Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/251

 ships, skiffs, pits, rocks, depths, lakes, gulfs, it is sharp; but in seas, lays, rivers, hills, ponds, paths, rows, webs, flags'', it is flat. The terminations which always make the regular plural in es, with increase of syllables, are twelve; namely, ce, ge, ch soft, che soft, sh, ss, s, se, x, xe, z, and ze: as in ''face, faces; age, ages; torch, torches; niche, niches; dish, dishes; kiss, kisses; rebus, rebuses; lens, lenses; chaise, chaises; corpse, corpses; nurse, nurses; box, boxes; axe, axes; phiz, phizzes; maze, mazes.'' All other endings readily unite in sound either with the sharp or with the flat s, as they themselves are sharp or flat; and, to avoid an increase of syllables, we allow the final e mute to remain mute after that letter is added: thus, we always pronounce as monosyllables the words ''babes, blades, strifes, tithes, yokes, scales, names, canes, ropes, shores, plates, doves'', and the like.

OBS. 3.--Though the irregular plurals of our language appear considerably numerous when brought together, they are in fact very few in comparison with the many thousands that are perfectly simple and regular. In some instances, however, usage is various in writing, though uniform in speech; an unsettlement peculiar to certain words that terminate in vowels: as, Rabbis, or rabbies; octavos, or octavoes; attornies, or attorneys. There are also some other difficulties respecting the plurals of nouns, and especially respecting those of foreign words; of compound terms; of names and titles; and of words redundant or deficient in regard to the numbers. What is most worthy of notice, respecting all these puzzling points of English grammar, is briefly contained in the following observations.

OBS. 4.--It is a general rule of English grammar, that all singular nouns ending with a vowel preceded by an other vowel, shall form the plural by simply assuming an s: as, ''Plea, pleas; idea, ideas; hernia, hernias; bee, bees; lie, lies; foe, foes; shoe, shoes; cue, cues; eye, eyes; folio, folios; bamboo, bamboos; cuckoo, cuckoos; embryo, embryos; bureau, bureaus; purlieu, purlieus; sou, sous; view, views; straw, straws; play, plays; key, keys; medley, medleys; viceroy, viceroys; guy, guys.'' To this rule, the plurals of words ending in quy, as ''alloquies, colloquies, obloquies, soliloquies'', are commonly made exceptions; because many have conceived that the u, in such instances, is a mere appendage to the q, or is a consonant having the power of w, and not a vowel forming a diphthong with the y. All other deviations from the rule, as monies for ''moneys, allies for alleys, vallies for valleys, chimnies for chimneys'', &c., are now usually condemned as errors. See Rule 12th for Spelling.

OBS. 5.--It is also a general principle, that nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant, change the y into i, and add es for the plural, without increase of syllables: as, ''fly, flies; ally, allies; city, cities; colony, colonies''. So nouns in i, (so far as we have any that are susceptible of a change of number,) form the plural regularly by assuming es: as, alkali, alkalies; salmagundi, salinagundies. Common nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant, are numerous; and none of them deviate from the foregoing rule of forming the plural: thus, ''duty, duties''. The termination added is es, and the y is changed into i, according to the general principle expressed in Rule 11th for Spelling. But, to this principle, or rule, some writers have supposed that ''proper nouns'' were to be accounted exceptions. And accordingly we sometimes find such names made plural by the mere addition of an s; as, "How come the Pythagoras', [it should be, the Pythagorases,] the Aristotles, the Tullys, the Livys, to appear, even to us at this distance, as stars of the first magnitude in the vast fields of ether?"--Burgh's Dignity, Vol. i, p. 131. This doctrine, adopted from some of our older grammars, I was myself, at one period, inclined to countenance; (see Institutes of English Grammar, p. 33, at the bottom;) but further observation having led me to suspect, there is more authority for changing the y than for retaining it, I shall by-and-by exhibit some examples of this change, and leave the reader to take his choice of the two forms, or principles.

OBS. 6.--The vowel a, at the end of a word, (except in the questionable term huzza, or when silent, as in guinea,) has always its Italian or middle sound, as heard in the interjection aha! a sound which readily unites with that of s flat, and which ought, in deliberate speech, to be carefully preserved in plurals from this ending: as, ''Canada, the Canadas; cupola, cupolas; comma, commas; anathema, anathemas''. To pronounce the final a flat, as Africay for Africa, is a mark of vulgar ignorance.

OBS. 7.--The vowel e at the end of a word, is generally silent; and, even when otherwise, it remains single in plurals from this ending; the es, whenever the e is vocal, being sounded eez, or like the word ease: as, apostrophe, apostrophes; epitome, epitomes; simile, similes. This class of words being anomalous in respect to pronunciation, some authors have attempted to reform them, by changing the e to y in the singular, and writing ies for the plural: as, ''apostrophy, apostrophies; epitomy, epitomies; simily, similies''. A reformation of some sort seems desirable here, and this has the advantage of being first proposed; but it is not extensively adopted, and perhaps never will be; for the vowel sound in question, is not exactly that of the terminations y and ies, but one which seems to require ee--a stronger sound than that of y, though similar to it.

OBS. 8.--For nouns ending in open o preceded by a consonant, the regular method of forming the plural seems to be that of adding es; as in ''bilboes, umboes, buboes, calicoes, moriscoes, gambadoes, barricadoes, fumadoes, carbonadoes, tornadoes, bravadoes, torpedoes, innuendoes, viragoes, mangoes, embargoes, cargoes, potargoes, echoes, buffaloes, volcanoes, heroes, negroes, potatoes, manifestoes, mulattoes, stilettoes, woes''. In words of this class, the e appears to be useful as a means of preserving the right sound of the o; consequently, such of them as are the most frequently used, have become the most firmly fixed in this orthography. In practice, however, we find many similar nouns very frequently, if not uniformly, written with s only; as, ''cantos, juntos, grottos, solos, quartos, octavos, duodecimos, tyros''. So that even the best scholars seem to have frequently doubted which termination they ought to regard as the regular one. The whole class includes more than