NOUN 



4294 



NOUN 



which gives us nominate, to name for an office, 

 and nomenclature, a system of naming. 



Classes of Nouns. The two great classes into 

 which all nouns are divided are common nouns 

 and proper nouns. 



The words king, pirate, canal, boy, city, tribe, 

 are called common nouns -because each of them 

 is a general name indicating a large class of 

 things. Common here has the meaning of be- 

 longing to all. If we single out a special ob- 

 ject, place or thing in each of these classes and 

 give it a name that sets it apart from the rest, 

 such a name will be a proper noun; as, Charle- 

 magne, Captain Kidd,. Panama Canal, Robert, 

 Quebec, Algonquins. Used in this sense, proper 

 has the old Latin meaning of one's own. All 

 proper nouns are capitalized. 



Sometimes the name of an individual is used 

 to signify an entire class possessing that per- 

 son's dominant characteristics ; as, What adven- 

 turous boy does not dream of some day grow- 

 ing up to be a Captain Kidd? In our schools 

 to-day we are educating the Lincolns, the Edi- 

 sons, the Jane Addamses of to-morrow. In 

 these cases, what was originally a proper noun 

 is changed by its use to a common noun. 



Concrete and Abstract Nouns. Common 

 nouns are subdivided into three classes con- 

 crete, abstract and collective. 



A concrete or class noun is the ordinary com- 

 mon noun, naming a class of objects tangible 

 to the senses things we can see and handle. 

 Words like bell, book, candle, football, friend, 

 lake, muscle, oil, are all concrete nouns. 



An abstract noun, on the other hand, does 

 not refer to any particular person or thing, but 

 names some quality, action or state considered 

 in a detached way. For instance, the words 

 blueness and vastness are abstract nouns, rep- 

 resenting simply the ideas of color and extent 

 "in the abstract," divorced from any particular 

 object. Words like darkness, light, cold, beauty, 

 sourness, comfort, freedom, space, depth, si- 

 lence, sorrow, knowledge, childhood, youth, and 

 the names of the virtues and vices patience, 

 truthfulness, indolence, and the like all belong 

 to the class of abstract nouns. All verbals, or 

 nouns formed from verbs, classify as abstract: 

 jump, judgment, invention, saying, fishing, be- 

 ginning, feelings. 



Collective Nouns. The third subclass of 

 common nouns covers those which, though 

 singular in form, signify a group of things or 

 persons; as, swarm, flock, crowd, class, family, 

 audience. These are called collective nouns. 

 If the group is considered as a unit, the noun 



is treated grammatically as singular; but if 

 some statement is made which requires us to 

 think of the individuals or objects separately, 

 the noun is treated as plural. For example: 

 The regiment has just passed on its way to the 

 front; on their return the regiment were es- 

 corted to their homes by enthusiastic towns- 

 people. 



Nouns by Use. Any word belonging to any 

 part of speech, as well as any figure, letter or 

 symbol, may be used as a noun. For example: 

 The poor, says Emerson, are only they who 

 feel poor; "for" is all too frequently mispro- 

 nounced "fer;" your "certainly" has an odd 

 sound ; Z is the last letter of the English alpha- 

 bet; finally the S. 0. S. was sent; his 7's can 

 scarcely be told from his ./'s. Sometimes an 

 entire phrase or clause may serve as a noun: 

 To visit an observatory is a most interesting 

 experience; that he had forgotten the meeting 

 was evident. These are parsed as adjectives, 

 adverbs, clauses and the like, used substan- 

 tively that is, as nouns. 



Properties of Nouns. Person. There are 

 three persons: First person is that property by 

 which the speaker is indicated: I, Margaret 

 Miller, the undersigned, do give and bequeath. 

 Second person is that property which denotes 

 the person or personified object spoken to: 

 Margaret, some one is calling you. Third per- 

 son is that property which indicates the person 

 or thing spoken of: They have chosen my 

 cousin Margaret. Most nouns are third person 

 nouns. See PERSON. 



Number. There are two numbers: Singular 

 number denotes the idea of one: the pear, an 

 apple, one melon. Plural number denotes more 

 than one : the pears, a dozen apples, a basket 

 of melons. See NUMBER. 



Gender. There are three genders : Masculine 

 gender belongs to nouns denoting the male sex : 

 lad, drake, emperor. Feminine gender belongs 

 to nouns denoting the female sex: maid, duck, 

 empress. Neuter gender belongs to nouns de- 

 noting inanimate, sexless objects: fan, clothes, 

 marble. Common or indeterminate gender re- 

 fers to either sex: child, teacher, servant. See 

 GENDER. 



Case. There are four cases: Nominative 

 case is that grammatical relation of a noun in 

 which it is the subject of a verb, the predicate 

 noun or complement, in apposition with an- 

 other nominative, nominative by direct ad- 

 dress or exclamation, or an independent nomi- 

 native, used absolutely with a participle or with 

 an infinitive in exclamation. Objective case, 



