Plain English Part 13

man men goose geese ox oxen woman women foot feet mouse mice brother brethren tooth teeth child children louse lice

+77.+ Proper nouns, when made plural, generally follow the same rule as common nouns. Thus we write:

All the Smiths, the Joneses, both the Miss Johnsons, one of the Dr.

Davidsons, and the Mrs. Wilsons, were present.

But to prevent the confusion and misunderstanding which might arise in changing the form of a proper noun, we do not change its form in writing the plurals; for example:

There were eight Henrys, kings of England.

The two Marys reigned in the kingdom.

It would be confusing to say _eight Henries_, the _two Maries_.

The t.i.tle is made plural when several are referred to, thus:

Mr. Hayes The Messrs. Hayes Miss Smith The Misses Smith

+78.+ The t.i.tle is made plural when used with several names, thus:

Messrs. Brown and White.

Generals Lee and Grant.

Drs. Long and Larson.

+79.+ In the case of nouns formed of two or more words, when the compound word is so familiar that the parts are not thought of separately the _s_ is added to the whole compound word, as _four-in-hands_; _forget-me-nots_; _court-yards_; _spoonfuls_; _green-houses_; etc. But when one of the parts is more important than the others, the _s_ is added to the more important part, thus:

mothers-in-law commanders-in-chief hangers-on men-of-war by-standers attorneys-at-law pa.s.sers-by step-sons

+80.+ We have many words in our language taken from other languages.

They do not form the plural in these languages as we do, and some of these words retain their foreign plurals. Some of the most commonly used of these nouns are the following:

+Singular+ +Plural+

alumnus alumni a.n.a.lysis a.n.a.lyses axis axes datum data erratum errata ellipsis ellipses appendix appendices bacterium bacteria basis bases crisis crises parenthesis parentheses radius radii terminus termini hypothesis hypotheses larva larvae madame mesdames memorandum memoranda phenomenon phenomena stratum strata thesis theses

+81.+ The following nouns are treated as singular: _news_, _pains_ (meaning care), _acoustics_, _mathematics_, _economics_, _ethics_, _mola.s.ses_, _physics_, _politics_, and other nouns ending in _ics_ except _athletics_. With these always use the s-form of the verb. For example:

The news _is_ distorted. Not, The news _are_ distorted.

Economics _is_ an important study. Not, Economics _are_, etc.

+82.+ The following nouns are always plural:

alms annals amends antipodes bellows billiards clothes dregs eaves fireworks hysterics measles mumps matins nippers nuptials oats premises proceeds pincers riches rickets suds scissors thanks tidings tongs trousers vitals victuals vespers

With all these nouns always use the form of the verb which is used with the plural subject. Thus:

Alms are given.

Riches are easily lost.

+83.+ The following nouns have the same form for both plural and singular, _corps_, _cannon_, _deer_, _grouse_, _heathen_, _hose_, _means_, _odds_, _series_, _sheep_, _species_, _swine_, _vermin_, _wages_. You can tell whether the singular or plural is meant by the meaning of the sentence. For example:

_The cannon is loaded._ Here we are speaking of _one_ cannon.

_The cannon used in the war are of tremendous size._ Here we know are meant all the big guns used in the war.

When you say, _The sheep is lost_, we know you mean _one_ sheep, but when you say, _The sheep are in the pasture_, we know you mean the entire drove.

+84.+ When preceded by a numeral, the following nouns have the same form for both singular and plural. Without the numerals, the plural is formed by the adding of _s_; _brace_, _couple_, _dozen_, _hundred_, _pair_, _score_, _thousand_, _yoke_. For example:

Thousands enlisted.

Three thousand enlisted.

Dozens came at my call.

Two dozen came when I called.

GENDER

+85.+ All of the changes we have studied so far have been for the purpose of indicating number; but among the nouns that name living beings, many change to show to which s.e.x the object named belongs. These nouns change in form to distinguish between the masculine and the feminine. This is called _gender_.

+Gender is the distinction in words that denotes s.e.x.+

+The nouns that denote females are called feminine nouns.+

+The nouns that denote males are called masculine nouns.+

+86.+ The feminine form is generally made by the addition of _ess_ to the masculine form. Thus:

prince princess master mistress host hostess count countess tiger tigress lion lioness actor actress G.o.d G.o.ddess

+87.+ Names of things without s.e.x are, of course, of neither gender, and are called _neuter nouns_. Neuter means literally _neither_. Such nouns as _mountain_, _iron_, _river_, _chair_, are neuter.

Sometimes the feminine is an entirely different word from the masculine.

Thus:

king queen lord lady man woman youth maiden sir madam stag hind

+88.+ Many nouns that denote living beings apply alike to male and female, and are said to be of _common gender_. As woman enters more and more into the business world and pursues the same occupations as man, the change in form to denote the feminine is used less frequently, and what we have called the masculine form is used for both s.e.xes, thus:

_Poet_, _waiter_, _doctor_, _editor_--these nouns are used for both men and women.

POSSESSIVE FORM

+89.+ There is just one more change made in the form of a noun, and that is when we wish to show who or what owns or possesses a thing. Thus we write:

John's book.

The boy's hat.

And since this form of the noun denotes possession, it is called the _possessive form_. Some grammarians call this the possessive case.