NOTE. When the sense of words is sufficiently certain, by the construction, the definitive may be omitted; as, "Duty to your majesty, and regard for the preservation of ourselves and our posterity, require us to entreat your royal attention."

It is also omitted before names whose signification is general, and requires no limitation-as, “wisdom is justified of her children”—“ anger resteth in the bosom of fools."

*

The definitive a is used before plural names, preceded by few or many-as, a few days, a great many persons." It is also used before any collective word, as, a dozen, a hundred, even when such words are attached to plural nouns; as, a hundred years.

It is remarkable that a never precedes many without the intervention of great between them-but follows many, standing between this word and a name-and what is equally

mar."-Johnson compiled "A Dictionary of the English Language."Lowth wrote " A Short Introduction to English Grammar."-David left a flourishing kingdom to Solomon. Now I request some of the gentlemen, who teach the rules of these Grammars, to inform the world whether a, in the passages recited, denotes one thing of the kind, in other respects indeterminate.

Chares erected a huge Colossus at Rhodes-Romulus built a city in Italy and called it Rome-Great Britain has a navy superior to any on the ocean-Love to God is an indispensable duty-Virgil composed an epic poem-The Earl of Chatham was an eminent statesman-Oxygen is a substance which forms acids-the carbonic acid is a combination of oxygen and carbon-The air is an invisible elastic fluid-Lisbon was destroyed by an earthquake in 1755—that is, according to our grammars, any earthquake, uncertain which.

The history of this word is briefly this. An and one are the same word-an, the Saxon or English orthography, and one a corruption of the French un or une. The Greek en, the Latin unus, that is, un with the usual ending of adjectives, and the Saxon an or ane, are mere dia'lectical differences of orthography, as are the German ein and the Dutch een. Before the Conquest, an was used in computation or numberingan, twa, threo-one, two, three, &c.; and the n was used before articulations, as well as before vowels-" Ac him sæd hyra an"-But to him said one of them.-Alfred Orosius, lib. 6. 30. "An cyning"- -one king. Sax. Chron. p. 82. This word was also varied to express case and gender, like the Latin unus. "And thæs ymb anne monath"-And within this one month.-Sax. Chron. 82. "The on tham anum scipe waæron" -Who were in that one ship.-ibm. 98. An therefore is the original English adjective or ordinal number one; and was never written a until after the Conquest.

*The origin of this use of a before many is to be sought in the primitive character of many, which was a noun in the Gothic and Saxon, synonymous with multitude. A many was therefore correct. Its use as an attribute is secondary or derivative; but this use carries with it the definitive a, in anomalous phrases.

singular, many, the very essence of which is to mark plurality, will, with a intervening, agree with a name in the singular number; as,

"Full many a gem of purest ray serene."

Gray.

"Where many a rose bud rears its blushing head."

RULE III.

Beattie.

The definitive the is employed before names, to limit their signification to one or more specific things of the kind, discriminated from others of the same kind. Hence the person or thing is understood by the reader or hearer; as, the twelve Apostles, the laws of morality, the rules of good breeding.

This definitive is also used with names of things which exist alone, or which we consider as single; as, the Jews, the Sun, the Globe, the Ocean; and also before words when used by way of distinction; as, the Church, the Temple.

RULE IV.

The is used rhetorically before a name in the singular number, to denote the whole species, or an indefinite num ber; as, "the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs."-Sol. Songs.

"The almond-tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden.". "Or ever the silver cord shall be loosedor the golden bowl be broken," &c.-Ecclesiastes.

"There loaded camels move in solemn state,
And the huge elephant's unwieldy weight."

Hoole's Tasso, b. 15.
"For here the splendid treasures of the mine,
And richest offspring of the field combine."

Lusiad, 2.

"The Christian, who, with pious horror, avoided the abominations of the circus or the theatre, found himself encompassed with infernal snares," &c.-Gib. Rom. Emp. ch. 15.

"The heart likes naturally to be moved and affected."Campbell's Rhet. ch. 2.

NOTE 1.-This definitive is also used before names employed figuratively in a general sense; as,

"His mates their safety to the waves consign.”

Lusiad, 2.

Here waves cannot be understood of any particular waves; but the word is a metaphor for a particular thing, the ocean.

In addresses and exclamations, the definitive may be, and usually is, omitted; as, "Sink down, ye mountains, and, ye valleys, rise."

"Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way."

Pope, Mes.

"Granville commands; your aid, O Muses, bring." Wind. Forest. NOTE 2.-The definitive the is used before an attribute, which is selected from others belonging to the same object; as," The very frame of spirit proper for being diverted with the laughable in objects, is so different from that which is necessary for philosophizing on them."Campbell, Rhet. 1. 2.

