CHAPTER II

OF NOUNS.

DEFINITION OF NOUNS.-CLASSIFICATION OF NOUNS.-MODIFICATION OF THE FORM OF THE SUBJECT NOUN TO EXPRESS PLURALITY.

§ 20. [(1) A complete definition of nouns ought to embrace all the functions which they perform in discourse. (2) But as a full definition of this sort would be unmanageable in practice on account of its length, we substitute for the present one embracing only the great distinguishing function of nouns. This definition follows naturally, and will be easily understood from what we have said in the preceding chapter.]

(3) Nouns are words which express the subjects of propositions. Any single word which, without another sign implied, customarily serves to represent the subject, or the leading part of the subject of a proposition, is to be classed as a noun. (4) This definition will include all names of persons, places, things, notions or conceptions of the human mind, of which we ever have occasion to make an assertion—to say any thing. (5) When words, not commonly used or recognized as nouns, serve to express the subjects of propositions, they are said to be employed substantively; they perform on such occasions the functions of nouns. Whatever may be their more common use, and their generally received name and classification, they are, for the time, nouns, and, in the analysis of language, must be considered and treated as nouns. (6) A phrase or an entire proposition sometimes serves as the subject of another proposition, and is then said to be used substantively—that is, em

20. [(1) What should a complete definition of nouns embrace? (2) State the objec tion to a complete definition.]

(3) Give a definition embracing the main function of nouns. (4) What will this defini. tion include? (5) What is meant by words employed substantively?

(6) What is meant by a phrase, or a proposition being used substantively?

ployed as a noun. (7) For example, To SEE THE SUN is pleasant. The subject of this proposition is the phrase," To see the sun." Being pleasant is asserted of that which this phrase expresses. Again, in the proposition, That vanity is ridiculous is generally admitted, the subject of the main proposition is, "Vanity is ridiculous," which words themselves form a complete proposition, because they contain an assertion.

(8) It will be observed that we have here used the term phrase, to designate a regularly arranged combination of words, which does not constitute a complete proposition, or express an assertion. We may sometimes find occasion to use this term again, in the same

sense.

§ 21. In making the assertion that all words, which, singly employed, express the subject of an assertion, are nouns, we contemplate words only, as used for the proper purpose which they are designed to serve in language, namely, as signs of thought. Every word whatever, or even any syllable or letter of a word, when employed merely to indicate the spoken or written sign itself, and not that which it usually signifies, may serve as the subject of a proposition. Thus we may say of the verb think considered merely as a vocable or word, Think is a verb; think is a word of one syllable; think is a word expressed in writing by five letters, &c. But the word think, employed alone, and as significant of what it usually indicates, cannot be made the subject noun of any proposition. We can neither say that think (with its proper significance) is, or that think does any thing.*

When a word is used in grammatical and philological discussions,

*We have used the limitation, "employed alone," because, if we place the little particle to before think, it becomes what we shall call a verbal noun, and may be used as the subject, or leading part of the subject, of an assertive proposition; as, To think correctly is a rare accomplishment. Here, To think correctly is the subject of the proposition, and To think the leading part of the subject, to which "correctly" is superadded as a modification. Again, a proposition, of which think is the verb, might be employed as subject of another proposition; as, That William thinks his brother to be wrong, is well known to his intimate friends. Here the proposition, "William thinks his brother to be wrong," is used substantively, and, as subject of the assertion," is well known to his intimate friends."

(7) Give examples.

(8) What is the difference between a phrase and a proposition?

not as the sign of the conception which it usually indicates, but, as above, to represent the sign or word itself, it is said to be taken or employed materialiter or technically. Employed in this way, every word becomes for the time a noun, that is, the name of itself, the name of the uttered or written sign, not of that which it has been invented to represent.

We are not to be understood as asserting universally that every single word, entitled to the name of noun, is capable of serving as the subject noun of a proposition. A word which performs any of the functions (to be enumerated hereafter) peculiar to nouns, must be classed among nouns. For example, we would class the word while among nouns (though in modern English it is never used, and could not now with propriety be used, as the subject noun of a proposition), because it manifestly performs the function of a noun in completing the predicates of certain propositions: as, He remained a while, I will come after a while, &c. When a subject noun, of the same meaning with while, is wanted, we employ the word time. That while serves not as a subject noun, is to be attributed to a rare accident in language.

A full definition of nouns, as we have already said, ought to embrace all the functions which they perform in discourse. The defini tion above given we do not offer as complete, but as sufficient for the learner's guidance in distinguishing nouns. There are very few nouns, indeed, which cannot be readily ascertained to be such by the test we have adopted; and if they cannot, it is only because, like the word while, they have fallen into disuse in their prominent function of serving as subjects of propositions, and, in this respect, have given place to some more modern term.

