PECULIAR PLURALS: ORIGIN AND USES

Man, men, etc.The eight Plurals are called Mutation-plurals, because they are formed by a change or mutation of the inside vowel of the singular. Once there were many more such plurals than there are now. The original plural of man was “mann-is”. The “i” in the ending -is had the effect of changing the a of mann or man into a sound more like itself; thus mann-is became menn-is. The effect of “i” in thus changing the preceding vowel is called Vowel-mutation in English and Umlaut in German. When the -is was dropped, nothing but the vowel-change was left to distinguish the Plural from the Singular. This Mutation-method became obsolete when the Anglo-Saxon system of grammar decayed.

Ox, oxen, etc.The four Plurals are formed by a process that is now as obsolete as that of vowel-mutation. In Old English -an (now written -en) was not as common as a then Plural ending -as (now written -es or -s). But -as or -es became much more common when the decay of Anglo-Saxon was setting in. Afterwards, when French influence had begun to work (about 200 years after the Norman Conquest), the French Plural in -s helped to drive the nail home, so that -s or -es became eventually the sign of the Plural for almost all our nouns.

Foreign Plurals.We have some Plurals which have been borrowed direct from foreign nouns:

Latin Plurals: from -urn (sing.) to -a (plur.); addend-a, agend-a, dat-a, errat-a, strat-a, memorand-a (or memorand-ums); from -us (sing.) to -i (plur.); alumn-i, fung-i, radi-i, geni-i (or genius-es). Other Latin Plurals are: genera (genus), stamina (stamen), indices (index), series (series), species (species), apparatus (apparatus).

Greek Plurals: from -is (sing.) to -es (plur.): analyses, bases, hypotheses, parentheses, oases; from -on (sing.) to -a (plur.): phenomen-a, criteri-a.

Italian Plurals: banditti (or bandits), dilettanti.

French Plurals: beaux, bureaux, chateaux, messieurs, mesdames.

Hebrew Plurals: cherubim (or cherubs), seraphim (or seraphs).

Nouns of Multitude.These are a kind of Collective nouns which have a plural sense, though they remain singular in form.

The poultry (= fowls) are doing well. These cattle

(= cows) are mine. These vermin (= insects, etc.) do much harm. These people (= persons) have returned home. (People, when preceded by a or used in the Plural number, as “a people”, “peoples”, signifies “nation”).

Some nouns, which take a Plural at ordinary times, use the Singular instead of the Plural to express some specific quantity or number: A twelve-month period. A three-foot rule. An eight-day clock. A six-year-old horse. A fort-night (contraction of “fourteen-night”). Forty head of cattle. Twelve pound weight. Ten sail of the line. A six-penny piece.

 

Note. – Six-pence has a Collective sense denoting a single coin, which makes the noun appear to be Singular, so that we say a sixpence (Singular), sixpences (Plural). The latter is really a double Plural, the “ce” being a substitute for “s”.

 

Two forms of Plural, each with a separate meaning:

Brothers, sons of the same mother,

Brother

Brethren, members of the same society.

Cherubim, angels of a certain rank.

Cherub

Cherubs, images or models of a cherub.

 

 

Cloths, kinds or pieces of cloth (Distributive).

Cloth

Clothes, articles of dress (Collective).

 

 

Cows, There is no real difference, except that kine

Cow

Kine, has now become archaic.

Dies, stamps for coining (Distributive).

Die

Dice, small cubes used in games (Collective).

 

 

Folk, men or persons, as “the old folk”.

Folk

Folks, nations (obsolete or very rare).

Geniuses, men of genius or talent.

Genius

Genii, fabulous spirits of the air.

 

Indexes, tables of contents.

Index

Indices, signs used in algebra.

 

Peas, Common Noun, as “the pod contained 9pea”

Pea

Pease, Material Noun, as “pease pudding”.

Pennies, penny-pieces (Distributive).

Penny

Pence, (Collective), as in “sixpence”.

Staves, sticks or poles,

Staff

Staffs, departments in the army,

 

 

Stamens, male organs of flowers.

Stamen

Stamina, endurance, vigour, lit. threads.

