III

1. What collective nouns stand for groups of the following

2. Construct two sentences showing the difference in use between (1) is and it, and (2) are and they, as used with collective nouns.

IV

Write (1) five abstract nouns that are formed from adjectives, (2) five that are formed from nouns, (3) five that are formed from verbs.

There are two sexes, male and female; and two corresponding genders, masculine and feminine. Things or objects without sex are of the neuter gender; that is, they are neither masculine nor feminine, as: book, tree, storm, grass. They are referred to by "it." Most nouns denoting animals or persons may be either masculine or feminine, as: parent (father or mother), child (boy or girl), cousin (male or female), fox (male or female). These nouns are referred to by "he" or "she," and sometimes by "it."

Gender is a grammatical distinction corresponding in English to the sex of the object named. Male beings are of the masculine gender. Female beings are of the feminine gender. Things without sex are of the neuter gender.

Personification.

There are two exceptions to the strict correspondence of gender with sex:

1. When an object without sex has male qualities, the noun may be considered masculine and referred to by "he," as: sun, death, war. When the object has female qualities, the noun may be considered feminine and referred to by "she," as: the moon, justice, mercy.

2. The lower animals, and infants, are commonly regarded as neuter and referred to by "it.”

Three Ways of Denoting Gender.

There are three ways in which gender is indicated in English:

(1) By the use of a different word, as:

boy, girl.

(2) By a prefix, as:

manservant, maidservant.

(3) By a suffix, as:

giant, giantess.

(1) By the Use of a Different Word. The most important nouns belonging under this head are:

(2) By a Prefix. - The words belonging to this class are compounds. The two parts are usually separated by a hyphen :

(3) By a Suffix. Notice that in many of these words the suffix is added to the masculine form in a more or less irregular way:

Of feminine endings, ess is the only living suffix in English, and it is less used than formerly. The words author, doctor, poet, and even actor may be used of both sexes.

EXERCISES

I

Tell the gender of these words and refer to each by the

Name and illustrate the three ways of indicating gender.

III

Write six nouns of the masculine gender, six of the feminine gender, and six of the neuter gender.

IV

Explain the use of the suffix ess.

CHAPTER LXI

NUMBER OF NOUNS

The Two Kinds of Number.

Compare carefully the following sentences:

1. This boy knows his lesson.
2. These boys know their lessons.
3. That dog killed a sheep.

4. Those dogs killed ten sheep.

The repeated words in these sentences differ only in number. The words in sentences 1 and 3 are in the singular number; those in 2 and 4 are in the plural number. The form of the words was changed to indicate a change in number. This change is called inflection. Notice that "killed" and "sheep sheep" in sentence 4, though plural in use, do not indicate their number by any change of form or inflection.

Number is that use of a word by which, with or without change of form, it stands for one or more than

one.

A word denoting one is singular, or in the singular number.

A word denoting more than one is plural, or in the plural number.

Plural Suffixes.

Nouns form their plurals by the addition of s or es to the singular. Exceptions are found in a few native English