terminations appear to be only variations of the singular, not radically or numerically different in signification. There was probably no original alteration of the noun, either by termination or otherwise; but persons in speaking said indifferently, one foot, or five foot, or twenty foot, as the vulgar do still; always using a numeral to denote the plural, when the amount could be exactly ascertained; and a word expressive of multitude, when the number was uncertain. In time, this numeral, or word of plurality, used in many languages, coalesced with its principal; and in some instances, as it was troublesome to use different words to denote the exact number, when exactness was of no consequence, they agreed to use the same sign to express both the singular and the plural; placing it before the noun for the one purpose, and after it for the other: as if we were to say in English, Sing. one-foot, Plur. foot-one.

When the substantive singular ends in x, ch soft, sh, 88, 8, z, or o, the plural is formed by adding es to the singular; as, box, boxes; church, churches; lash, lashes; kiss, kisses; rebus, rebuses; topaz, topazes; potato, potatoes.

Nouns ending in ch pronounced as k, have the regular plural; as, monarch, monarchs; stomach, stomachs.

Nouns ending in for fe form the plural by changing those terminations into ves; as, loaf, loaves; wife, wives; half, halves.

Dwarf, scarf, wharf; brief, chief, grief, kerchief, handkerchief, mischief; gulf, turf, surf; fife, strife; proof, hoof, roof, reproof; have the regular plural.

Nouns ending in ff have the regular plural; as, ruff, ruffs; except the word staff, which has staves. Nouns ending in y in the singular, having no other vowel in the same syllable, change it into ies in the plural; as, beauty, beauties; fly, flies; lady, ladies.

But the y is not changed when there is another vowel in the same syllable; as, key, keys; delay, delays; attorney, attorneys.

Nouns ending in io, with canto, junto, grotto, portico, tyro, vista, add s only in the plural; as, folio, folios, &c. Wo makes woes in the plural.

Names of metals, virtues, and vices, and of things that are weighed or measured, as in them, not number, but quantity is regarded,are in general singular; as, gold; meekness, drunkenness; bread, beer, beef, &c.: except when the different sorts are mentioned; as, ‘old wines, new teas.'

Several nouns of number or weight, such as score, dozen, hundred, thousand, brace, couple, pair, stone, &c. seem, colloquially at least, to reject their analogic plural, when numeral definitives of plurality are associated with them; as, ten dozen, six pair, three stone.

The words apparatus, hiatus, series, brace, dozen, corps, and species, are the same in both numbers. Brace and dozen sometimes admit of the plural form; as, ‘He bought ducks in braces, and eggs in dozens.'

6

Proper names have the plural only when they refer to a race or family; as, the twelve Cæsars; the four Georges: or when eminence or distinction is implied; as, Solomons [wise men]; Neros [tyrants].' When a title is prefixed, the plural s is added to the proper name; as, 'the Miss Howards.'

Some words, derived from the learned languages, are used only in the plural number; thus, antipodes, credenda, literati, minutiæ. The singular of literati, banditti, is made by saying one of the literati; one of the banditti. Bandit is sometimes used for the singular of banditti. Of some other nouns, the singular is distinguished by prefixing the article a, or a definitive adjective: thus, a sheep, a swine; three sheep, three swine; this deer, those deer; one deer, twenty deer, &c.

Horse and foot, meaning cavalry and infantry, are used in the singular with a plural verb; as, 'A thousand horse were ready;' "Ten thousand foot were there.' Men is understood.

Means is singular when the instrumentality of one thing is implied; as, 'Industry is a means of gaining wealth.' It is plural when two or more causes are referred to; as, 'Charles was industrious and frugal, and by these means gained wealth.' The singular, a mean, is used chiefly for the middle term between two extremes. Folk is used in both numbers. Being a collective noun, its use in the plural form is unnecessary.

Amends is singular or plural. Premises, whether denoting property or antecedent matter, is always used in the plural. News is generally used in the singular. Riches, alms, and pains, are generally plural. Mackerel is the same in both numbers.

The plural of staff, a stanza or set of verses, was sometime ago staves: stave is now used as the singular form. The plural of staff, signifying a stick or support, was formerly staves, now staffs; as, "There followed the constables with their staffs.'