NUMBER.

As men have occasion to speak of a single object, or of two or more individuals of the same kind, it has been found necessary to vary the noun or name, and usually the termination, to distinguish plurality from unity. The different forms of words to express one or more are called in grammar, numbers; of which there are, in English, two, the singular and the plural. The singular denotes an individual, or a collection of individuals united in a body; as, a man, a ship, an office, a company, a society, a dozen. The plural denotes two or more individuals, not considered as a collective body; as, men, ships, offices, companies, societies. The plural number is formed by the addition of s or es to the singular.

RULE 1. When the terminating letter of a noun will admit the sound of s to coalesce with the name or the last syllable of it, s only is added to form the plural; as, sea, seas; hand, hands; pen, pens; grape, grapes; vale, vales; vow,

VOWS.

2. When the letter s does not combine in sound with the word or last syllable of it, the addition of s increases the number of syllables; as, house, houses; grace, graces; page, pages; rose, roses; voice, voices; maze, mazes.

3. When the name ends in x, ss, sh, or ch with its English sound, the plural is formed by adding es to the singular; for a single s after those letters cannot be pronounced; as, fox, foxes; glass, glasses; brush, brushes; church, churches. But after ch with its Greek sound, like k, the plural is formed by s only; as monarch, monarchs.

4. When a name ends with y after a consonant, the plural is formed by dropping y and adding ies; as, vanity, vanities. Alkali has a regular plural, alkalies.

But after ay, cy, and oy, s only is added; as delay, delays; valley, valleys; joy, joys; money, moneys.

NOTE 1. We sometimes see valley, chimney, money, journey, and a few others, with like terminations, written in the plural with ies-vallies, chimnies, &c. But this irregularity is not to be vindicated. Either the singular number should be written vally, or the plural valleys. The latter is preferable.*

NOTE 2.-A few English nouns deviate from the foregoing rules in the formation of the plural number:

CLASS 1. In some names, ƒ in the singular is, for the convenience of utterance, changed into v; as,

calf calves

CLASS 2. The second class consists of words which are used in both numbers, with plurals irregularly formed; as,

hypotheses

brothers or brethren pennies or pence

dies or dice

Pennies is used for real coins; pence for their value in computation.-Dies denotes stamps for coining; dice, pieces used in games.-Peas denotes the seeds as distinct objects; pease the seeds in a mass.-Brothers is the plural used in

*The change of y into ies to form the plural number, may seem to a foreigner an odd irregularity; but the cause is very obvious. Formerly the singular number of this class of words ended with ie; as, glorie, vanitie, energie, and the addition of s made the plural glories. But whether from caprice, negligence, or a desire to simplify the orthography, the termination ie was laid aside for y in the singular, while the old plural ies was retained. A strange inconsistency, but by no means the only one which the progress of our language exhibits.

1

common discourse; brethren, in the scripture style, but is not restricted to it.

Cherubim and seraphim are real Hebrew plurals; but such is the propensity in men to form regular inflections in language, that these words are used as in the singular, with regular plurals, cherubims, seraphims. In like manner, the Hebrew singulars, cherub and seraph, have obtained regular plurals.

The influence of this principle is very obvious in other foreign words, which the sciences have enlisted into our service; as may be observed in the words radius, focus, index, &c. which now begin to be used with regular English plural terminations. This tendency to regularity is, by all means, to be encouraged; for a prime excellence in language is the uniformity of its inflections. The facts here stated will be evinced by a few authorities.

"Vesiculated corallines are found adhering to rocks, shells and fucuses."-Encyc. art. Corallines.

Many fetuses are deficient at the extremities."-Dar. Zoon. Sect. 1, 3, 9.

"Five hundred denariuses."-Baker's Livy, 4. 491.

"The radiations of that tree and its fruit, the principal focuses of which are in the Moldavia islands."-Hunter's St. Pierre, vol. 3.

"The reduction of metallic calzes into metals."-Ency. art. Metallurgy.

See also Mediums, Campbell's Rhetoric, 1, 150; Calyxes, Darwin's Zoon. 1 74; Caudexes, Phytologia, 2, 3; Irises, Zoon. 1. 444; Reguluses and residuums.-Encyc. art. Metal.

In authorities equally respectable, we find stamens, stratums, funguses; and in pursuance of the principle, we may expect to see lamens for lamina; lamels for lamellæ ; baryte for barytes; pyrite for pyrites; strontite for strontites; stalactites for the plural stalactites. These reforms are necessary to enable us to distinguish the singular from the plural number.

CLASS 3. The third class of irregulars consists of such as have no plural termination; some of which represent ideas of things which do not admit of plurality; as, rye, barley, flax, hemp, flour, sloth, pride, pitch, and the names