INFLECTION
Inflection is a change of form in a word indicating some change in its meaning. A word thus changed in form is said to be inflected.
Thus the nouns man , wife , dog , may change their form to man’s , wife’s , dog’s , to express possession; or to men , wives , dogs , to show that two or more are meant.
The pronouns I , she , may change their form to our , her .
The adjectives large , happy , good , may change their form to larger , happier , better , to denote a higher degree of the quality; or to largest , happiest , best , to denote the highest degree.
The verbs look , see , sing , may change their form to looked , saw , sang , to denote past time.
The examples show that a word may be inflected (1) by the addition of a final letter or syllable ( dog , dogs ; look , looked ), (2) by the substitution of one letter for another ( man , men ), or (3) by a complete change of form ( good , better , best ).
The inflection of a substantive is called its declension ; that of an adjective or an adverb, its comparison ; that of a verb, its conjugation .
NOTE. Some forms which we regard as due to inflection are really distinct words. Thus we is regarded as a form of the pronoun I , but it is in fact an altogether different word. Such irregularities, however, are not numerous, and are properly enough included under the head of inflection.
The table below gives a summary view of inflection, and may be used for reference with the following chapters.
SUBSTANTIVES (NOUNS AND PRONOUNS)
Gender { Masculine ( male )
{ Feminine ( female )
{ Neuter ( no sex )
Number { Singular ( one )
{ Plural ( more than one )
Person { First ( speaker )
{ Second ( spoken to )
{ Third ( spoken of )
Case { Nominative ( subject case )
{ Possessive ( ownership )
{ Objective ( object case )
ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS
Comparison { Positive Degree
{ Comparative Degree
{ Superlative Degree
VERBS
Number { Singular }
{ Plural }
Verb agrees with Subject Person { First } { Second } { Third }
Tense { Simple Tenses { Present
{ Past
{ Future
{ Compound Tenses { Perfect (or Present Perfect)
{ Pluperfect (or Past Perfect)
{ Future Perfect
Mood { Indicative ( all six tenses )
{ Imperative ( Present Tense only )
{ Subjunctive ( Present , Past , Perfect , Pluperfect )
Voice { Active ( Subject acts )
{ Passive ( Subject receives the action )
Infinitives (Present and Perfect)
Participles (Present, Past, and Perfect)
NOUNS
CLASSIFICATION--COMMON NOUNS AND PROPER NOUNS
A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing.
Nouns are divided into two classes--proper nouns and common nouns.
1. A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place, or thing.
EXAMPLES: Lincoln, Napoleon, Ruth, Gladstone, America, Denver, Jove, Ohio, Monday, December, Yale, Christmas, Britannia, Niagara, Merrimac, Elmwood, Louvre, Richardson, Huron, Falstaff.
2. A common noun is a name which may be applied to any one of a class of persons, places, or things.
EXAMPLES: general, emperor, president, clerk, street, town, desk, tree, cloud, chimney, childhood, idea, thought, letter, dynamo,
cruiser, dictionary, railroad.
Proper nouns begin with a capital letter; common nouns usually begin with a small letter.
NOTE. Although a proper noun is the name of a particular person, place, or thing, that name may be given to more than one individual.
More than one man is named James ; but when we say James , we think of one particular person, whom we are calling by his own name. When we say man , on the contrary, we are not calling any single person by name: we are using a noun which applies, in common, to all the members of a large class of persons.
Any word, when mentioned merely as a word , is a noun. Thus,--
And is a conjunction.
A common noun becomes a proper noun when used as the particular name of a ship, a newspaper, an animal, etc.
Nelson’s flagship was the Victory .
Give me this evening’s Herald .
My dog is named Rover .
The Limited Express is drawn by the Pioneer .
A proper noun often consists of a group of words, some of which are perhaps ordinarily used as other parts of speech.
EXAMPLES: James Russell Lowell, Washington Elm, Eiffel Tower, Firth of Clyde, North Lexington Junction, Stony Brook, Westminster Abbey, Measure for Measure, White House, Brooklyn Bridge, Atlantic Railroad, Sherman Act, The Return of the Native, Flatiron Building.
NOTE. These are (strictly speaking) noun-phrases (§ 41); but, since all are particular names, they may be regarded as proper nouns.