We use pease and fish when we mean the species or quality; but when we refer to number or quantity, we say peas, fishes. Tench, carp, &c. reject the analogical plural.

In 'abundance of fish, some consider fish as plural. In such instances, however, fish is singular just as much as flesh, being used merely as the specific name. Employed as the name of the individual, the plural is fishes. Flesh, on the contrary, being always specific, has no plural.

Such words as mathematics, metaphysics, politics, ethics, pneumatics, though generally plural, are sometimes construed as singular; as, 'Mathematics is a science.' The names, however, of many of the sciences, as also of abstract qualities, are used only in the singular; as, arithmetic, logic, astronomy, algebra, patience, goodness.

Many of the words which have no singular, denote things consisting of two parts, and therefore have a plural termination. Hence the word pair is used with many of them; as, a pair of bellows, a pair of scissors, a pair of breeches.' Many of them are the names of games; as, billiards, fives, &c.: of diseases; as, measles, glanders, small-pox (pocks); of festivals or stated times; as, orgies, matins, vespers, &c. Some of the words have a singular in use, but employed in a sense somewhat different; as, arms, for weapons; colours, for a banner; (a colour, is, however, sometimes employed in the same sense;) a soldier's quarters, &c.

Dr. Johnson says that much is sometimes a term of number, as well as of quantity; and this may account for the instances we meet with of its associating with pains as a plural noun.

If much be ever found with a plural noun, it must, I apprehend, be in the same way as a singular verb is sometimes found with a plural nominative, that is, in contradiction to the rules of syntax. Much is never correctly joined with a plural noun; it may, however, associate with collective nouns, which denote number in the aggregate, as, much company. Bolingbroke uses the phrase much pains, and it appears to me correctly.-Grant.

Ashes, embers, victuals, goods, odds, wages, calends, nones, ides, clothes, oats, thanks, are now always used in the plural. We read, 'What thank have ye?' and write thank-less.

Quy forms its plural by changing y into ies; as, soliloquy, soliloquies; colloquy, colloquies. Proper names ending in y follow the general rule; as, The eight Henrys.'

Nouns ending in ce, as, convenience, conscience, excellence, &c. in forming their plural, follow the general rule; as, inconveniences, &c. : but excellency, a term of respect, makes excellencies in the plural; as, 'His Excelleney came home to-day;' 'Their Excellencies dine abroad to-morrow.'

The compounds of ful have the regular plural; as, handful, handfuls; spoonful, spoonfuls.

* Brethren is generally applied to the members of the same society or church, and brothers to the sons of the same parents. Brethren is mostly used in the solemn, and brothers in the familiar style.

Latin nouns in us, in forming the plural, change the us into i; as radius, radii; genius, genii: except bolus, fungus, isthmus, prospectus, which take es in the plural; and genus, that makes genera. Those ending in um change um into a; as, datum, data; stratum, strata.

Greek nouns ending in on, form their plural by changing on into a; as, automaton, automata; phenomenon, phenomena.

Hebrew nouns generally form their plural by adding im or s to the singular; as, seraph, seraphim or seraphs; cherub, cherubim or cherubs.

The following words, from foreign languages, are thus distinguished with respect to number:

SECTION IV.-Of Case.

THE Cases of substantives signify their different terminations, which serve to express the relations of one thing to another.

Substantives have three cases; the Nominative, the Possessive or Genitive, and the Objective.

The Nominative case simply expresses the name of a thing, or the subject of a verb; as, 'The boy plays; the girls learn.'

The Possessive or Genitive case expresses the relation of property or possession, and is generally formed by adding an apostrophe and the letter s to the nominative; as, 'the scholar's duty; my father's house; that is, 'the duty of the scholar; the house of my father.'

When the plural ends in s, the possessive is formed by adding an apostrophe only; as, 'on eagles' wings; the drapers' company.

Sometimes also when the singular terminates in ss, the apostrophic s is not added; as, 'for goodness' sake; for righteousness' sake.'

The Objective case expresses the object of an action or of a relation; and generally follows a verb active, an active participle, or a preposition; as, 'John assists Charles;' He was instructing Jane;' "They live in London.'

Substantives are thus declined:

A MOTHER-Fem. Gen.