Dear Comrade:

We are studying in this lesson a most interesting part of our language, the words that are the names of things. If we could trace these names of things and the order and time of their coming into the language of men we would have a progressive history of mankind. Way back yonder in the dim dawn of history, men lived upon fruit and nuts. They had no knowledge of the use of fire and could not use foods that required cooking. They communicated with one another by signs. Then they discovered fire and invented the bow and arrow. They could now use fish and flesh for food and they commenced to use articulate speech. This stage has been called the Middle Stage of Savagery. With the invention of the bow and arrow, began the third stage of savagery which merged into the first stage of barbarism with the invention of pottery.

There are three stages of barbarism before we come to the beginning of the era of civilization which begins with the use of the phonetic alphabet and the production of literary records. All tribes that have never attained the art of pottery are classed as savages and those who possess this art but have never attained a phonetic alphabet and the use of writing are classed as barbarians. Civilization began with the spoken and written language and it has been well said that all that separates us from savagery is a wall of books. It is upon the accumulated wisdom of the past that we build. Without this we would be helpless.

So these various names of things have come to us with developing evolving life. As the men of the past gained a knowledge of the use of fire, as they learned to bake the clay and make various utensils; to heat and forge the iron into weapons; to conquer nature in all her phases, to feed the race, to clothe the race, to shelter the race more adequately, our language has grown in volume, strength and beauty.

The study of words and their uses is of great importance to you. Master the few rules necessary and watch your words daily. We are living in an age full of wondrous things and yet many of us have almost as limited a vocabulary as the men of those bygone days, who had never dreamed of the marvels that are commonplace to us.

As you use your dictionary watch closely the meaning of the words and choose the words that most aptly express your ideas. Listen to good English spoken as often as you can. Read good English. Mark the difference between good and bad English and gradually you will find yourself using good English naturally and continually.

Yours for Education,

THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE

CLASSES OF NOUNS

59. We have learned that the words in a sentence are classified according to the work which each word does. The words which assert are called verbs; the words which are the names of things are called nouns. But now we shall see that these words are again divided into classes according to the special work which they perform. Just as we may gather the people of the world into one great class, the working class, then classify them according to the industry in which they work, thus some are farmers, some teachers, some factory workers; then each class may be subdivided according to the special work which they perform, as truck farmers, high school teachers, machinists, etc.

So we find that nouns are divided into classes according to their meaning in the sentence.

In the sentence, Lincoln was a man of the people, we have two nouns referring to the same person, Lincoln and man, but they are different kinds of names. The word man is a name that may apply to any one of a million persons but the name Lincoln applies to one person only. Some nouns, then, represent a thing as being of a certain kind or class, without showing which particular one is meant. Other nouns are names given to designate a particular individual. These are called common and proper nouns.

60. A proper noun is a special name meant for only one person, place or thing.

All other nouns are common nouns.

A common noun is a name which belongs to all things of a class of objects.

Every proper noun should begin with a capital letter.

Indicate the proper nouns in the following list by drawing a line under the letters that ought to be capitals:

• king
• month
• city
• france
• dog
• virginia
• war
• wilson
• november
• doctor
• colonel
• napoleon
• chicago
• governor
• independence day
• freedom
• ocean
• atlantic ocean
• thanksgiving
• thanksgiving day
• uncle william
• thursday
• week
• general sherman
• karl marx
• union
• labor
• united mine workers
• newspaper
• the daily call

Write the special or proper names of several individuals in each of the following classes:—as city,—Chicago, New York, etc.

River, king, author, country, state, inventor, martyr, month, book, college.

COLLECTIVE NOUNS

61. Some nouns are the names of groups or collections of things and are called collective nouns. Many soldiers taken together form collectively an army—a number of sheep form a drove. Many of these group or collective nouns will readily occur to your mind.

A collective noun is one that in the singular form, denotes a number of separate persons or things.

Exercise 1

Opposite each of the following collective nouns, write the name of the individuals represented by the collection; as an army of soldiers; a swarm of bees; a flock of birds.

• A gang of.......
• A committee of.......
• A herd of.......
• A drove of.......
• A hive of.......
• A corps of.......
• A suite of.......
• A group of.......
• A class of.......
• A multitude of.......

Fill the following blanks with appropriate collective nouns.

• A......of horses.
• A......of sailors.
• A......of wolves.
• A......of savages.
• A......of singers.
• A......of girls.
• A......of ships.
• A......of quail.
• A......of birds.
• A......of workers.

