Plain English. Marian Wharton
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Название: Plain English
Автор: Marian Wharton
Издательство: Public Domain
Жанр: Зарубежная образовательная литература
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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; СКАЧАТЬ