Shot, little balls discharged from a gun.

Shot

Shots, discharges; as, “He had two shots”

Different senses of Singular and Plural:

Singular Plural.

Advice, counsel. Advices, information.

Air, atmosphere. Airs, demeanour.

Ban, a course (under a ban) Banns,announcements

(banns of marriage)

Beef, flesh of ox Beeves,cattle,bulls and cows.

Compass, range or extend. Compasses, instruments.

Copper, a metal. Coppers, pennies, pence.

Domino, a cape with a hood Dominoes, the game so-called.

Forces, strength or energy. Forces, army.

Good, benefit. Goods, movable property.

Iron, a metal Irons, fetters made of iron

Physic, medecine. Physics, natural science.

Return, coming back. Returns, statistics.

Salt, seasoning substance. Salts, smelling salts.

Sand, pulverised rock. Sands, a tract of sandy land.

Vapour, invisible steam. Vapours, dejection, low spirits.

Vesper, evening. Vespers, evening prayers.

Waters, the element Waters, springs, masses of water, etc

 

Two meanings in the Plural against one in the Singular:

 

Singular. Plural.

 

Colour Colour Colours 1. Kinds of

colour

2. Flag of

regiment

Custom Habit Custom 1. Habit

2. Toll or tax.

Element Simple substance Elements 1.Simple

substances.

2. Rudiments of

first principles

of a subject.

 

Effect Result Effects 1. Results.

2. Goods and

chat tel(s).

 

Letter 1. Of alphabet Letters 1. Of alphabet.

2. Epistle2. Epistles.

3. Literature.

 

Manner Mode or way Manners 1.Modes, ways.

2.Behaviour

 

Number As in counting Numbers 1.As in counting

2. Poetry.

Pain Suffering Pains 1. Suffering

2Trouble, care.

 

Part Portion Part 1. Portion

2. Abilities.

Premise A statement or proposition Premises 1.Propositions.

2. Buildings.

Quarter A fourth part Quarter 1.Fourth parts.

2. Lodgings.

Spectacle Anything seen Spectacle 1.Things seen.

2. Eyeglasses.

Two meanings in the Singular against one in the Plural:

Singular. Plural.

 

Abuse Wrong uses Abuses Wrong uses

Reproaches

 

Foot Parts of body Feet Parts of body

Infantry

 

Horse Quadruped Horses Quadrupeds

Cavalry

Issue Result Issues Results

Offspring

 

Light Lamp Lights Lamps

Radiance

 

People Nation Peoples Nations

Persons

 

Powder Medicinal mixture Powders Medicinal

Gunpowder mixtures

 

Practice Habitual act Practices Habitual acts

Professional connection

Stone Piece of rock Stones Pieces of rock

Fourteen pounds

 

Wood A forest Woods Forests

Timber

True Singulars used as Plurals. – By a “True Singular” we mean that the final “s” is part of the original Singular noun, and not a sign of the Plural.

Such nouns, though Singular by etymology, are liable to be considered Plural on account of the final “s”; and all except the first of these named below are now always used as if they were Plural.

Summons (Fr. semonce). – This noun is still correctly used as a Singular; as “I received a summons to attend”; “This summons reached me to-day.” The plural form is summonses.

Alms (A.S. selmesse). – “He asked an alms”(New Testament). But now the word is generally used as if it were Plural; as, “I gave alms to the beggar, and for these he thanked me.”

Eaves (A.S. efese). – The edge or lower borders of the roof of a house. The word is now always used as a Plural; as, “The eaves are not yet finished.”

Riches (Fr. Richesse). – This too is really a Singular; as, “In one hour is so great riches come to naught (New Testament); but now, on account of the final s, this noun is always used as a Plural; as, “Riches do not last for ever.”

Cherries (Mid. Eng. cheris): cf. Latin, ceras-us, – The s looked so like a Plural ending, that a Singular cherry was coined.

Peas (A.S. pis-a. Singular). – When the a was lost, the final s looked like a Plural; so a Singular pea was coined; “The vaunting poets found nought worth a pease”. – spencer. “Of the bigness of a great peaze. – raleigh, Hist. World (Spelt with a 2 by Raleigh, because it was so pronounced).

