article: as, "Give me a few cherries;" " a great many sheep passed through the field." When this occurs, the adjectives must express number; many being considered as one whole.

7. The article a is found also before collective nouns, which, though including the idea of a large number, yet give the idea of a united whole: as, "A herd of cattle;"" a multitude of men;""an assembly of many thousands;" "a hundred apples."

8. The indefinite article sometimes stands for the word every: as, "A thousand a year;" that is, "a thousand every year." It is also sometimes placed between the adjective many, and a noun singular: as, many a man has been ruined by gaming:" "full many a flower is born to blush

unseen.'

9. In some cases the article a, when placed between an adjective and a noun, conveys a different meaning from what it does when placed before the adjective: as, "Half a crown," means coin to the value of the half of a crown; whereas, the expression," a half crown," signifies a piece of metal of a certain size and figure.

10. The definite article is often used for the pronoun possessive: as, "He looked the lady full in the face;" that is, "full in her face;" "they bow the knee to golden idols;" that is, "they bow their knees."

11. In applying the ordinal numbers to a series of kings, the definite article is generally placed

E

between the name and the adjective of number: as, "Henry the second;"" Edward the third;" "George the fourth."

12. The article, the, is often joined to adverbs, in the comparative and superlative degrec, it then marks the degree more strongly, and defines it more exactly: as, "The more attentively I consider the arguments in defence of that opinion, the more I am convinced of their force and justness; "the more I examine the subject, the less satisfied am I with respect to it."

13. The definite article sometimes produces a fine effect in bestowing an epithet upon some particular character: as, "Alfred was truly the patriot king," "Henry the fourth of France, was, in his public capacity, in all respects the great man."

14. In various instances, when the sense is abstract, or the sentence contracted, articles are omitted: as, "She journeyed on foot, on horseback, by land, by water, on shore."

CHAP. III.

SECT. 1. Of Nouns.

A NOUN, or substantive, expressions derived from Latin words signifying a name, or matter, or substance, is the name of any thing, the idea of which has been raised in our mind by impressions made either of the senses. Nouns are, upon either common, denoting the species of things: as, a tree, a horse, a river, a bird, a beast, a lion, an eagle; or proper, denoting the indivi

viduals of any species : as, Charles, Mary; the Thames, Pekin.

The terminations of nouns are changed on account of number, case, and, sometimes, gender. When spoken of, nouns are all of the third person; and of the second, when spoken to: as, "Trees add greatly to the beauty of a landscape;" "take heed, children, that ye fall not into vice."

Sect. 2.

A noun is either singular, expressing one object only; or plural, denoting more than one. The plural number is formed by adding s to the singular; or es where s would not, standing alone, be sounded: as,

To this general rule, there are many exceptions. 1. The plural of some nouns is made by adding en: as, ox, oxen; chick, chicken.

2. When the singular ends in ƒ or fe, the plural commonly ends in ves : as, calf, calves; half, halves; staff, staves; wife, wives; knife, knives. Yet some few of these terminations comply with the general rule: as, muff, muffs; stuff, stuffs; ruff, ruffs; snuff, snuffs; chief, chiefs; cuff, cuffs.

3. Nouns whose singular ends in y and have no other vowel in the same syllable, change that termination into ies to form the plural number: as, lady, ladies; fairy, fairies; gallery, galleries; misery, miseries; city, cities; duty, duties; but when there is another vowel in the syllable, the y final is not so changed, as valley, valleys; key, keys; relay, relays.

Many plural terminations are reducible to no rule: as, child, children; tooth, teeth; goose, geese; foot, feet; die, dice; mouse, mice; penny, pence. Some words form the plural by changing a in the singular, into e for the plural: as, man, men; woman, women.

Some nouns are used only in the singular: as, gold, pride, avarice; and others in the plural form alone; as tongs, bellows, lungs, ashes, breeches, snuffers, scissars.

Other substantives have the same termination for both numbers: as, sheep, deer, swine.

The word means, is used both for the singular and plural: as, "A means of success;" this means, these means; many means.

SECT. 3.

The cases of noúns are changes of their terminations, to express their relations to other nouns, or the manner in which they are affected by verbs, or prepositions. In the Greek, Latin, and some other languages, these changes were various; occasioned originally, it is supposed,

by the combination of the noun with other words; for the signification implies a compo

sition of terms.

In the English language, there is but one variation of this kind, and consequently, strictly speaking, only one case; but grammarians have generally agreed to call the original state of the noun, a case; and thus they admit two cases; one called the nominative, by which is éxpressed merely the name of the object; the other named the genitive, possessive, or which expresses its relation to some other object; which denotes property, or possession. This case is formed by the addition of s, with a mark before it, called an apostrophe: as, "Alexander's ambition;" "the king's palace;" "the man's wisdom;" "the woman's gentleness;" but this relationship is expressed likewise by the word of, before the noun: as, "The ambition of Alexander;" "the palace of the king;" "the wisdom of the man;" "the gentleness of the woman." To a plural noun ending in s, the apostrophe alone is added: as, "The neighbours' goodwill;" "the flowers' fragance;" "the fruits' refreshing juice.”

Sometimes when the singular ends in s, the s with an apostrophe is not added: as, "For holiness' sake;"" for goodness' sake."

Some writers have regarded the 's apostrophe as a contraction for his; but this appears to be an error, since we cannot say, instead of "The