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67. So we find that we classify our nouns according to the special work which they do. Now sometimes we find it necessary to change the form of the noun to make it express our thought. Thus we say, book, man, boy, knife, when we wish to express the idea of only one of each object mentioned. But when we wish to express the idea of more than one of them, we say, books, men, boys, knives.

We say, The boy calls; the boys call. The form of the noun boy is changed by adding an s to it. The meaning has also changed. Boy denotes one lad; boys denotes two or more lads. Any change in form and meaning of words is called inflection. The change to denote more than one object is called number. The word boy, denoting one is in the singular number; the word boys, denoting more than one is in the plural number.

68. Inflection is a change in the form of a word to denote a different application or use.

Number is the form of a noun which shows whether it denotes one or more than one.

The singular number denotes one thing.

The plural number denotes more than one thing.

There are a few rules governing the formation of plurals which we must know, and these rules are of great assistance in correct spelling.

69. Most nouns form their plural by adding s—thus:

Long ago in early English all plurals were formed by adding es, and you will read in the first translation of the Bible, for instance, such words as bird-es, cloud-es. Later the e was dropped and s added to the singular without an increase of syllables. But when the singular ends in an s sound, the original syllable es is retained, for two hissing sounds will not unite.

70. So nouns ending in s, x, z, sh or soft ch, form the plural by adding es to the singular. These words end with a sound so much like that of s that we cannot pronounce the plural easily without making another syllable. Thus:

71. In words ending with the s sound but with a final e, only s is added to form the plural, but in pronouncing the word we then have two syllables, thus:

72. Letters, figures, signs, etc., are made plural by adding an apostrophe and the letter s ('s), thus:

Cross your t's and dot your i's.

Do you know the table of 4's?

While most of our nouns form their plural in this regular way by adding s or es, there are some nouns that form their plural by some other change in the form of the word.

73. Notice the following list of words and their plurals:

fly

flies

city

cities

key

keys

day

days

story

stories

enemy

enemies

tray

trays

boy

boys

These nouns all end in y, yet they form the plural differently. Some simply add s and the rest change the y to i and add es. Can you discover the reason?

Wherever the y is preceded by a vowel, as e in key, a in tray, o in boy, the plural is formed by adding s. But when the y is preceded by a consonant, as l in fly, r in story, t in city, and m in enemy, the y is changed to i and es added in forming the plural.

If the singular ends in y after a consonant, change y to i and add es in the plural.

74. There are thirteen nouns ending in f and three in fe which form the plural in ves. They are:

All other nouns in f or fe are regular; adding only s, to form the plural.

75. About forty nouns ending in o after a consonant form the plural in es. The most common ones are:

buffalo

cargo

potato

tomato

negro

veto

cargo

echo

calico

embargo

hero

mulatto

mosquito

motto

tornado

volcano

torpedo

flamingo

Most nouns ending in o form the plural regularly, adding only s, as pianos, banjos, cameos, etc.

76. A few words form their plurals by a change in the word and without adding s or es.

The most common of these words are:

77. Proper nouns, when made plural, generally follow the same rule as common nouns. Thus we write:

All the Smiths, the Joneses, both the Miss Johnsons, one of the Dr. Davidsons, and the Mrs. Wilsons, were present.

But to prevent the confusion and misunderstanding which might arise in changing the form of a proper noun, we do not change its form in writing the plurals; for example:

There were eight Henrys, kings of England.

The two Marys reigned in the kingdom.

It would be confusing to say eight Henries, the two Maries.

The title is made plural when several are referred to, thus:

78. The title is made plural when used with several names, thus:

Messrs. Brown and White.

Generals Lee and Grant.

Drs. Long and Larson.

79. In the case of nouns formed of two or more words, when the compound word is so familiar that the parts are not thought of separately the s is added to the whole compound word, as four-in-hands; forget-me-nots; court-yards; spoonfuls; green-houses; etc. But when one of the parts is more important than the others, the s is added to the more important part, thus:

mothers-in-law

commanders-in-chief

hangers-on

men-of-war

by-standers

attorneys-at-law

passers-by

step-sons

80. We have many words in our language taken from other languages. They do not form the plural in these languages as we do, and some of these words retain their foreign plurals. Some of the most commonly used of these nouns are the following:

81. The following nouns are treated as singular: news, pains (meaning care), acoustics, mathematics, economics, ethics, molasses, physics, politics, and other nouns ending in ics except athletics. With these always use the s-form of the verb. For example:

The news is distorted. Not, The news are distorted.

Economics is an important study. Not, Economics are, etc.

82. The following nouns are always plural:

alms

annals

amends

antipodes

bellows

billiards

clothes

dregs

eaves

fireworks

hysterics

measles

mumps

matins

nippers

nuptials

oats

premises

proceeds

pincers

riches

rickets

suds

scissors

thanks

tidings

tongs

trousers

vitals

victuals

vespers

With all these nouns always use the form of the verb which is used with the plural subject. Thus:

Alms are given.

Riches are easily lost.

83. The following nouns have the same form for both plural and singular, corps, cannon, deer, grouse, heathen, hose, means, odds, series, sheep, species, swine, vermin, wages. You can tell whether the singular or plural is meant by the meaning of the sentence. For example:

The cannon is loaded. Here we are speaking of one cannon.

The cannon used in the war are of tremendous size. Here we know are meant all the big guns used in the war.

When you say, The sheep is lost, we know you mean one sheep, but when you say, The sheep are in the pasture, we know you mean the entire drove.

84. When preceded by a numeral, the following nouns have the same form for both singular and plural. Without the numerals, the plural is formed by the adding of s; brace, couple, dozen, hundred, pair, score, thousand, yoke. For example:

Thousands enlisted.

Three thousand enlisted.

Dozens came at my call.

Two dozen came when I called.