22. When the learner meets a word manifestly intended to express the subject of an assertion, or the leading part of the subject— that part which all the words making up the complete subject regard, modify, limit or describe-he can have no room to doubt what he should call it. It is a noun, or a word or combination of words, for the time used as a noun. Whether a word, employed for a different purpose from that of subject noun, is a noun, may be readily ascertained, in nearly all cases, by trying whether it can serve as the subject noun of a proposition, or, in other words, by trying whether an assertion can be made in regard to that which it expresses-whether it can be said of it, that it is, or is not something, or that it does, or does not do something.*

A practical rule, commonly given for the purpose of distinguishing

The rule to determine whether a word is to be classed among nouns may be given in the following brief form: (1) Every word which, alone and without any word implied, expresses what can be made the subject or leading part of the subject of a proposition or assertion, is a NOUN.*

EXERCISE.-Let the learner point out the nouns in the following passage, and show that the test given in the above rule applies to each of them :

"Columbus was not ignorant of the mutinous disposition of his crew, but he still maintained a serene and steady countenance; soothing some with gentle words; endeavoring to stimulate the pride or avarice of others, and openly menacing the refractory with signal punishment, should they do any thing to impede the voyage."

MODEL OF EXAMINATION.-Point out the first noun in this passage. Ans. Columbus.-How do you ascertain that Columbus is a noun? Ans. From the fact that it expresses the subject of the proposition, "Columbus was not ignorant," &c.-Point out the next noun in the passage. Ans. "Disposition.”—Why class this as a noun? Ans. Because it will serve to express the leading part of the subject, or, in other words, serves as subject noun, for example, in the following proposition, The disposition of his crew was mutinous. "Crew" is a noun; we can say, The crew was mutinous, &c. In the next proposition, He

nouns, is, to try whether they will make sense when united with a determinative or descriptive adjective-classes of words which we shall come to consider hereafter-in other words, to try whether they admit of being modified by these classes of words. This rule, besides the objection that it is indirect and mechanical, fails in regard of at least one large class of words now recognized by the best grammarians as nouns, viz., those words which have usually been called the infinitives of verbs; and it applies very clumsily to many proper names of persons, places, &c. It will exercise the rational powers of the learner to much better purpose to apply the test, Is this word the subject noun of the proposition which I am analyzing, or, if not, can i (stripped, if necessary, of case ending or inflexion) be made the subject nour of some other proposition-that is, can any thing be asserted of it?

*The learner will find afterward that for some purposes nouns take cer tain inflexions, of which they must be stripped before they can serve as sub ject nouns. This fact will, in the end, present little difficulty, and it is unne cessary, at this point of our progress, to perplex the pupil by embracing it i our rule.

22. (1) Repeat the rule to determine whether a given word is a noun.

is a noun, according to our definition (and may be so called till the learner finds a special name for it), because it expresses the subject of the proposition, "He still maintained a serene and steady countenance." The word "his" in the preceding proposition may be passed over for the present, though, if an inflected form of he, it has claims to be classed as a noun.

§ 23. CLASSIFICATION OF NOUNS.-Some knowledge of the classification of nouns is necessary in order to comprehend certain modifications, of which they are susceptible, by a change of form, or by the addition of other words, to fit them to express the various subjects of human thought. But it may be useful, thus early, to dwell longer on the classification of nouns, than would be absolutely necessary for the purpose mentioned, because, next to a careful application of the test already given, a review of the several kinds of nouns will, more than any thing else, assist the young learner in distinguishing readily this important class of words. Besides, it is requisite for other reasons connected with our method of treating grammar to give in this place more extended notice to some of the classes which we shall designate. § 24. FIRST CLASS: CONCRETE NOUNS, OR NAMES OF SUBSTANCES. (1) The names of substances, material and immaterial, constitute the most prominent class of nouns. (2) We use the word substance here in the philosophical sense to indicate what subsists by itself what has, or is conceived to have, an independent existence. (3) This class includes the names of all persons, animals, places, of all the objects around us in the universe, whether formed by our Creator, or by the skill, industry, and contrivance of man-in a word, every thing which appears to our senses as a separate independent object of contemplation, or which is conceived by the mind as such, as God, angels, souls of men, &c. (4) These are called concrete nouns, or names of substances.

EXERCISE I.-Let the pupil point out the concrete nouns, or names of substances in the following extract:—

"On the right, amid a profusion of thickets, knolls, and crags, lay the bed of a broad mountain lake, lightly curled into tiny waves by the breath of the morning breeze, each glittering in its course under

§ 24. (1) What words constitute the most prominent class of nouns? (2) In what sense is the word substance here used, and what does it mean or indicate? (3) Enumerate some of the kinds of names which belong to this class. (4) What is the name given to this class of nouns ?