- (as, civics,
- economics,
- ethics,
- mathematics,
- physics,
- optics).
Note. These nouns were formerly plural in sense as well as in form. News, for example, originally meant “new things.” Shakspere uses it both as a singular and as a plural. Thus,—“This news was brought to Richard” (King John, v. 3. 12); “But wherefore do I tell these news to thee?” (1 Henry IV, iii. 2. 121). In a few words modern usage varies. The following nouns are sometimes singular, sometimes plural: alms, amends, bellows, means, pains (in the sense of “effort”), tidings.
III. PERSON
85. Person is that property of substantives which shows whether they denote (1) the speaker, (2) the person spoken to, or (3) the person spoken of.
A substantive is in the first person when it denotes the speaker, in the second person when it denotes the person spoken to, in the third person when it denotes the person or thing spoken of.
- I, the king, command his presence. [First person.]
- You, Thomas, broke the window. [Second person.]
- Charles, come here. [Second person.]
- He, the fireman, saved the train. [Third person.]
- The diver sinks slowly from our view. [Third person.]
- The tower suddenly collapsed. [Third person.]
The examples show (1) that the person of a noun has nothing to do with its form, but is indicated by the sense or connection; (2) that certain pronouns denote person with precision. Thus, I is always of the first person; you of the second; and he of the third. These personal pronouns will be treated in [Chapter III].
IV. CASE
86. Substantives have inflections of case to indicate their grammatical relations to verbs, to prepositions, or to other substantives.
There are three cases,—the nominative, the possessive, and the objective.