(7) Now, taking whatever letter we may from the one side of the line, and joining it in the same syllable, with any letter whatever from the other side of the line, we find the combination unpronounceable. For example, avt, agt, ags, ads, apd, &c., &c. (8) Of course, combinations of this sort can be written, and they can be spelt (indeed, in the English, as written combinations, they occur very frequently; for example, stags, lads, &c., &c). They cannot, however, be pronounced, each sound remaining unchanged.

(9) In order to become pronounced, a change must occur: one of the sounds changes its character, and so accommodates itself to the other (10) This change takes place in one of two ways; either the first of the two sounds takes the degree of sharpness or flatness of the second, or the second the degree of sharpness or flatness of the first for instance, abt becomes pronounceable either by b becoming p or by t passing into d; in other words, it changes either to apt or to abd. And so with the rest.

(11) avt becomes either aft or avd.

agt

66

akt or agd.

apt or abd, &c., &c.

(12) This change is necessary and universal. It holds good, not for the English alone, but for all languages. (13) The only dif ference is, that different languages change different letters; that is, one accommodates the first letter to the second, and so turns agt into akt; the other (another) accommodates the second letter to the first, changing agt into agd.]—Latham's Elem. Eng. Gram., pp. 19-21.

We add in this place some further extracts from Dr. Latham, for the satisfaction of our readers, and in order to do full justice to the author:

or hard consonantal sounds. (6) Name the soft sounds on the right side of the line. (7) What is said of combinations formed of sounds from different sides of the line-that is, combinations of hard with soft sounds? (8) Are combinations of this kind ever written; and when written can they be pronounced?

(9) What change must take place in pronouncing words formed in writing by the com bination of sharp and flat, or hard and soft sounds? (10) Describe the two ways in which this change is effected. (11) Tell what art, agt, ags, &c. become in pronunciation? (12 Is this change universal, or is it confined exclusively to the English language? (18) What is the only difference between different languages in this respect?]

"In order to understand this difference" (the difference between the sharp and the flat sounds), "it is necessary to take some mute consonants (p, b, f, v, t, d, th, k, g, 8, z, sh, zh), and to pronounce them as independently of any vowel as it is possible to do. We must try to give a sound to such single consonants as p', t', &c. In attempting this, we shall succeed in making an imperfect sound.

"Now, if the mute consonant so taken and uttered be one of the following, p, f, t, th (as in thin), k, s, or sh, the sound will be that of a whisper. The sound of p', t' (such as it is), is that of a man speaking under the natural pitch of his voice, and at a whisper.

"But if the mute consonant so taken and uttered be either b, v, d, th (as in thine), g, z, or zh, the sound will be that of a man speaking at the natural pitch of his voice, and with a certain degree of loudness and clearness. This difference in the nature of the mute is highly important to be familiar with. Those that are sounded like p' and f', &c., are called the flat mutes.

"When two or more mutes of different degrees of sharpness or flatness come together in the same syllable, they form a combination of sounds that incapable of being pronounced." And so on in continuation follows the passage quoted, with some slight abridgment in our article on the sounds and letters. After which the author proceeds as follows:

"There is no fact that requires to be more particularly known than this." (Namely, the fact which forms the subject of the latter part of the extract introduced under the article just referred to.) "There are at least three formations in the English language where its influence is most important. These are, a) the possessive forms in -s; b) the plurals in -s; c) the preterites in -d and -t.

"Neither are there many facts in language more disguised than this is disguised in English. The s in the word stags is sharp; the g in the word stags is flat. Notwithstanding this, the combination ags exists. It exists, however, in the spelling only. In speaking, the s is sounded as z, and the word stags is pronounced stagz. Again, in words like tossed, plucked, looked, the e is omitted in pronunciation. Hence the words become tossd, pluckd, lookd; that is, the flat d comes in contact with the sharp k and s. Now, the combination exists in the spelling only, since the preterite of pluck, look, and toss, are, in speech, pronounced pluckt, lookt, tosst.

"For the sake of fixing the attention of the reader on the point, I will indicate in this place the reason for the difference between the spelling and the pronunciation, which has just been alluded to. This is as follows: For the possessive case singular, for the nominative plural, and for the preterite tense of verbs, the forms in Anglo-Saxon were fuller than they are in the present English. The possessive singular ended not in -s only, but in -es; and the nominative plural in -as. Similarly the preterite of the verbs ended either in -od, or -ed, not in -d only. E. g. wordes of a word (word's), flódes ➡of a flood (flood's), landes—of a land (or land's), thinges of a thing (or

thing's), endas-ends, and so on throughout the language. In this case the vowel separated the two consonants, and kept them from coming together. As long as this vowel kept its place, the consonants remained unchanged, their different degrees of sharpness and flatness being a matter of indifference. When the vowel, however, was dropped, the consonants came in contact. This reduced a change on one side or the other to a matter of necessity.

"Next to knowing that two mutes of different degrees of sharpness or flatness cannot come together in the same syllable, it is important to know that two identical letters cannot come together in the same syllable.

"In illustration of this, we may take a word ending in p, t, or s, and try to add a second p, t, or s to the first one; e. g. tap, bat, mis. To add a second p to tap, a second t to bat, or a second s to mis, is impracticable. At the first glance this statement seems untrue. Nothing, apparently, is commoner than words like tapp, batt, miss, However, like the combinations indicated above, these are, in reality, combinations in spelling only; they have no existence in pronunciation. We have only to attempt to pronounce bat 't, sap 'p, &c., &c., to prove this."-(Latham's El. Eng. Gram. pp. 18, 19, 21, 22.)

