Formation of the plural of nouns.

The plural form of a noun is regularly made by adding s to the singular; as, tree, trees; pen, pens; book, books; bird, birds.

Such a starved bank of moss

Till, that May-morn,

Blue ran the flash across :

Violets were born! ROBERT BROWNING.

Again the blackbirds sing; the streams
Wake, laughing, from their winter dreams,
And tremble in the April showers

The tassels of the maple flowers.

-JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.

When a noun ends in silent e preceded by the sound of ch, j, s, or z, the addition of s increases the number of syllables; as, niche, niches; judge, judges; cage, cages; face, faces; horse, horses; rose, roses.

Two roses on one slender spray
In sweet communion grew,
Together hailed the morning ray

And drank the evening dew. -JAMES MONTGOMERY.

When a noun ends with ch, s, sh, x, or z, the plural is formed by adding the syllable es to the singular; as, church, churches; gas, gases; fish, fishes; box, boxes. Where peaches glow with sunny dyes

Like maidens' cheeks when blushes rise. - JOHN GAY.

Some words pronounced alike.

1. Copy carefully. 2. Write from dictation. 3. Use the italicized words in sentences of your own.

1. The doe awoke, and to the lawn,

Begemm'd with dewdrops, led her fawn.

- SIR WALTER SCOTT.

2. Smith, cobbler, joiner, he that plies the shears, And he that kneads the dough.-WILLIAM COWPER.

3. The golden hours, on angel wings,

4.

5.

Flew o'er me. - ROBERT BUrns.

Drove his heel into the smolder'd log, That sent a blast of sparkles up the flue.

And now can never mourn

A heart grown cold, a head grown gray in vain.

-PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.

6. Beneath the blasts the leafless forests groan.

- ROBERT Burns.

7. There were no stars - no earth, no time

No check - no change-no good—no crime-
But silence and a stirless breath

Which neither was of life nor death.

8. To know that we know what we know, and that we

do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.-CONFUCIUS.

Formation of the plural of nouns.

Some nouns ending with ƒ or fe form the plural by adding s, while others change ƒ into v and add es.

If our inward griefs were seen written on our brow, How many would be pitied who are envied now!

Boughs are daily rifled

By the gusty thieves,

And the book of Nature

Getteth short of leaves. -THOMAS HOOD.

October weaves

Rainbows of the forest leaves.- LUCY LARCOM.

It was Autumn, and incessant

Piped the quails from shocks and sheaves,
And, like living coals, the apples

Burned among the withering leaves.

-HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.

Some words pronounced alike.

1. Copy carefully. 2. Write from dictation. 3. Use the italicized words in sentences of your own.

1. The sea! the sea! the open sea!

The blue, the fresh, the ever free!

2. See Nature gay as when she first began,
With smiles alluring her admirer, man;
She spreads the morning over eastern hills,
Earth glitters with the drops the night distills.

3. Winding slow through bush and brake Links together lake and lake.

-HENRY WADSWORTH Longfellow.

its caves

4. A lynx crouched watchfully among
And craggy shores.- PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.

5. Those happy climes that lie

Where day never shuts his eye.-JOHN MILTON.

6. Barrels of ashes stood by,

Wood-ashes for leaching the lye,

Parent of home-made soap.-FRANCIS ANDREw March.

7. And, of all lies (be that one poet's boast),

The lie that flatters I abhor the most.