True Plurals used as Singulars. –In such nouns the final s is really a sign of the Plural:

Amends. – This is sometimes used as a Singular and sometimes as a Plural: as, “An honourable amends” (ADDISON).

Means. – This is now almost always used as a Singular; as, “By this means”.

News. – This is now almost always used as a Singular; as, “Ill news runs apace.” Mid. Eng. new-es (plural); French nouvelles.

Innings. – This is a word used in cricket to denote the turn for going in and using the bat. It is always used as a Singular; as, “We have not yet had an innings”; “Our eleven beat the other by an innings and ten runs.”

Gallows. – The framework from which criminals are hanged. This noun is used as a Singular; as, “They fixed up a gallows.”

Odds. – A word used in betting to denote the difference of one wager against another. “We gave him a heavy odds against ourselves.”

Sledge. – A respelling of sleds, plural of sled, which is still used in Canada for “sledge”. This is always used as Singular: “A sledge (сани, они) is sliding down the slope”.

 

Лекция 8

In grammar, the genitive case or possessive case (also called the second case) is the case that marks a noun as modifying another noun. It often marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun but it can also indicate various relationships other than possession; certain verbs may take arguments in the genitive case; and it may have adverbial uses (see Adverbial genitive). Modern English does not typically mark nouns for a genitive case morphologically — rather, it uses the apostrophe's or a preposition (usually of) — but the personal pronouns do have distinct possessive forms.

 

Depending on the language, specific varieties of genitive-noun-main-noun relationships may include:

possession (see Possessive case):

inalienable possession ("Janet's height", "Janet's existence", "Janet's long fingers")

alienable possession ("Janet's jacket", "Janet's drink")

relationship indicated by the noun being modified ("Janet's husband")

composition (see Partitive case):

substance ("a wheel of cheese")

elements ("a group of men")

source ("a portion of the food")

participation in an action:

as an agent ("my leaving") — this is called the subjective genitive

as a patient ("the archduke's murder") — this is called the objective genitive

origin ("men of Rome")

reference ("Of the Gaulish War")

description ("man of honour", "day of reckoning")

compounds (Scottish Gaelic "ball coise" = "football", where "coise" = gen. of "cas", "foot")

 

Depending on the language, some of the relationships mentioned above have their own distinct cases different from the genitive.

 

Possessive pronouns are distinct pronouns, found in Indo-European languages such as English, that function like pronouns inflected in the genitive. They are considered separate pronouns if contrasting to languages where pronouns are regularly inflected in the genitive. For example, English my is either a separate possessive adjective or an irregular genitive of I, while in Finnish, for example, minun is regularly agglutinated from minu- "I" and -n (genitive).

 

In some languages, nouns in the genitive case also agree in case with the nouns they modify (that is, it is marked for two cases). This phenomenon is called suffixaufnahme.

 

In some languages, nouns in the genitive case may be found in inclusio — that is, between the main noun's article and the noun itself.

 

Many languages have a genitive case, including Arabic, Armenian, Basque , Czech, Finnish, Georgian, German, Greek, Icelandic, Irish, Latin, Latvian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Sanskrit, Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian and Turkish. English does not have a proper genitive case, but a possessive ending, -'s (see below), although pronouns do have a genitive case.

 

The English -'s ending

 

Non positive marker

Some argue that it is a common misconception that English nouns have a genitive case, marked by the particle that is always pronounced as part of the preceding word. This is claimed on the basis of the following sort of example: "The king of Sparta's wife was called Helen." If the English -'s were a genitive case mark, then the wife would belong to Sparta; but the -'s attaches not to the word Sparta, but to the entire phrase the king of Sparta.

 

Despite the above, the English possessive did originate in a genitive case. In Old English, a common singular genitive ending was -es. The apostrophe in the modern possessive marker is in fact an indicator of the e that is "missing" from the Old English morphology.

 

The use of an independently written particle for the possessive can be seen in the closely related Dutch language: de man z'n hand (the man's hand, z'n, short for zijn, means his).