ABSTRACT NOUNS

62. When primitive man began to name the objects about him, doubtless he first named the things which he could see, hear, taste, smell and touch,—the objects which he could perceive by the five senses. Then gradually he came to understand that these objects had certain qualities which he could consider apart from the object itself.

He hunted among the stones to find those which were suitable for making his arrow-heads. For this purpose he needed the hardest stone which he could find, so hardness became something which he could think of as something apart from the object itself.

He saw the men about him and found a name for them. Then he knew that some men were stronger than others, so strength was a quality which he could consider apart from the man himself.

These men performed certain actions; they ran, they climbed,—so running and climbing became actions which he could think of as something apart from any individual.

He noted too that men lived in certain conditions; for example, some men were free, some were slaves, so he came to think of slavery and freedom as conditions which could be thought of as something apart from the individual.

So we draw away, or separate certain ideas; the quality from the thing which has it and the action from the thing which does it and the condition from the thing which is in it. These nouns which are used to describe these qualities, actions or conditions are called abstract nouns. Abstract is a word derived from the Latin abs, away from, and tractus, drawn, so it literally means drawn away from.

The nouns which are names of things which we can see, hear, taste, smell and touch or perceive by any of the five senses are called concrete nouns. 63. A concrete noun is the name of an object which may be perceived by one or more of the five senses.

An abstract noun is the name of a quality, a condition or an action.

64. You remember we found in the study of adjectives that we have a class of adjectives which are used to describe the qualities of objects, as for example—good, noble, honest, true, wise, etc. Since abstract nouns are the names of qualities, many of our abstract nouns are formed from adjectives. Study carefully the following list of adjectives and nouns. Note that the word is an adjective when it is used with a noun to describe certain qualities. It is a noun when it is used by itself to name that quality.

	Adjectives	Abstract Nouns
1.	honest	honesty
2.	pure	purity
3.	true	truth
4.	strong	strength
5.	wise	wisdom
6.	good	goodness
7.	bold	boldness
8.	just	justice
9.	silent	silence
10.	wide	width
11.	patient	patience
12.	stupid	stupidity

65. You will notice that another use of abstract nouns is to name actions. The verb is the part of speech which expresses action, therefore many abstract nouns are formed from verbs. Notice the following list:

	Verbs	Abstract Nouns
1.	learn	learning
2.	invent	invention
3.	choose	choice
4.	defend	defense
5.	try	trial
6.	judge	judgment
7.	read	reading
8.	please	pleasure
9.	elect	election
10.	move	motion

66. An abstract noun is also the name of a condition. These nouns are derived from the concrete noun which is the name of the person or thing which is in the condition.

	Concrete Nouns	Abstract Nouns
1.	slave	slavery
2.	friend	friendship
3.	thief	theft
4.	man	manhood
5.	child	childhood
6.	leader	leadership
7.	hero	heroism
8.	martyr	martyrdom

Exercise 2

Form abstract nouns from the following adjectives, verbs and nouns.

• long
• simple
• rapid
• lovely
• loyal
• fresh
• prove
• sing
• run
• behave
• believe
• reflect
• write
• child
• agent
• infant
• rascal
• clerk
• president
• coward

NUMBER FORM

67. So we find that we classify our nouns according to the special work which they do. Now sometimes we find it necessary to change the form of the noun to make it express our thought. Thus we say, book, man, boy, knife, when we wish to express the idea of only one of each object mentioned. But when we wish to express the idea of more than one of them, we say, books, men, boys, knives.

We say, The boy calls; the boys call. The form of the noun boy is changed by adding an s to it. The meaning has also changed. Boy denotes one lad; boys denotes two or more lads. Any change in form and meaning of words is called inflection. The change to denote more than one object is called number. The word boy, denoting one is in the singular number; the word boys, denoting more than one is in the plural number.

68. Inflection is a change in the form of a word to denote a different application or use.

Number is the form of a noun which shows whether it denotes one or more than one.

The singular number denotes one thing.

The plural number denotes more than one thing.

There are a few rules governing the formation of plurals which we must know, and these rules are of great assistance in correct spelling.

69. Most nouns form their plural by adding s—thus:

boat	day	book	boy
boats	days	books	boys

Long ago in early English all plurals were formed by adding es, and you will read in the first translation of the Bible, for instance, such words as bird-es, cloud-es. Later the e was dropped and s added to the singular without an increase of syllables. But when the singular ends in an s sound, the original syllable es is retained, for two hissing sounds will not unite.

