants in seven years devoured the whole."--_Id., ib., w.

Tench_. "Singular, _tench_; plural, _tenches_."--_Brightland's Gram._, p.

78. "The polar bear preys upon _seals, fish_, and the carca.s.ses of _whales_."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 172. "_Trouts_ and _salmons_ swim against the stream."--BACON: _Ward's Gram._, p. 130.

"'Tis true no _turbots_ dignify my boards, But _gudgeons, flounders_, what my Thames affords."--_Pope_.

OBS. 38.--Prom the foregoing examples it would seem, if fish or fishes are often spoken of without a regular distinction of the grammatical numbers, it is not because the words are not susceptible of the inflection, but because there is some difference of meaning between the mere name of the sort and the distinct modification in regard to number. There are also other nouns in which a like difference may be observed. Some names of building materials, as _brick, stone, plank, joist_, though not dest.i.tute of regular plurals, as _bricks, stones, planks, joists_, and not unadapted to ideas distinctly singular, as _a brick, a stone, a plank, a joist_, are nevertheless sometimes used in a plural sense without the _s_, and sometimes in a sense which seems hardly to embrace the idea of either number; as, "Let us make _brick_, and burn _them_ thoroughly."--_Gen._, xi, 3. "And they had _brick_ for _stone_."--_Ib._ "The tale of _bricks_."--_Exod._, v, 8 and 18. "Make _brick_."--_Ib._, v, 16. "From your _bricks_."--_Ib._, v, 19. "Upon altars of _brick_."--_Isaiah_. lxv, 3. "The _bricks_ are fallen down."--_Ib._, ix, 10. The same variety of usage occurs in respect to a few other words, and sometimes perhaps without good reason; as, "Vast numbers of sea _fowl_ frequent the rocky cliffs."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 231. "Bullocks, sheep, and _fowls_."--_Ib._, p. 439. "_Cannon_ is used alike in both numbers."--_Everest's Gram._, p. 48. "_Cannon_ and _shot_ may be used in the singular or plural sense."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 37. "The column in the Place Vendome is one hundred and thirty-four feet high, and is made of the bra.s.s of the _cannons_ taken from the Austrians and Prussians."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 249. "As his _cannons_ roar."--_Dryden's Poems_, p. 81. "Twenty _shot_ of his greatest cannon."--CLARENDON: _Joh. Dict._ "Twenty _shots_" would here, I think, be more proper, though the word is not made plural when it means _little b.a.l.l.s of lead_. "And _cannons_ conquer armies."--_Hudibras_, Part III, Canto iii, l. 249.

"Healths to both kings, attended with the roar Of _cannons_ echoed from th' affrighted sh.o.r.e."--_Waller_, p. 7.

OBS. 39.--Of foreign nouns, many retain their original plural; a few are defective; and some are redundant, because the English form is also in use.

Our writers have laid many languages under contribution, and thus furnished an abundance of irregular words, necessary to be explained, but never to be acknowledged as English till they conform to our own rules.

1. Of nouns in _a, saliva_, spittle, and _scoria_, dross, have no occasion for the plural; _lamina_, a thin plate, makes _laminae_; _macula_, a spot, _maculae_; _minutia_, a little thing, _minutiae_; _nebula_, a mist, _nebulae_; _siliqua_, a pod, _siliqiuae_. _Dogma_ makes _dogmas_ or _dogmata_; _exanthema, exanthemas_ or _exanthemata_; _miasm_ or _miasma, miasms_ or _miasmata_; _stigma, stigmas_ or _stigmata_.

2. Of nouns in _um_, some have no need of the plural; as, _bdellium, decorum, elysium, equilibrium, guaiac.u.m, laudanum, odium, opium, petroleum, serum, viatic.u.m_. Some form it regularly; as, _asylums, compendiums, craniums, emporiums, encomiums, forums, frustums, l.u.s.trums, mausoleums, museums, pendulums, nostrums, rostrums, residuums, vacuums_. Others take either the English or the Latin plural; as, _desideratums_ or _desiderata, mediums_ or _media, menstruums_ or _menstrua, memorandums_ or _memoranda, spectrums_ or _spectra, speculums_ or _specula, stratums_ or _strata, succedaneums_ or _succedanea, trapeziums_ or _trapezia, vinculums_ or _vincula_. A few seem to have the Latin plural only: as, _arcanum, arcana; datum, data; effluvium, effluvia; erratum, errata; scholium, scholia_.

3. Of nouns in _us_, a few have no plural; as, _asparagus, calamus, mucus_.

Some have only the Latin plural, which usually changes _us_ to _i_; as, _alumnus, alumni; androgynus, androgyni; calculus, calculi; dracunculus, dracunculi; echinus, echini; magus, magi_. But such as have properly become English words, may form the plural regularly in _es_; as, _chorus, choruses_: so, _apparatus, bolus, callus, circus, fetus, focus, fucus, fungus, hiatus, ignoramus, impetus, incubus, isthmus, nautilus, nucleus, prospectus, rebus, sinus, surplus_. Five of these make the Latin plural like the singular; but the mere English scholar has no occasion to be told which they are. _Radius_ makes the plural _radii_ or _radiuses_. _Genius_ has _genii_, for imaginary spirits, and _geniuses_, for men of wit.

_Genus_, a sort, becomes _genera_ in Latin, and _genuses_ in English.

_Denarius_ makes, in the plural, _denarii_ or _denariuses_.

