LESSON 78.
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS.
You have learned that two words may express a thought, and that the thought may be varied by adding modifying words. You are now to learn that the meaning or use of a word may sometimes be changed by simply changing its form. The English language has lost many of its inflections, or forms, so that frequently changes in the meaning and use of words are not marked by changes in form. These changes in the form, meaning, and use of the parts of speech, we call their +Modifications+.
The boy shouts. The boys shout. I have changed the form of the subject boy by adding an s to it. The meaning has changed. Boy denotes one lad; boys, two or more lads. This change in the form and meaning of nouns is called +Number+. The word boy, denoting one thing, is in the +Singular Number;+ and boys, denoting more than one thing, is in the +Plural Number+.
Let the teacher write other nouns on the board, and require the pupils to form the plural of them.