Mnemonics, the science of memory. Optics, the science of vision. Pneumatics, the science of at- Quarterings, the coats of arms in Quarters, station for soldiers. Regimentals, military costume. Rudiments, first principles. Shavings, that which is brought off Subsidies, supplies of men and Superiors, those who are above Tactics, modes of proceeding. Vitals, the parts of the body or Wages, workmen's pay at stated periods. Sessions, a tribunal sitting quar-Wares, merchandize. Waters, mineral water, or a mineral spring. Had we space, we might be able to assign the reason why these nouns severally are used in the plural only. One instance may be taken. There is a class of nouns, such as acoustics, physics, metaphysics, &c., which claims attention. These words are of Greek origin. They in each case denote a science, and they are in the plural because our English translators put into the plural the several corresponding Greek words, which are in the plural, when first they rendered the Greek terms into English. Thus, in translating Aristotle they found the science of material things, called ta physica, that is, Aristotle's treatise on material things, and so, in servile obedience to their Greek master's usage, they coined the word physics. Another treatise by the same authority was designated meta ta physica (things to be studied after physics), which consequently they rendered metaphysics; that is, the science of mind, to which Aristotle thought the student should not apply till he had mastered the science of matter. Some nouns have in the plural a different signification from what they bear in the singular, c. g., Singular. Arm, a limb of the body. Cloth, woven flax, cotton, or wool. Compass, limited space, enclosure, apparatus for steering a ship by. Plural. Arms, weapons of war. Ashes, the remains of anything Clothes, the dress or clothing of the instrument for D.awer, that which draws. Drawers, things (a garment) drawn on; a dress. Light, that which proceeds from a Lights, luminous bodies. luminous body. Moral, a didactic sentence. Organ, a musical instrument. Pain, the cause of uneasiness. Quarter, a fourth part, a region. Study, application to learning. Morals, the character, the principles of action. Organs, parts of the body posses- Pains, labour, trouble, toil. Snuffers, an instrument for snuffing Studies, the subjects learned. Vapours, low spirits. Wits, the senses, sound mind. Of compound words there are two classes, one in which the sign of the plural is added to the former word, the other in which it is added to the latter word, e, g., COMPOUNDS WITH THE S ADDED TO THE FORMER WORD. COMPOUNDS IN WHICH THE S IS ADDED TO THE LATTER WORD, Names of persons may be in the plural when more persons than one are intended, as, the two Catos, the Scipios; also when a pro. per name is used descriptively, e. g., the Ciceros of the age are few, the Ciceros, that is, the great orators. Hence good English usages would require the Miss Smiths, the Mr. Dobsons. Regard to French idiom has, however, for some time required the firm of Messieurs Potter and Norris, or Messrs. John Wilson and Sons There is, therefore, some excuse for the affectation now almost constantly seen, when two sisters open a ladies' school, namely, the Misses Brown or the Misses Tinker. Such deviations from pure English require to be checked. EXERCISES.-COMPLETE. The choruses were very fine. Leonidas was a hero. I have received two cargoes of cotton. A he-wolf and two she-wolves were killed. I recommend you to read Johnson's "Lives of the Poets." Do not kill flies. I have bought a pen-knife. The two armies met at day-break. In passing through the valley, I saw a monkey. The environs of London are very beautiful. How can I make amends for the harm I have done you? Paley is too highly esteemed as a teacher of ethics. Locke's metaphysics are despised by the scholars of Kant. The prime minister of England is the servant and the organ of the queen. Organs were introduced into Christian churches about the ninth century. Lord Brougham was the most ready but not the most learned of all our Lord Chancellors. Old Thomas Parr, who lived a hundred and fifty-two years, had eight sons-in-law and four daughters-in-law. EXERCISES.-INCOMPLETE. The tree is full of. She is a lovely-. That child has the hooping-cough, it must not play with the other-. Yesterday I saw one black mouse and two white-. Our cook has bought a fat goose; are-cheap in this place? Have you a penny? Yes, here are six-which make six-. In London there are more than six hundred (church). In the United States of America the-are stili slaves. Two-make a whole. London is the largest of all the-in the world. The French and English —like fools have often fought bloody-. All good-must go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Nelson's fleet at the Nile consisted of eighteen-; that of the French was seven-stronger, and had besides much heavierGive me a-of bread; you may have as many as you want. PARSING. Cherubim and Seraphim bow and worship around the throne of God, adoring his perfections in their inmost souls. Cherubim, a common noun, of Hebrew origin, in the plural number, from cherub, forming together with seraphim the subject of the verb bow. And, a conjunction, coupling the nouns seraphim and cherubim. Seraphim, a noun common, in the plural number, from the Hebrew noun