An English Grammar. James Witt Sewell
In nouns, number means the mode of indicating whether we are speaking of one thing or of more than one.
36. Our language has two numbers—singular and plural. The singular number denotes that one thing is spoken of; the plural, more than one.
37. There are three ways of changing the singular form to the plural:—
(1) By adding -en.
(2) By changing the root vowel.
(3) By adding -s (or -es).
The first two methods prevailed, together with the third, in Old English, but in modern English -s or -es has come to be the "standard" ending; that is, whenever we adopt a new word, we make its plural by adding -s or -es.
I. Plurals formed by the Suffix -en.
The -en inflection.
38. This inflection remains only in the word oxen, though it was quite common in Old and Middle English; for instance, eyen (eyes), treen (trees), shoon (shoes), which last is still used in Lowland Scotch. Hosen is found in the King James version of the Bible, and housen is still common in the provincial speech in England.
39. But other words were inflected afterwards, in imitation of the old words in -en by making a double plural.
-En inflection imitated by other words.
Brethren has passed through three stages. The old plural was brothru, then brothre or brethre, finally brethren. The weakening of inflections led to this addition.
Children has passed through the same history, though the intermediate form childer lasted till the seventeenth century in literary English, and is still found in dialects; as—
"God bless me! so then, after all, you'll have a chance to see your childer get up like, and get settled."—Quoted By De Quincey.
Kine is another double plural, but has now no singular.
In spite of wandering kine and other adverse circumstance.—Thoreau.
II. Plurals formed by Vowel Change.
40. Examples of this inflection are—
man—men
foot—feet
goose—geese
louse—lice
mouse—mice
tooth—teeth
Some other words—as book, turf, wight, borough—formerly had the same inflection, but they now add the ending -s.
41. Akin to this class are some words, originally neuter, that have the singular and plural alike; such as deer, sheep, swine, etc.
Other words following the same usage are, pair, brace, dozen, after numerals (if not after numerals, or if preceded by the prepositions in, by, etc, they add -s): also trout, salmon; head, sail; cannon; heathen, folk, people.
The words horse and foot, when they mean soldiery, retain the same form for plural meaning; as—
The foot are fourscore thousand, The horse are thousands ten. —Macaulay.
Lee marched over the mountain wall—
Over the mountains winding down,
Horse and foot, into Frederick town. —Whittier.
III. Plurals formed by Adding -s or -es.
42. Instead of -s, the ending -es is added—
(1) If a word ends in a letter which cannot add -s and be pronounced. Such are box, cross, ditch, glass, lens, quartz, etc.
-Es added in certain cases.
If the word ends in a sound which cannot add -s, a new syllable is made; as, niche—niches, race—races, house—houses, prize—prizes, chaise—chaises, etc.
-Es is also added to a few words ending in -o, though this sound combines readily with -s, and does not make an extra syllable: cargo—cargoes, negro—negroes, hero—heroes, volcano—volcanoes, etc.
Usage differs somewhat in other words of this class, some adding -s, and some -es.
(2) If a word ends in -y preceded by a consonant (the y being then changed to i); e.g., fancies, allies, daisies, fairies.
Words in -ies.
Formerly, however, these words ended in -ie, and the real ending is therefore -s. Notice these from Chaucer (fourteenth century):—
Their old form.
The lilie on hir stalke grene. Of maladie the which he hadde endured.
And these from Spenser (sixteenth century):—
Be well aware, quoth then that ladie milde. At last fair Hesperus in highest skie Had spent his lampe.
(3) In the case of some words ending in -f or -fe, which have the plural in -ves: calf—calves, half—halves, knife—knives, shelf—shelves, etc.
Special Lists.
43. Material nouns and abstract nouns are always singular. When such words take a plural ending, they lose their identity, and go over to other classes (Secs. 15 and 17).
44. Proper nouns are regularly singular, but may be made plural when we wish to speak of several persons or things bearing the same name; e.g., the Washingtons, the Americas.
45. Some words are usually singular, though they are plural in form. Examples of these are, optics, economics, physics, mathematics, politics, and many branches of learning; also news, pains (care), molasses, summons, means: as—
Politics, in its widest extent, is both the science and the art of government.—Century Dictionary.
So live, that when thy summons comes, etc.—Bryant.
It served simply as a means of sight.—Prof. Dana.
Means plural.
Two words, means and politics, may be plural in their construction with verbs and adjectives:—
Words, by strongly conveying the passions, by those means which we have already mentioned, fully compensate for their weakness in other respects.—Burke.
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