Page:Collier's Cyclopedia of Commercial and Social Information.djvu/22

10 by the sex of the persons or beings they represent, being called Masculine or Feminine, as they are the names of males or females. Beings without natural sex, things without life, and abstractions are called Neuter. Figuratively, sex is attributed to many beings naturally having no such distinction, and to abstractions. Ex. The sun, he is setting; the moon, she is rising; Charity, she is the child of heaven. Very small beings, whatever sex they may be of, and those whose sex is not their distinctive characteristic, are spoken of as neuter, Ex. The ant, it is a patron of foresight and prudence; the child, it knows not what it does.

Very few words, in English, have terminations, or other specialties of form, indicative of their gender; the following are examples of the only kinds, and they are not numerous. Ex. Arbiter, Arbitress; Prosecutor, Prosecutrix; Margrave, Margravine; he-bear, she-bear; Man-servant, Maid-servant. In other instances different words are appropriated to the two sexes, but without any peculiarity of termination. Ex. Brother, Sister; Horse, Mare; King, Queen. 12. The only distinction of Number is that between one and more than one; the ordinary forms expressing the former, and being called Singular; and special forms being used for the latter, called Plural. Most commonly, s or (when it ends in a sibilant or x) es is added to the singular. Ex, Sword, swords; fish, fishes. Words ending in f or fe generally make their plurals in ves. Ex. Calf, calves; life, lives. But all words ending in ff, except staff, staves, and several words in f or fe, add s without any change of letters for the plural. Ex. Whiff, whiffs ; grief, griefs ; fife, fifes. Those ending in o, preceded by a vowel, add s only; but if a consonant precede the o, s or es isadded. Ex. Cameo, cameos; ratio, ratios; cargo, cargoes; volcano, volcanoes; portico, porticoes; solo, solos. Words ending in y after a consonant have ies in the plural. Ex. fly, flies; history, histories. A very few change the vowel sound of the singular, Ex. Foot, feet; goose, geese; tooth, teeth; woman, women (pronounced wimmen), One adds en to the singular—ox, oxen. One both changes the vowel and adds en—brother, brethren.

Besides these, the following must be noted: Child makes children in plural. Mouse has mice and louse, lice; but it is the spelling only which is peculiar. Penny has two plurals; when coins are meant, pennies, but when money is spoken of, pence. In like manner die, signifying a stamp for coining, has dies; but when it means a cube used in play, dice. Pea has peas and pease, the latter signifying peas collectively, or used for food. Kine is sometimes used as a plural to cow.

Deer, sheep, swine, are used in both numbers; and (when spoken of as food) fish, cod, salmon, &c. The names of metals are made plural only employed to signify some particular things composed of them. Ex. Irons, coppers, brasses. Articles of trade and commerce which, in ordinary language, are never used in the plural form, have plural forms in the market. Ex. Cloth, oil, sugar, tea, &c. On the other hand, beast, which has a regular and commonly used plural, is employed in the singular form alone by Smithfield salesmen. Words signifying abstract qualities seldom take the plural form, because they cannot have a plural meaning, except when used figuratively. Ex. The honors of the world; the decencies of life. Names of measures, weights, of some numbers, and of terms employed numerically, are in some instances used in the singular form, with a plural meaning. Ex. A ten-pound note, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, an army of eighty thousand men, twelve dozen of wine, three brace of dogs, a fleet of twenty sail, twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse, fifteen thousand stand of arms, a hundred of cattle, each weighing thirty stone.

Alms, means, news, pains, and riches, which are plural in form, are used both as singulars and as plurals. Ashes, bellows, breeches, cates, dregs, gallows pincers, scissors, and tongs, have no singulars, either in form or meaning. The names of some sciences, derived from the Greek language, are plural in formal but in meaning singular. Ex. Ethics, hydrostatics, mathematics, mechanics, politics. And so is the term ''morals. Suds, and wages, plural in form, are singular in signification; and pulse'' (leguminous seeds), also plural in form, is simply collective in its meaning. 13. Almost all nouns, which have been simply—A adopted from foreign languages, retain their original plurals; but some have also plurals formed in the English fashion, and in a few instances with a