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APPENDIX

I. SUPPLEMENTARY GRAMMAR

NOUNS

1. Abstract Nouns. A special class of nouns consists of the names not of things but of qualities and general ideas.

Thus, a flower that is red and white, that smells sweet, that is beautiful, is said to have the qualities of redness, whiteness, sweetness, and beauty. A person who is honest, industrious, patient, and wise may be said to have the qualities of honesty, industry, patience, and wisdom.

The words above that are in italics are the names of qualities or general ideas. Such names are called abstract nouns.

EXERCISE. Point out the abstract nouns in the following lists, and use each in a sentence:

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2. Collective Nouns. The singular form of some nouns often has a plural meaning. These are nouns that denote collections of individuals. Such are the following words:

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These are often called collective nouns.

EXERCISE. Use in sentences the collective nouns above.

3. Plurals of Letters, Figures, etc. Letters, figures, signs, and the like are made plural by adding 's to the singular. Thus :

My November record contains two E's and two G's.

Dot your i's and cross your t's.

Mind your p's and q's.

Test your work by casting out 9's.

Make your +'s, your 's, and your x's smaller.

4. Plurals of Different Meanings. Some nouns have two plurals, usually somewhat different in meaning:

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5. Plurals of Nouns from Foreign Languages. Nouns taken from foreign languages frequently keep their foreign plural form. The most common among these are the following:

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6. The Cases of Nouns. Observe in the sentences that follow that the same form of the noun John is used, though John is in turn the subject, the predicate word, the object of a verb, and the object of a preposition :

1. John studied his lesson.
2. That boy is John.

3. I can see John.
4. This letter is for John.

If case be defined as the form of a noun or pronoun that shows its relation to other words, it becomes clear at once that nouns have only two case forms, or cases. One of these is the possessive, sometimes called the genitive, case. This is the form of a noun that usually denotes ownership. Thus, John's in John's hat is the possessive case, or form, of the noun John. The other case, sometimes called the common case, is the form of a noun that is used as the subject of a verb, or as the predicate word in a sentence, or as the object of a verb or of a preposition.

Other uses of nouns that require the common case, or case form, will be studied on later pages of this Appendix.'

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7. The Genitive Case. The following sentences show that nouns in the genitive, sometimes called the possessive, case have other uses besides that of indicating possession:

1. The day's business was soon finished. 2. Lincoln's election was a fortunate event. 3. He lived a stone's throw from the river. 4. The team's defeat did not discourage us.

EXERCISE. I. Pick out in the following sentences the nouns that are in the genitive case. Do they all denote possession? Which do not?

1. When the day's work was over, we hurried to our friend's room. 2. He stood an arm's length from the desk. 3. The boy's record was surprisingly good. 4. The crowd's anger turned against the boy's father. 5. Our army's flight could be easily explained. 6. The child's bashfulness amused the class. 7. The man's health was poor. 8. The man's physician recommended a month's rest.

2. Pick out the nouns that are in the common case. Can you tell the use of each in its sentence?

8. Joint and Separate Possession. a. Joint possession of a thing by several persons is shown by adding the possessive sign to the last name only. Thus:

England, France, and Russia's alliance.

Royce and Russell's Arithmetic. (Royce and Russell are co-authors.)
Buck and Milliken's Drug Store. (Buck and Milliken are partners.)

b. Separate possession of like things by several persons is shown by adding the sign of possession to the name of each. Thus:

England's, Germany's, and China's interests.

Webster's and Worcester's dictionaries.

Do you prefer Cooper's or Hawthorne's novels?

c. Often ambiguous, awkward, or ill-sounding expressions of possession may be avoided by substituting a prepositional phrase for the possessive. Thus :

The alliance of England, France, and Russia. (BETTER THAN: England, France, and Russia's alliance)

The dictionaries of Webster and of Worcester. (BETTER THAN: Webster's and Worcester's dictionaries)

Do you prefer the novels of Cooper or of Hawthorne ?

The speech of the senator from Iowa. (BETTER THAN: The senator from Iowa's speech)

The name of the founder of this institution. (NOT: The founder of this institution's name)

9. Nouns used like Adverbs. The italicized nouns in the following sentences illustrate the use of nouns as adverb modifiers:

1. John sold his bicycle this morning. 2. He was out of school a month. 3. The tree is fifty feet high. 4. He drove miles further into the woods. 5. He works many hours daily.

It is plain that a noun may be used like an adverb to modify a verb, an adjective, or an adverb. When nouns are used as adverb modifiers they denote (like adverbs) place, time, manner, or degree; usually, however, they denote degree or measure.

EXERCISE. Point out in the following sentences the nouns used as adverb modifiers, and tell what they modify. Tell whether they denote place, time, manner, or degree or measure.

1. The Boy Scouts marched through the woods Indian file. 2. The house was sixty feet long and thirty feet wide. 3. Please do not laugh that way. 4. He went home last night. 5. Could we not have the meeting an hour sooner? 6. He is nearly six feet tall. 7. I have waited for your reply a full week. 8. The little girl is only four years old. 9. They lowered it a degree more gradually. 10. He crawled on his hands and knees the whole distance.

10. Nouns as Independent Elements in Sentences. The use of a noun as an independent element in a sentence is illustrated in the following

sentences:

1. Boy, you do not do your work well.

2. Boy! If he only knew what I would do for him!

3. Mr. Arnold, may I speak with you a moment?

4. Mr. Arnold! How we all loved the man!

In the first sentence the noun Boy, followed by a comma, shows that somebody is speaking or calling to the boy. We say that the noun Boy is used independently in address. In the third sentence the noun Mr. Arnold is used independently in address.

But in the second sentence the noun Boy is an exclamation. In the fourth sentence the noun Mr. Arnold is used independently in exclamation.

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