seraph; seraphim is part of the compound subject to the verbs bow and worship. Bow, an intransitive verb, present tense, third person plural number, agreeing with the subject cherubim and seraphim. And, a conjunction uniting bow and worship. Worship, an intransitive (sometimes transitive, as in they worship God) verb, present time third person plural, agreeing with the subject cherubim and seraphim. Around, a preposition governing throne. The, the definite article. Throne, a common noun, singular number, forming its plural by the addition of s, and dependent on the preposition around. Of, a preposition governing the noun God. God, a proper noun, singular number, having, from its signification, no plural, though gods is used when false divinities or idols are meant. Adoring, a present participle from the transitive verb to adore, agreeing with cherubim and seraphim, and governing perfections. a possessive pronoun, from the personal pronoun he, of the third person singular number, plural their, agreeing with perfections. Perfections, a common noun from the Latin per, through, and facio, I make (E. R. perfect), in the plural number, singular perfection, the object to the participle adoring. In, a preposition governing souls. Their, a possessive pronoun, third person plural, singular his, agreeing with souls. Inmost, an adjective in the superlative degree, made up of the Saxon elements in and most, and agreeing with souls. Souls, a noun common, of Saxon origin, plural number, singular soul, dependent on the preposition in. Words with their proper Prepositions to be formed into Sentences. Our grammatical terms are derived from the Latin. In Latin grammar, case denotes the change or changes which nouns and pronouns undergo in their terminations corresponding with certain changes in signification. Thus nubes is a cloud; but nubi is to a cloud; where the termination or what is called the case-ending es, is changed into the case-ending i. The case endings of the plural vary from the case-endings of the singular. I present this Latin noun in full, together with the English meanings ;* Now here you see what is expressed by the English of is in the Latin expressed by the letter s (the i belongs to the stem or root of the word); so our to is represented by i, and our by is represented by e. In general, then, we may say that the changes of meaning which the Romans represented by variations in the endings of nouns, we express by prepositions. These variations in the endings of nouns are in Latin grammar termed case-endings, or cases. Instead For the sake of distinct comparison, the case-endings of the noun, and the corresponding meaning in English, are marked in Italics. dé case-mĚ,79 we epicy sorrections in the Ladia sense of the term, then, ze ic not erst English acuns. For the student wis chserve that road in the singular, and souds in the plural, Pemain through a mesa Lan cases changed The Anglo-Saxon, however, the parent of the English, had cases, and a reite of its cases still remains in what may be called the Saxon geritine. Thus the Sixa mapa dekor is our king's daughter." where thee is pronounced the i: cyages is in the genative case. This genitive has been continued in the English, the e being dropped and represented by an apostrophe, thus we have king's fo mnen. This is the true origin of our form in ", as for example in king's, queen's, boy's, girl. It has, however. Seen conceived that the s in this genitive arose from an abbreviation of his, and so we read in the Book of Common Prayer for Christ is sake,” which should be "for Christ's sake." If, after the exhibition of the real origin of our form in 's as a matter of fact, it was necessary to confute the theory just mentioned, we should do so by remarking that it does not account for the given phenomena, inasmuch as we say "the Queen's majesty," which cannot be expanded into "the queen his majesty," the sense requiring "the queen her majesty;" but if her is here necessary, whence comes the of the genitive? This Saxon genitive is also represented in English by the preposition of. The words of the New Testament (John i. 29), “ This is the lamb of God," stand in Luther's German translation, Das ist Gottes lam, literally, "This is God's lamb." Here the German es is represented by the English of. It appears, then, that in English we have two ways of expressing what the Latins expressed by the terminations or is; for this purpose, we may use 's, or of. The's is of German or rather Saxon (say Teutonic, which includes both) origin. Whence comes the of? The preposition of is of French (Norman-French) origin, being the translation of the French de which means of. The words stand in the French Bible thus "Voila l'agneau de Dieu," i. e. behold the lamb of God. I put the several forms together, beginning with the Greek (in English characters) and the Latin, thus: GREEK : LATIN ANGLO-SAXON agnus In the case of the Latin noun nubes, s (is) has the characteristic of the genitive. In the Greek noun Theou (of God), and in the Latin noun Dei (of God), the terminations ou and i, are respectively the characteristics of the genitive in these languages. If, however, you bear in mind that s is one form of the genitive in Latin (as it is of the genitive of many nouns in Greek also), you will then learn that the relation indicated by our preposition of, that is, a relation |