 

The 18th century explanation that the apostrophe might replace a genitive pronoun, as in "the king's horse" being a shortened form of "the king, his horse", is debated. This his genitive appears in English only for a relatively brief time. The construction occurs in southern German dialects and has replaced the genitive there, together with the "of construction that also exists in English. While modern English speakers might expect that plurals and feminine nouns would form possessives using '-r', such as "*The queen'r children", in fact "his" or "hys" could be used for speakers and writers of either gender throughout most of the medieval and Renaissance period.

 

Remnants of the genitive case remain in Modern English in a few pronouns, such as whose (the genitive form of who), my/mine, his/her/hers/its, our/ours, their/theirs, etc. See also declension in English.

 

Uses of the marker in English

The English construction in -'s has various uses other than a possessive marker. Most of these uses overlap with a complement marked by 'of (the music of Beethoven or Beethoven's music), but the two constructions are not equivalent. The use of -'s in a non-possessive sense is more prevalent, and less restricted, in formal than informal language.

 

Genitive of origin; subjective genitive

Beethoven's music

Fred Astaire's dancing

Confucius's teaching

In these constructions, the marker indicates the origin or source of the head noun of the phrase, rather than possession per se. Most of these phrases, however, can still be paraphrased with of: the music of Beethoven, the teaching of Jesus.

 

Objective genitive; classifying genitive

the Hundred Years' War

a dollar's worth

two weeks' notice

speech of an appropriate tone

A Midsummer Night's Dream

a man's world

runner's high

the Teachers' Lounge

In these constructions, the marker serves to specify, delimit, or describe the head noun. The paraphrase with of is often un-idiomatic or ambiguous with these genitives:

 

They introduce the likelihood of misunderstanding.

 

Genitive of purpose

women's shoes

children's literature

Here, the marked noun identifies the purpose or intended recipient of the head noun. Of cannot paraphrase them; they can be idiomatically paraphrased with for: shoes for women.

 

Appositive genitive

Dublin's fair city

 

This is not a common usage. The more usual expression is the fair city of Dublin.

Double genitive

that hard heart of thine ("Venus and Adonis" line 500)

this extreme exactness of his ("Tristram Shandy", chapter l.IV)

Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby's is a Friend of Mine

a picture of the king's (that is, a picture owned by the king, as distinguished from a picture of the king, one in which the king is portrayed)

 

Some writers regard this as a questionable usage, although it has a history in careful English. Some object to the name, as the "of clause is not a genitive. Alternative names are "double possessive" and "oblique genitive". The Oxford English Dictionary says that this usage was "Originally partitive, but subseq. ... simple possessive ... or as equivalent to an appositive phrase

 

Adverbial genitive

The ending "-s" without the apostrophe, to form an adverb of time, is considered to be a remnant of an Old English genitive, and there is a "literary" periphrastic form.

closed Sundays

of a summer day

 

THE CASE

Ex.1. Replace the of-phrase:

а) 1. The knife of ours.

2. The order of the commander-in-chief.

3. The house of mister Fox.

4. The novels of Dickens.

5. The ball of the boys.

6. The life of a bachelor.

7. The works of Marx.

8. The dress of a lady.

9. A meeting of students.

10. The flat of my mother-in-law.

11. The right of women.

 

b) 1. A distance of two miles.

2. The crew of the ship.

3. The theatres of Hanoi.

4. An interval of three hours.

5. The oil déposits of the world.

6. The rays of the sun.

7. The population of England.

8. The joys of life.

9. For the sake of convenience.

 

c) 1. The mother of Mary and Ann.

2. The fathers of Peter and John.

3. The poems of Byron and Shelley.

4. The children of my sister Irene.

5. The speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

6. The times of Peter the Great.

 

Ex.2. Comment on the use of the Possessive Case in the following sentences:

1. Agnes was at her wit’s end.

2. Since his illness, however, he had abandoned this attempt to get twenty-four hours’ work out of each day.

3. The Radicals’ real supporters were the urban classes.

4. For his honour’s sake Tom was ready to commit suicide.

5. They were to leave the house without an instant's delay and go at once to the river’s edge.

6. And he lifted his strange lowering eyes to Derek’s.

7. “Where are the children?” “I sent them to mother’s.”