4. Of nouns in _is_, some are regular; as, _trellis, trellises_: so, _annolis, b.u.t.teris, caddis, dervis, iris, marquis, metropolis, portcullis, proboscis_. Some seem to have no need of the plural; as, _ambergris, aqua-fortis, arthritis, brewis, crasis, elephantiasis, genesis, orris, siriasis, tennis_. But most nouns of this ending follow the Greek or Latin form, which simply changes _is_ to _=es_: as, _amanuensis, amanuenses; a.n.a.lysis, a.n.a.lyses; ant.i.thesis, ant.i.theses; axis, axes; basis, bases; crisis, crises; diaeresis, diaereses; diesis, dieses; ellipsis, ellipses; emphasis, emphases; fascis, fasces; hypothesis, hypotheses; metamorphosis, metamorphoses; oasis, oases; parenthesis, parentheses; phasis, phases; praxis, praxes; synopsis, synopses; synthesis, syntheses; syrtis, syrtes; thesis, theses_. In some, however, the original plural is not so formed; but is made by changing _is_ to _~ides_; as, _aphis, aphides; apsis, apsides; ascaris, ascarides; bolis, bolides; cantharis, cantharides; chrysalis, chrysalides; ephemeris, ephemerides; epidermis, epidermides_. So _iris_ and _proboscis_, which we make regular; and perhaps some of the foregoing may be made so too. Fisher writes _Praxises_ for _praxes_, though not very properly. See his _Gram_, p. v. _Eques_, a Roman knight, makes _equites_ in the plural.

5. Of nouns in _x_, there are few, if any, which ought not to form the plural regularly, when used as English words; though the Latins changed _x_ to _ces_, and _ex_ to _ices_, making the _i_ sometimes long and sometimes short: as, _apex, apices_, for _apexes; appendix, appendices_, for _appendixes; calix, calices_, for _calixes_; _calx, calces_, for _calxes; calyx, calyces_, for _calyxes; caudex, caudices_, for _caudexes; cicatrix, cicatrices_, for _cicatrixes; helix, helices_, for _helixes; index, indices_, for _indexes; matrix, matrices_, for _matrixes; quincunx, quincunces_, for _quincunxes; radix, radices_, for _radixes; varix, varices_, for _varixes; vertex, vertices_, for _vertexes; vortex, vortices_, for _vortexes_. Some Greek words in _x_ change that letter to _ges_; as, _larynx, larynges_, for _larinxes; phalanx, phalanges_, for _phalanxes_. _Billet-doux_, from the French, is _billets-doux_ in the plural.

6. Of nouns in _on_, derived from Greek, the greater part always form the plural regularly; as, _etymons, gnomons, ichneumons, myrmidons, phlegmons, trigons, tetragons, pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, octagons, enneagons, decagons, hendecagons, dodecagons, polygons_. So _trihedrons, tetrahedrons, pentahedrons_, &c., though some say, these last may end in _dra_, which I think improper. For a few words of this cla.s.s, however, there are double plurals in use; as, _automata_ or _atomatons, criteria_ or _criterions, parhelia_ or _parhelions_; and the plural of _phenomenon_ appears to be always _phenomena_.

7. The plural of _legumen_ is _legumens_ or _legumina_; of _stamen, stamens_ or _stamina_: of _cherub, cherubs_ or _cherubim_; of _seraph, seraphs_ or _seraphim_; of _beau, beaus_ or _beaux_; of _bandit, bandits_ or _banditti_. The regular forms are in general preferable. The Hebrew plurals _cherubim_ and _seraphim_, being sometimes mistaken for singulars, other plurals have been formed from them; as, "And over it the _cherubims_ of glory."--_Heb_. ix, 5. "Then flow one of the _seraphims_ unto me."--_Isaiah_, vi, 6. Dr. Campbell remarks: "We are authorized, both by use and by a.n.a.logy, to say either _cherubs_ and _seraphs_, according to the English idiom, or _cherubim_ and _seraphim_, according to the oriental. The former suits better the familiar, the latter the solemn style. I shall add to this remark," says he, "that, as the words _cherubim_ and _seraphim_ are plural, the terms _cherubims_ and _seraphims_, as expressing the plural, are quite improper."--_Phil. of Rhet._, p. 201.

OBS. 40.--When other parts of speech become nouns, they either want the plural, or form it regularly,[158] like common nouns of the same endings; as, "His affairs went on at _sixes_ and _sevens_."--_Arbuthnot_. "Some mathematicians have proposed to compute by _twoes_; _others_, by _fours_; _others_, by _twelves_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 81. "Three _fourths_, nine _tenths_."--_Ib._, p. 230. "Time's _takings_ and _leavings_."-- _Barton_. "The _yeas_ and _nays_."--_Newspaper_. "The _ays_ and _noes_."--_Ib._ "_Oes_ and _spangles_."--_Bacon_. "The _ins_ and the _outs_."--_Newspaper_."--We find it more safe against _outs_ and _doubles_."--_Printer's Gram._ "His _ands_ and his _ors_."--_Mott_. "One of the _buts_."--_Fowle_. "In raising the mirth of _stupids_."--_Steele_.

"_Eatings, drinkings, wakings, sleepings, walkings, talkings, sayings, doings_--all were for the good of the public; there was not such a things as a secret in the town."--LANDON: _Keepsake_, 1833. "Her innocent _forsooths_ and _yesses_."--_Spect._, No. 266.

"Henceforth my wooing mind shall be expressed In russet _yeas_ and honest kersey _noes_."