An English Grammar Part 2

Besides considering persons, animals, and things separately, we may think of them in groups, and appropriate names to the groups.

Thus, men in groups may be called a _crowd_, or a _mob_, a _committee_, or a _council_, or a _congress_, etc.

These are called COLLECTIVE NOUNS. They properly belong under common nouns, because each group is considered as a unit, and the name applied to it belongs to any group of its cla.s.s.

[Sidenote: _Names for things thought of in ma.s.s._]

6. The definition given for common nouns applies more strictly to cla.s.s nouns. It may, however, be correctly used for another group of nouns detailed below; for they are common nouns in the sense that the names apply to _every particle of similar substance_, instead of to each individual or separate object.

They are called MATERIAL NOUNS. Such are _gla.s.s_, _iron_, _clay_, _frost_, _rain_, _snow_, _wheat_, _wine_, _tea_, _sugar_, etc.

They may be placed in groups as follows:--

(1) The metals: _iron_, _gold_, _platinum_, etc.

(2) Products spoken of in bulk: _tea_, _sugar_, _rice_, _wheat_, etc.

(3) Geological bodies: _mud_, _sand_, _granite_, _rock_, _stone_, etc.

(4) Natural phenomena: _rain_, _dew_, _cloud_, _frost_, _mist_, etc.

(5) Various manufactures: _cloth_ (and the different kinds of cloth), _potash_, _soap_, _rubber_, _paint_, _celluloid_, etc.

7. NOTE.--There are some nouns, such as _sun_, _moon_, _earth_, which seem to be the names of particular individual objects, but which are not called proper names.

[Sidenote: _Words naturally of limited application not proper._]

The reason is, that in proper names the intention is _to exclude_ all other individuals of the same cla.s.s, and fasten a special name to the object considered, as in calling a city _Cincinnati_; but in the words _sun_, _earth_, etc., there is no such intention. If several bodies like the center of our solar system are known, they also are called _suns_ by a natural extension of the term: so with the words _earth_, _world_, etc. They remain common cla.s.s names.

[Sidenote: _Names of ideas, not things._]

8. Abstract nouns are names of qualities, conditions, or actions, considered abstractly, or apart from their natural connection.

When we speak of a _wise man_, we recognize in him an attribute or quality. If we wish to think simply of that quality without describing the person, we speak of the _wisdom_ of the man. The quality is still there as much as before, but it is taken merely as a name. So _poverty_ would express the condition of a poor person; _proof_ means the act of proving, or that which shows a thing has been proved; and so on.

Again, we may say, "_Painting_ is a fine art," "_Learning_ is hard to acquire," "a man of _understanding_."

9. There are two chief divisions of abstract nouns:--

(1) ATTRIBUTE NOUNS, expressing attributes or qualities.

(2) VERBAL NOUNS, expressing state, condition, or action.

[Sidenote: _Attribute abstract nouns._]

10. The ATTRIBUTE ABSTRACT NOUNS are derived from adjectives and from common nouns. Thus, (1) _prudence_ from _prudent_, _height_ from _high_, _redness_ from _red_, _stupidity_ from _stupid_, etc.; (2) _peerage_ from _peer_, _childhood_ from _child_, _mastery_ from _master_, _kings.h.i.+p_ from _king_, etc.

[Sidenote: _Verbal abstract nouns._]

II. The VERBAL ABSTRACT NOUNS Originate in verbs, as their name implies. They may be--

(1) Of the same form as the simple verb. The verb, by altering its function, is used as a noun; as in the expressions, "a long _run_" "a bold _move_," "a brisk _walk_."

(2) Derived from verbs by changing the ending or adding a suffix: _motion_ from _move_, _speech_ from _speak_, _theft_ from _thieve_, _action_ from _act_, _service_ from _serve_.

[Sidenote: _Caution._]

(3) Derived from verbs by adding _-ing_ to the simple verb. It must be remembered that these words are _free from any verbal function_. They cannot govern a word, and they cannot _express_ action, but are merely _names_ of actions. They are only the husks of verbs, and are to be rigidly distinguished from _gerunds_ (Secs. 272, 273).

To avoid difficulty, study carefully these examples:

The best thoughts and _sayings_ of the Greeks; the moon caused fearful _forebodings_; in the _beginning_ of his life; he spread his _blessings_ over the land; the great Puritan _awakening_; our birth is but a sleep and a _forgetting_; a _wedding_ or a festival; the rude _drawings_ of the book; masterpieces of the Socratic _reasoning_; the _teachings_ of the High Spirit; those opinions and _feelings_; there is time for such _reasonings_; the _well-being_ of her subjects; her _longing_ for their favor; _feelings_ which their original _meaning_ will by no means justify; the main _bearings_ of this matter.

[Sidenote: _Underived abstract nouns._]

12. Some abstract nouns were not derived from any other part of speech, but were framed directly for the expression of certain ideas or phenomena. Such are _beauty_, _joy_, _hope_, _ease_, _energy_; _day_, _night_, _summer_, _winter_; _shadow_, _lightning_, _thunder_, etc.

The adjectives or verbs corresponding to these are either themselves derived from the nouns or are totally different words; as _glad_--_joy_, _hopeful_--_hope_, etc.

Exercises.

1. From your reading bring up sentences containing ten common nouns, five proper, five abstract.

--NOTE.--Remember that all sentences are to be _selected_ from standard literature.

2. Under what cla.s.s of nouns would you place (_a_) the names of diseases, as _pneumonia_, _pleurisy_, _catarrh_, _typhus_, _diphtheria_; (_b_) branches of knowledge, as _physics_, _algebra_, _geology_, _mathematics_?

3. Mention collective nouns that will embrace groups of each of the following individual nouns:--

man horse bird fish partridge pupil bee soldier book sailor child sheep s.h.i.+p ruffian

4. Using a dictionary, tell from what word each of these abstract nouns is derived:--

sight speech motion pleasure patience friends.h.i.+p deceit bravery height width wisdom regularity advice seizure n.o.bility relief death raid honesty judgment belief occupation justice service trail feeling choice simplicity

SPECIAL USES OF NOUNS.