8. Presently Rex was on his two miles’ walk to Oxford.

9. Bowen sat on the veranda of Buckmaster’s house.

10. Crime is the product of a country’s social order.

11. I spotted the bride’s father’s uncle’s silk hat on the seat of a straight chair across the room.

12. I spent Christmas at my aunt Emily’s.

13. He was still thinking of the next morning’s papers.

14. A man stepped out from a tobacconist’s and waved to them.

15. The wooden slopes came down to the water’s edge.

16. And the wind’s rustle was so gentle.

17. The Browns’ little house was dark.

18. Constance had put on a dress of black silk with a brooch of her mother’s for the tea hour.

19. He was determined to solve the meaning of Joe and Peg’s visit.

20. The pudding was of aunt Julia’s making.

21. He had anticipated much pleasure in this afternoon’s reading, under the quiet roof of his greataunt’s house.

22. And so she came to James’s.

23. The men finished their day’s work and went away.

24. Everybody drank to everybody else’s happiness.

25. After an hour or so’s break the committee resumed their work.

26. Bert Templeton leaned on the ship’s rail.

27. She dreamed of Italy’s museums and the world’s great art-centres.

 

 

Ex.3. Put the noun in brackets in the Possessive Case:

1. The breakfast table at – was usually a very pleasant one, and was always presided over by Bella (Mr.Boffin).

2. I think – friendships are much deeper than – Mrs. Thompson said (men,women).

3. That night he had chosen a basement bar a – throw from Scotland yard (stone).

4. As he passed through the – room he saw an evening paper spread out conspicuously on the desk of the – nephew (clerk, director).

5. He stayed for dinner that evening and much to – satisfaction made a favourable impression on her father (Ruth).

6. He said to her: “Look at my brother – property” (James).

7. Benson was listening among the – representation cocking his head on the side (workers).

8. He had never thought that a – hand could be sweetly soft (woman).

9. But by that time the bride was near the end of the first – journey towards Florence (day).

10. He too wished she had remained at home, as did most of the – families (congressmen).

11. You need a good – sleep (night).

12. Haven’t you noticed that other – bread-and-butter is always much nicer than your own? Robert is like that. He always prefers – fireside (people, somebody else).

13. The – wives were more expensively dressed than the civil – and in general more spectacular (politicians, servants).

14. One evening on the way to the – I saw Irving sitting on the steps of his house (grocer).

15. I cannot be blamed for all my – doings (kin).

 

Ex.4. Replace the Possessive Case by a prepositional group where possible:

1. The only thing that stood out clearly was his parents’ house.

2. Nobody could explain the young girl’s behaviour at yesterday’s dinner.

3. The boy got his first week’s salary and looked very proud.

4. You don’t object to the speaker’s proposal, do you?

5. We found the boy looking through a children’s magazine

6. After an hour or so’s break the committee resumed their work.

7. In those days for economy’s sake he lived, in a little town.

8. There was a moment’s silence between them.

9. It was a typical student’s mistake.

10. The morning’s mail brought me a surprise in the shape of a letter.

11. They are the same author’s books.

 

Ex.5. Replace the prepositional groups by the Possessive Case where possible:

1. The teacher drew the attention of the students to the peculiarity of the style of the author.

2. Before I could say a word, the sound of carriage wheels was heard.

3. The girl was nicely dressed for the ceremony of the evening.

4. He did not want to hurt the feelings of the girl.

5. There was a spot of ink on the table cloth.

6. I spent a fortnight in the house of my friend.

7. The pursuit of the enemy stopped only at nightfall.

8. There was a great variety of books for children on display.

9. I could not agree with the interpretation of the piece by the conductor.

10. We visited the village of Mikhailovskoye where Pushkin, the great poet of Russia, lived in exile.

11. Never shall I forget those words of my father.

12. We could not tear our eyes off the hands of the pianist.

13. We could not tear our eyes off his long-fingered hands, the hands of a pianist.

14. The river was at a distance of a mile and a half from the camp.

15. She contributes to a magazine for women.

 