. A proper noun becomes a common noun when used as a name that may be applied to any one of a class of objects.
The museum owns two Rembrandts and a Titian .
I exchanged my old motor car for a new Halstead .
My fountain pen is a Blake .
Lend me your Webster .
He was a Napoleon of finance.
I am going to buy a Kazak .
Certain proper nouns have become common nouns when used in a special sense. These generally begin with a small letter.
EXAMPLES: macadam (crushed stone for roads, so called from Macadam, the inventor), mackintosh (a waterproof garment), napoleon (a coin), guinea (twenty-one shillings), mentor (a wise counsellor), derringer (a kind of pistol).
A lifeless object, one of the lower animals, or any human quality or emotion is sometimes regarded as a person.
This usage is called personification , and the object, animal, or quality is said to be personified .
Each old poetic Mountain
Inspiration breathed around.--GRAY.
Who’ll toll the bell?
“I,” said the Bull ,
“Because I can pull.”
His name was Patience .--SPENSER.
Smiles on past Misfortune’s brow
Soft Reflection’s hand can trace;
And o’er the cheek of Sorrow throw
A melancholy grace.--GRAY.
Love is and was my lord and king,
And in his presence I attend.--TENNYSON.
Time gently shakes his wings.--DRYDEN.
The name of anything personified is regarded as a proper noun and is usually written with a capital letter.
NOTE. The rule for capitals is not absolute. When the personification is kept up for only a sentence or two (as frequently in Shakspere),
the noun often begins with a small letter.
SPECIAL CLASSES OF NOUNS
An abstract noun is the name of a quality or general idea.
EXAMPLES: blackness, freshness, smoothness, weight, height, length, depth, strength, health, honesty, beauty, liberty, eternity, satisfaction, precision, splendor, terror, disappointment, elegance, existence, grace, peace.
Many abstract nouns are derived from adjectives.
EXAMPLES: greenness (from green ), depth (from deep ), freedom (from free ), wisdom (from wise ), rotundity (from rotund ),
falsity or falseness (from false ), bravery (from brave ).
A collective noun is the name of a group, class, or multitude, and not of a single person, place, or thing.
EXAMPLES: crowd, group, legislature, squadron, sheaf, battalion, squad, Associated Press, Mediterranean Steamship Company, Senior
Class, School Board.
The same noun may be abstract in one of its meanings, collective in another.
They believe in fraternity . [Abstract.]
The student joined a fraternity . [Collective.]
Abstract nouns are usually common, but become proper when the quality or idea is personified .
Collective nouns may be either proper or common.
A noun consisting of two or more words united is called a compound noun.
EXAMPLES: (1) common nouns,--tablecloth, sidewalk, lampshade, bedclothes, steamboat, fireman, washerwoman, jackknife, hatband,
headache, flatiron, innkeeper, knife-edge, steeple-climber, brother-in-law, commander-in-chief, window curtain, insurance company; (2) proper nouns,--Johnson, Williamson, Cooperstown, Louisville, Holywood, Elk-horn, Auburndale, Stratford-on-Avon, Lowell Junction.
As the examples show, the parts of a compound noun may be joined (with or without a hyphen) or written separately. In some words usage is
fixed, in others it varies. The hyphen, however, is less used than formerly.
NOTE. The first part of a compound noun usually limits the second after the manner of an adjective. Indeed, many expressions may be
regarded either (1) as compounds or (2) as phrases containing an adjective and a noun. Thus railway conductor may be taken as a
compound noun, or as a noun ( conductor ) limited by an adjective ( railway ).
INFLECTION OF NOUNS
In studying the inflection of nouns and pronouns we have to consider gender , number , person , and case .
1. Gender is distinction according to sex.
2. Number is that property of substantives which shows whether they indicate one person or thing or more than one.
3. Person is that property of substantives which shows whether they designate (1) the speaker, (2) the person spoken to, or (3) the person
or thing spoken of.
4. Substantives have inflections of case to indicate their grammatical relations to verbs, to prepositions, or to other substantives.
These four properties of substantives are included under inflection for convenience. In strictness, however, nouns are inflected for
number and case only. Gender is shown in various ways,--usually by the meaning of the noun or by the use of some pronoun. Person is
indicated by the sense, by the pronouns used, and by the form of the verb.
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