842. FORMATION OF THE PLURAL OF ENGLISH NOUNS.

I. (1) The plural of English nouns is generally formed by adding either the sharp, hissing sound represented by the character s (the sound in son and hiss), or the soft sound (the sound of z), often represented in our language by the same character. (2) Examples. Roof, roofs; book, books; cup, cups; boot, boots; smith, smiths. All these, and all words terminating in similar sounds (viz., in the sounds represented by f, k, p, t, and th hard), add the sharp sound of s to the root to form the plural. (See the reason of this in § § 40.) (3) All nouns terminating in the vowel sounds represented by a, e, i or y, o, u ; and in the consonantal sounds represented by b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v, and th soft, add the soft sound of s (the same as that represented in English by z), to the root to form the plural. (4) Examples. Bay, bays; bee, bees; tie, ties; bow, bows; virtue, virtues; cab, cabs; lad, lads; stag, stags; hill, hills; drum, drums ; pen, pens; star, stars; wave, waves; tithe, tithes. These plural

§ 42. (1) How is the plural of English nouns generally formed? (2) What nouns take the sharp sound of a to form the plural? Give examples. (3) What nouns take the soft sound like ? (4) Give examples, and tell how they are pronounced.

forms are pronounced as if spelled bayz, beez, cabz, stagz, &c. These sounds are always represented by the letter s.

II. (5) When the noun ends in an s sound—that is, in s, ss, x (which is equal to ks), sh, the soft sound of ch as in church, se, or ce, the syllable es (sounded ez) is added to form the plural.*

(6) Examples. Kiss, kisses; box, boxes; brush, brushes; church, churches; phrase, phrases; face, faces. We have scarcely any original English noun which in the singular form ends in a single s. We have from the Latin isthmus, fungus, rebus, omnibus, and a few others, which have the plurals isthmuses, omnibuses, &c. All these plurals are pronounced with the soft sound of s, kissez, boxez, isthmusez, &c.

III. (7) Nouns ending in fe form plurals by the change of this termination into ves, as wife, plural wives; knife, knives; pronounced wivez, knivez. Strife, plural strifes, is an exception, retaining the hard sound of f, and the hissing sound of s, which serves to distinguish this plural from the verb strives; also, fife, plural fifes. (8) Many nouns, also ending in a single f, form plurals by changing the f into v and adding es-ez; as, loaf, loaves; leaf, leaves; half, halves; sheaf, sheaves; &c.t (9) Words ending in f form their plurals regularly by adding the sharp sound of s; except staff, plural staves.

*The reason of this is that we cannot utter the sound of s after another s without the interposition of a vowel sound. In regard of words ending in an s sound, we must, therefore, either be contented to employ the same form in expressing a single object and a plurality of objects—that is, fail in distinguishing the plural from the singular noun-or interpose a vowel sound between the two s sounds, and thus add a syllable to the word. The first of these alternatives has been followed in the French language in the case of words ending in s sounds, the second in the English.

The words in ƒ and fe which form plurals in ves are said to be all of Anglo-Saxon origin, except beef, plural beeves; and writers on Anglo-Saxon grammar agree that ƒ in the end of Anglo-Saxon words was pronounced with the softened sound of v. This fully accounts for the formation of these plu

(5) In what cases do we add the syllable es to form the plural, and how is the 8 in this syllable pronounced? (6) Give examples.

(7) How do nouns ending in fe form plurals? Mention exceptions. (8) How do many nouns ending in falone form their plurals? Examples. (9) How do nouns ending inf form the plural? Mention exceptions.

IV. (10) Nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant generally add the termination es to form the plural; as, hero, plural heroes; cargo, cargoes; wo, woes; echo, echoes; &c. Exceptions: canto, grotto, junto, portico, quarto, tyro, solo, add only s. (11) When the o is preceded by a vowel, s alone is added, as folio, plural folios ; &c. V. (12) Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant change the y into ies in the plural, as city, plural cities; lady, ladies.*

(13) There are some few plurals, of old English words, which are not formed on the same general principle with the classes of nouns already enumerated: viz., by the addition of an s sound, but by a modification of the vowel sound of the root (see § 35: 2). We subjoin a list of the principal nouns of this class, as some of them are familiar words, frequently employed in discourse, and we may find it necessary to introduce them in the construction of examples.

We may add the personal pronouns and their plural forms used

rals in ves. The word dwarf, though Anglo-Saxon, forms its plural by adding the sharp sound of s.-(See Latham's Eng. Gram. p. 61.)

* In the beginning of the 17th century, the singular forms of these nouns ended in ie, for which y has since been substituted. In the early editions of the authorized English version of the Bible, city is spelled citie; mercy, mercie; &c. The present plurals of these nouns are the regularly constructed plurals of these ancient singular forms. Nouns ending in y preceded by a vowel add s soft to form the plural.

(10) How do nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant form their plurals? Give exceptions. (11) What happens when the o final is preceded by a vowel?

(12) What is said of the formation of the plural of nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant? Give examples.

(13) What is said of exceptions? What is the plural form of man? &c.