Ex.6. Insert ’; s; ’s or s’ instead of the hyphens where necessary:

1. This is a new edition of Dickens – novels.

2. That man was Tom - and Nelly – old teacher – of music.

3. Those were Nick – and Kate – parents.

4. We spent a week – holiday at the Barton – .

5. The book is neither John – nor Mary – .

6. It was neither John – nor Mary – .

7. I haven’t touched a single book of John – .

8. Father took some money out of his pocket and put it into my younger brother –.

9. Father took some money out of his pocket and gave it to my younger brother –.

10. His eyes narrowed like a cat – .

11. He moved around softly like a cat – .

12. The wall – in the hunter – club were decorated with mountain goat – and deer – horn – .

13. A great many scientist – took part in the First International Geophysical Year.

14. Many a time did he rewrite some of his novel – chapter – before submitting it to the reader – judgment.

 

Лекция 9

The Verb

As a matter of fact the verb is “the most complex (and capacious) part of speech[42]”. The intricate nature of the English verb is quite vivid as it includes, as if in miniature, some other parts of speech in the shape of the so called non-finite verbs, or verbals (or verbids[43]). The various forms, that a verb can take, fall under the main divisions: finite and non finite (verbals). The finites can further be subdivided into three systems called moods. And verbals in their turn can also be subdivided into three systems: the infinitive, the gerund, the participle.

So, first we’ll begin with the properties that characterize the verb as a whole. It has the following properties:

1) Verbs name actions, states, and process. That is their lexico-grammatical meaning.

Eg: She is singing (process).

It is written (state).

We shall leave (action).

The lexico-grammatical meaning is expressed by typical stem-building elements, such as the suffixes: ize, - en, - fy; prefixes: re-, under-, over-, out-, super-, mis-, un-; the lexico-grammatical word-morphemes: up, m, off, down, out etc.

2) The verb has 7 grammatical categories: number, person, tense, aspect, voice, mood, order. Out of the categories of the verb system three are found not only the finite verbs, but in non – finite verbs (verbals: the infinitive, the gerund, the participle) as well. Two of them, voice (asks, is asked and order (asks -has asked, to ask - to have asked, asking - having asked) are found in all the verbals, and the third – aspect (asks – is asking, to ask – to be asking) is found in the infinitive.

The Category of Number shows whether the action is associated with one agent of the action or with more than one. Accordingly, it denotes smth. essentially different from what is indicated by the number of nouns. If we say “She goes to the library three times a day”, it doesn’t indicate a single going, but a single (doer) agent

Eg: am reading (is eating) – 1 agent.

are reading (eating) – more than one.

Some verbs don’t distinguish number at all because of the perculiar development (can, must); others are but rarely used in the singular because the meanings of “oneness” is hardly compatible with their lexical meanings;

Eg: to crowd, to conspire (устраивать заговор)

So, the number is a means for expressing syntactical relations.

The agent can be a person speaking or smb else. So, the verb has the category of person. The process naturally takes place at a certain time. So, the verb has the category of tense.

The verb has forms which show the direction of action. A process may have forms of the direction of action, so we say the verb has the category of voice.

The process may stand in different relations to reality as a fact, urge, probability, so, we say the verb has the category of mood.

The action can progress in different ways, so, we say the verb has the category of aspect.

3) Its characteristic combinability; a verb can be associated with nouns denoting the doer of the action expressed by the verb; it is regularly modified by adverbs. The process is dependent on an agent (the agent can be one or more than one).

Eg: We went on going in for sports. A girl playing…, the cat walking on the road.

4) The syntactical function of the verb depends on whether the verb is finite or non-finite. The verbals are: the infinitive, the participle, and the gerund. Finite verbs are always predicates, non-finitite verbs can be in any functions, but never predicates: they do not combine with the subject in person and number: a subject – it is dangerous to smoke, to smoke (smoking) is dangerous.

a predicative – the task is to study (studying)

an attribute – the book to read, idea of going

an object – like to read, insist on going

adverbial modifiers – I hate discovering…, he comes here to study, they left without saying good-bye.

The verb can be modified by an adverb. And if it is transitive, it can take a direct object.