$ immediately following a flat mute has the sound of Z. Ex.: stags.'

The sound of z is heard also after vowels. Ex.: 'rays," 'folios.' [See § 2.]

Some forms of the plural are vestiges of declension in E.I., or of forms in E.II.

6

The forms feet,' 'geese,' 'men,' 'mice,' 'teeth,' represent E.I. plurals formed by vowel-change. Obsolete forms are set in Italic.

The plural ending en is a variation of E.I. an.

Of E.II.

plurals in en only one (oxen) is now commonly used; but in dialects we still find 'eyen,' hosen,' 'housen,' 'peasen' (for 'pease'), and 'shoon.'

Several foreign nouns retain their native forms in the plural.

Ex.: Hebrew:-' cherubim' (plural of cherub '); ‘seraphim' (pl. of 'seraph').

6

Greek: C axes' (pl. of axis'); 'bases' (pl. of 'basis '); 'ellipses' (pl. of 'ellipsis '); 'phenomena' (pl. of 'phenomenon').

Latin apparatus,' series' (with singular and plural alike); 'foci' (pl. of 'focus'); 'memoranda (pl. of 'memorandum'); arcana, 'addenda,' data,' ' errata,' strata"

(all plurals of nouns ending in um).

French: beaux,' 'belles-lettres,'' messieurs.'

Italian: 'banditti' (gangs of thieves); 'dilettanti' (triflers. in art and literature); 'virtuosi' (men who excel in artistic execution).

Some nouns have both foreign and English forms of the plural.

In several instances the two forms of the plural have distinct uses.

Ex.: The 'genii,' in fairy tales, are fabulous creatures; but great poets are called 'geniuses,' or 'men of genius.' We speak of stamina' with regard to a healthful constitution; but of the stamens' in a flower. A book may have two or three indexes;' but we speak of the 'indices used in algebra.

The following plural forms may be noticed here :

:Plural. negroes Normans

Northmen

6

Nouns. Case. The noun has only one inflexion—'sto denote case, or the relation of a noun with another word. 's is used mostly to denote possession. Ex.: John's book.' But 's, as an inflexion of nouns of time, serves to denote duration. Ex.: a week's holiday.'

When 's is added, the noun is in the possessive case.' 's is a contraction of the old case-ending 'es,' which had, in E.I., uses far more extensive than those of the modern possessive 's.

The noun that should follow the possessive sign is sometimes omitted. Ex.: St. Paul's' means 'St. Paul's Church.'

When a noun ends with a sibilant, the s for the possessive is often omitted. Ex.: 'Mars' Hill;' 'for goodness' sake.' But in many similar cases the s, however harsh its sound, is retained, as in 'Chambers's Journal,' 'St. James's Square.'

When the plural ends in 's' the apostrophe, or sign of elision, alone marks the possessive case.

Ex.: 'The Nortons impounded the Cliffords' stray deer.' 's is added to other endings of the plural. Ex.: 'the children's toys.'

The 's is added to the last of two or more closely conEx.: the tyrant Henry's power.'

nected nouns.

6

's immediately following a sharp mute has the sound of sin 'sea;' 's after a flat mute has the sound of z.

8

goat's beard; the stag's antlers.' [See § 2.]

6 Ex.: the

The sound of z follows vowels. Ex.: Gray's Elegy.'

*18. PRONOUNS.-E.I.

The FORMS of Pronouns, in Modern English, belong to First English, but so great are the alterations made in USES, that it is impossible to give, in all instances, M.E. forms correctly showing the uses of corresponding forms in First English. The following are examples of alteration:

E.I.

The forms mîn and þîn, ûre and eówer, as Genitive Cases, have uses like those of mei, tui, nostri, and vestri in Latin.

The forms his, hire, hira, and bara are Genitives, and have uses like those of ei-us, eōrum, and illorum in Latin.

Pronouns of the third person have these plural forms: hi, hira,

and him.

M.E.

The words 'my,' 'thy,' 'our,' and 'your' are always placed as Adjectives with nouns following, and 'mine' and 'thine' are sometimes so placed.

The words 'his,' 'her,' and 'their' have uses like those of suus and its inflexions in Latin.

Pronouns of the third person have no plural forms representing hi, h ra, and him.

E.I.

The plural forms, þâ, þâra, and pam are demonstrative.

Hwâ is not a Relative Pronoun.

The Interrogative hwet does not serve as an Adjective.

Pronouns of the first and the second person have a Dual Number.

M.E.

The plural forms, 'they,' 'theirs,' and 'them' are not demonstrative. 'Who' is a Relative and Interrogative Pronoun.

The Interrogative 'what' serves often as an Adjective.

There are no dual forms in Modern English.

These examples may suffice to show the impossibily of giving such modern forms as may indicate the several uses of Pronouns in First English. The tables appended give E.I. Declensions of the Personal Pronouns, ic (= I), bu (= thou), he (= he), heó (= she), hit (= it); also the Declension of the Demonstrative Pronoun se or be (= that), and the forms belonging to the Interrogative hwâ (= who?) To the E.I. Pronouns, he, þe, and hwâ, the forms of several Adverbs-such as 'here,' 'there,' and where'-belong. [See § 12.]

THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN, se, seó, þæt (= that).

Masculine Feminine. Neuter.

hit

his

Plural

him

Of all Genders.

Possessive Adjectives, made from the genitive cases of personal pronouns (of the first and second persons) are declined in E.I. after the form of the strong declension. These adjectives (of which the modern forms are 'my,' 'our,' 'thy,' 'your,'' her,' their') are sometimes called 'Possessive Pronouns.' The form 'his' may still be used either with or instead of a The pronominal forms ours, yours, theirs, are not found in E.I. In Old English the possessive 'his' serves often as a substitute for the possessive inflexion of a noun.

noun.

E.I. had no peculiar form for the Relative Pronoun. The indeclinable demonstrative be was used as a relative, either alone or with another pronoun (personal or demonstrative). Hence we have the use of that as a restrictive and definitive relative. In M.E. the uses of 'that' and 'who' have been confused.

'Who,' the Relative Pronoun, is an altered form of the E.I. Interrogative, hwâ. Of this pronoun hwilc (= 'which') is a compound form. What' (from hwæt, the neuter of hwâ) has now mostly a meaning equivalent to that which,' and may be used either as a pronoun or as an adjective. The modern restriction of who,' as applied to persons, and of which,' as applied to inanimate objects, was unknown in old times. Poets, for the sake of brevity and elegance, often use the form whose' without reference to persons, and this is historically correct.

E.I. has no Reflexive Pronoun to express an act reverted on the agent. For this purpose the personal pronoun was used. Ex.: 'pat folc hit reste' (='The people rested themselves'); 'Turneth giu (= eów) to me' (= 'Turn yourselves to me'). Here the verb is used as reflexive, and the pronoun giu (for eów) is in the accusative case following a transitive verb.

To give emphatic expression to a personal or a demonstrative pronoun the adjective sylf (= 'self') is often used. Ex.: 'We sylfe gehyrdon.' (='We ourselves heard'). But sylf is also treated as a noun in E.I., as we find 'self' treated by CHAUCER and SHAKESPEARE.

In E.II. the demonstrative adjective 'yond' (or 'yone'), sometimes classed with pronouns, was introduced. In E.I. the word geond was an adverb and a preposition. The adjective same' is still used to give emphasis to a demonstrative. Its force is increased by combination in the word *self-same.'

PRONOUNS.-M.E.

Pronouns of the following classes are more or less inflected in M.E. :-Personal and Compound-Personal, Demonstrative, Relative, and Interrogative.