ACCIDENCE, THE Inflections of the English Language are but few. The Declinable Parts of Speech are three, viz. Noun, Pronoun, and Verb. The Indeclinable Parts of Speech are seven; viz. Article, Adjective, Participle, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction, and Interjection,* ACCIDENCE OF NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. Definitions. I. Gender is the distinction of sex. 1. The Masculine Gender denotes the male sex, as a man, 2. The Feminine Gender denotes the female sex, as a 3. The Neuter Gender signifies neither male nor female, II. Number is the consideration of an object as one or more. 2. The Plural Number expresses more objects than one.‡ III. Case is the form which nouns and pronouns assume in consequence of their relation to other words. 1. The Nominative Case, Leading State, or Subject, sim- 2. The Possessive or Genitive Case expresses the relation 3. The Objective, Accusative, Following State, or Case of IV. Person is the relation that subsists between the leading subjects of discourse. 1. The First Person is the person who speaks: the sign is I, *The English Accidence, to speak grammatically, is said to treat of the Declension of Nouns and Pronouns, of the Comparison of Adjectives, and of the Conjugation of Verbs. The Accidents of Nouns and Pronouns are four, viz. Gender, Number, Case, and Person. It may be doubted whether Person be strictly an Accident, as it never produces any change in the word; but the name has been retained by Grammarians, to prevent an inconvenient accu mulation of technical terms. + Gender is sometimes Figurative, as when we call the sun he, the moon she, a child it. Number is Figurative when we and you are used instead of I and thou. E 2. The Second Person is the person spoken to: the sign is thou, ye, or you, or a noun preceded by an interjection. 3. The Third Person is the person spoken of, and is repreşented by the Pronoun he, and all other words, excepting the signs of the first and second Persons.* DECLENSION OF NOUNS. Declension, exclusive of the consideration of Gender, is the variation of words by Numbers and Cases. In English there is but one Declension of Substantives. RULES FOR THE GENDER. I. In English, the Gender of Nouns is determined by the sex. Except child, neuter. II. Many Nouns are of the common gender, that is, mascuine or feminine, as friend, enemy. III. Some Masculines have appropriate Feminines. 1. The Masculine and Feminine are unlike. 2. The Masculine and Feminine differ in termination. Remark. The word Person has in Accidence three distinct meanings. 1st. it signifies the Person of the subject, or Nominative to the Verb, in which case it is common to all Nominatives, as in the above definitions, 2dly, it distinguishes Rational Beings from such as are Irrational, in which sense who is said to relate to Persons, and which to Inferior Animals, or Inanimate Things. 3dly, it distinguishes Animate from Inanimate Objects, as when we say that an Impersonal Verb is that which has its Nominative always a Thing, and never a Person. 3. The Masculine and Feminine differ by composition. 3. A cock-sparrow A hen-sparrow A peacock A peahen A dog-fox A bitch-fox A he-cat A he-goat A male child A she-cat Á she-goat A man-servant A maid-servant RULES FOR THE PLURAL. I. The Plural of English Nouns terminates in s, es, ies, or ves. 1. The Plural is generally formed by adding s to the singular. 2. If the singular end in ch soft, s, ss, or x, the Plural is formed by adding es. The termination o has sometimes s and sometimes es. 3. The termination y is changed into ies, and for fe into ves in the plural, as enemies, loaves, wives. But y preceded by a vowel is not changed, as boy, boys. II. The Singular and Plural are sometimes alike; as, Alms, amends, deer, means, news, pains, riches, sheep, swine; also ethics, mathematics, metaphysics, optics, pneumatics, politics. III. Some Nouns are defective, having only one number, as 1. Singular gratitude, wisdom, wheat, pitch, gold, &c. 2. Plural scissars, bellows, lungs, ashes, thanks, &c. IV. Proper names want the plural. V. Several foreign, ancient, and indigenous names, vary from the preceding rules, and form their plurals irregularly, as Grief, griefs; relief, reliefs; reproof, reproofs; child, children; brother, brothers, or brethern; man, men; woman, women; alderman, aldermen ; ox, E 2 oxen; oxen; foot, feet; goose, geese; tooth, teeth; mouse, mice; die, dice, or dies; penny, pence or pennies; brother-in-law, brothers-in-law; daughter-in-law, daughters-in-law; son-in-law, sons-in-law; cousin-german, cousins-german. Antithesis, antitheses; apparatus, apparatus; appendix, appendices or appendixes; arcanum, arcana; automaton, automata; axis, axes; basis, bases; beau, beaux; cherub, cherubim; calx, calces; crisis, crises; criterion, criteria; datum, data; diæresis, diæreses; effluvium, effluvia; ellipsis, ellipses; emphasis, emphases; encomium, encomia; erratum, errata; genius, genii or geniuses; genus, genera; hypothesis, hypotheses; hiatus, hiatus; index, indices or indexes; lamina, laminæ; –, literati; magus, magi; medium, media; memorandum, memoranda; metamorphosis, metamorphoses; minutia, minutiæ; Monsieur, Messieurs; phænomenon, phænomena; radius, radii; seraph, seraphim; series, series; species, species; stamen, stamina; stratum, strata; vortex, vortices. RULES FOR THE CASES. I. The Possessive Case is formed by adding 's or to the Nominative. 1. The Possessive Singular generally ends in 's; but when the Nominative ends in s, t, or z, and especially in ss, the s is sometimes omitted, but the apostrophe retained. 2. The Possessive Plural adds only an apostrophe' to the Nominative in s; when the Nominative does not end S, the Possessive has 's. in 3. The Possessive Case is generally wanting in Common Nouns which have but one number. 4. The Possessive Case is most commonly supplied by the Preposition of before the Noun. II. The Objective Case is always like the Nominative. Sing. Some Compound Nouns are thus declined. Nom. The Lord Mayor of London Nom. A Son-in-law Nom. The Lords Mayor of London Poss. Lobj. -Sons-in-law's This plural is, perhaps, never to be met with, as two or more Lords Mayor of London never exist at the same time; yet the form of the plural may be proper, however uncommon; as in the case of the nine Archons of Athens, the two Kings of Sparta, or the two Consuls of Rome. DECLENSION OF PRONOUNS. In respect of Declension, Pronouns are of three kinds; viz. Declinable by number and cases, Variable on account of number only, and Indeclinable. 1. The Declinable Pronouns are I, thou, he, she, it, who, which, one, other.---Thus: +Note. That one and other are declinable when used substantively, but indeclinable when used adjectively. 3 |