A Grammar of the English Language (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER V. NOUNS. 1. Nouns are names of things; as, man, Boston, wisdom, angel. 2. There are two kinds of nouns; common and special. 3. Common nouns are the names of kinds or classes of things; as, boy, scholar, book. 4. Special nouns are names specially applied to distinguish one thing from an other of its kind; as, Washington, New York, Hercules. Hercules is the name of an ancient heathern deity; New York, of a particular city; Washington, of a man or place. 5. Common nouns become special, by specific application; as, the ships " Hope " and " Return," the dog " Hero," and race-horse " Eclipse." Several words together often serve the same purpose; as, th sloops ' Delight-in-Peace" and " Fair-Trader;" the plant " Forget-me-not;" the bird " Whip-poor-will 6. Special nouns become common when applied to a kind or quality; as, a judas, a solomon, antichrist. Some nouns name a collection of different things under a general term; as, a landscape, a city, a country, the heavens. A landscape includes the idea of hills, valleys, meadows, But long I win not be Jack-out-af-offic(." Shalupeare. trees, buildings and rivers combined together. A city not only includes the idea of an area of ground, but the houses, stores, churches, wharves, and other buildings. Other nouns apply to a collection of the same things; a, an army, a. flock, a hundred. 1. To nouns belong person, number, gender, and position. 8. Person applies to nouns in regard to the speaker, hearer, or subject. 9. There are three persons, ftrst, second, and third. 10. f lte ftrst person is the speaker; as, " I Paul, myself beseech you. " " I John saw the holy city. " 11. The second person is the hearer; as, " Do you hear me, William 1 " " I hope, Robert, you will t...