70. So nouns ending in s, x, z, sh or soft ch, form the plural by adding es to the singular. These words end with a sound so much like that of s that we cannot pronounce the plural easily without making another syllable. Thus:

class	tax	topaz	wish	ditch
classes	taxes	topazes	wishes	ditches

71. In words ending with the s sound but with a final e, only s is added to form the plural, but in pronouncing the word we then have two syllables, thus:

house	place	size	cage	niche
houses	places	sizes	cages	niches

72. Letters, figures, signs, etc., are made plural by adding an apostrophe and the letter s ('s), thus:

• Cross your t's and dot your i's.
• Do you know the table of 4's?

While most of our nouns form their plural in this regular way by adding s or es, there are some nouns that form their plural by some other change in the form of the word.

73. Notice the following list of words and their plurals:

• fly
• flies
• city
• cities
• key
• keys
• day
• days
• story
• stories
• enemy
• enemies
• tray
• trays
• boy
• boys

These nouns all end in y, yet they form the plural differently. Some simply add s and the rest change the y to i and add es. Can you discover the reason?

Wherever the y is preceded by a vowel, as e in key, a in tray, o in boy, the plural is formed by adding s. But when the y is preceded by a consonant, as l in fly, r in story, t in city, and m in enemy, the y is changed to i and es added in forming the plural.

If the singular ends in y after a consonant, change y to i and add es in the plural.

74. There are thirteen nouns ending in f and three in fe which form the plural in ves. They are:

beef	beeves
calf	calves
elf	elves
half	halves
leaf	leaves
loaf	loaves
self	selves
sheaf	sheaves
shelf	shelves
staff	staves
thief	thieves
wharf	wharves
wolf	wolves
knife	knives
life	lives
wife	wives

All other nouns in f or fe are regular; adding only s, to form the plural.

75. About forty nouns ending in o after a consonant form the plural in es. The most common ones are:

• buffalo
• cargo
• potato
• tomato
• negro
• veto
• cargo
• echo
• calico
• embargo
• hero
• mulatto
• mosquito
• motto
• tornado
• volcano
• torpedo
• flamingo

Most nouns ending in o form the plural regularly, adding only s, as pianos, banjos, cameos, etc.

76. A few words form their plurals by a change in the word and without adding s or es.

The most common of these words are:

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 title is made plural when several are referred to, thus:

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

78. The title 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
• passers-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
analysis	analyses
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, molasses, 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 sex 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 sex.

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
god	goddess

87. Names of things without sex 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 sexes, 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.

The possessive form of nouns is made by adding an apostrophe and s, ('s); thus, day's, lady's, girl's, clerk's.

To plural nouns ending in s add only an apostrophe; thus, days', ladies', girls', clerks'. When plural nouns do not end in s, their possessive forms are made by adding the apostrophe and s, the same as singular nouns, thus:

• They make men's and women's shoes.

90. In words which end with a sound that resembles that of s, the apostrophe with s forms an additional syllable. Thus:

• James's (pronounced James-ez.)
• Mr. Lynch's (pronounced Lynch-ez.)

The only exception to the rule occurs when the addition of another s would make too many hissing sounds, then we add the apostrophe alone. Thus:

• For goodness' sake.
• In Jesus' name.

91. In forming the possessive of compound nouns, the possessive sign is always placed at the end, thus:

• My son-in-law's sister.
• The man-of-war's cannon.

92. When we wish to show that a thing belongs to two or more persons who are joint owners of it, we add the possessive sign to the last word only, thus:

• Carson, Price and Scott's store.
• Mason and Hamlin's pianos.

If it is a separate ownership that we wish to denote, we place the possessive sign after each name, thus:

• Bring me John's and Mary's books.
• Lee's and Grant's armies met in battle.

Remember that the noun has just three changes in form, one for the plural number, one to denote gender and one for the possessive form. Watch carefully your own language and that of your friends and note if these changes are correctly made.

Exercise 3

Write the plural form of each of the following:

• ax
• beef
• chief
• hero
• knife
• T
• hoof
• man-of-war
• axis
• basis
• cherry
• leaf
• son-in-law
• Mr. Smith
• thief
• Doctor Wood
• alley
• buffalo
• chimney
• staff
• Frenchman
• Miss Brown
• ox
• spoonful
• alto
• calf
• cargo
• two
• 3
• tooth
• foot
• turkey

Exercise 4

Underscore the nouns in the following:

How many abstract nouns?

How many concrete?

How many singular?

How many plural?

FIVE AND FIFTY

Charlotte Perkins Gilman