John: Who is your cousin? Albert: He is the Reverend John M. Foster, D.D. John: Why do you add the D.D.? Albert: It stands for Doctor of Divinity. Our physician, Lewis M. Carroll, M.D., and Professor Campbell of the University are going to see my cousin. They leave here at 11.15 A. M. and reach New York at 2.30 P. M. John: You'd better add a postscript to your cousin, giving the time of their arrival. Albert: I'll just put P. S. for postscript. Rev... A. M.. D.D.. Prof.. P. M. . P. S.. Reverend .Doctor of Medicine Ante Meridian (before noon) Professor Post Meridian (after noon) With what kind of letter does each abbreviation begin? What mark follows each abbreviation? Look at the meaning of post meridian. Now see if you can tell the meaning of postscript. Do you know any people who have the titles used in this story? Write their names and titles. In addressing anyone, you should always write out the full title. For instance: Professor John R. Hill Harvard University My dear Professor Hill: This rule does not apply to Mr. and Mrs. Copy the following sentences using the abbreviations for morning or afternoon. When Helen Keller was a little girl only nineteen months old, she lost both sight and hearing. When she was about six years old, she was placed under the care of Miss Sullivan, who became her teacher. In their first lesson, Miss Sullivan gave Helen a doll, and then, with the tips of her fingers, spelled the word d-o-l-l on the palm of the little girl's hand. In the next few days she spelled other words, such as p-i-n, h-a-t, c-u-p, in the same way. Then she taught the child a few words showing action, such as s-i-t, s-t-a-n-d, w-a-l-k. Notice that Miss Sullivan taught Helen the names of the things she used and the names of the things she did, because these were the words she needed most. These are the two most important families of words. The words which tell the names of things are called nouns. The words which show action are called verbs. The different families of words are called parts of speech. The words doll, pin, hat, and cup are nouns because they are the names of things. Give five nouns which are the names of things in your school, five which are the names of flowers, and five which are the names of birds. A noun is a name. 168 FINDING NOUNS Rats! They fought the dogs and killed the cats, And bit the babies in the cradles, And ate the cheeses out of the vats, And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles, Split open the kegs of salted sprats, Made nests inside men's Sunday hats, And even spoiled the women's chats In fifty different sharps and flats. Here is a stanza from the poem, The Pied Piper of Hamelin. If you do not know the poem, perhaps your teacher will read it to you. Make a list of all the nouns in this stanza. One of you may read your list aloud, while the rest will watch to see if you have found all the nouns. Several of you, in turn, may close your books and repeat from memory the nouns in the stanza. The rest of the class will point out those you missed. 169 LEARNING ABOUT NOUNS SINGULAR AND PLURAL Hundreds of stars in the pretty sky, But only one mother the wide world over. Read the nouns in the poem which mean only one. Read the nouns which mean more than one. Nouns which mean only one are called singular nouns, or are said to be in the singular form. Nouns which mean more than one are called plura! nouns, or are said to be in the plural form. What letter is added to star to make the plural? What letter is added to shell to make the plural? Tell how the plural form of each of the following words is made: bird, bee, dewdrop, lamb. Most nouns are made plural by adding s to the singular form. Make a list of five things in your schoolroom of which there is just one. Make a list of five things of which there are two or more. Look at the story A Morning Concert on page 16. Make two columns of nouns calling one "singular" and the other "plural." Put all the nouns in the story into one of these columns. A singular noun means one. A plural noun means more than one. Most nouns form their plural by adding s to the singular form. 170 MAKING NOUNS PLURAL PLURAL OF NOUNS ENDING IN Y There was once a little cook whose eyes were as black as berries and whose hair was the color of brown sugar. One day a fairy came by, and the cook asked her to dinner. He gave her soup in a wee bowl painted with butterflies, and the best oyster patties you ever saw. When she had finished her dinner, he asked her if she could cook. "Yes," replied the fairy, "I am the best cook among the fairies." "Oh, please marry me," said the little cook. "Then we can make the most delicious dainties in the world." "Very well," said the fairy; "but we have no wedding ring.' "Wait a moment," said the little cook. "I will make a ring." So he prepared a tiny ball of dough and slipped it over the fairy's finger in order to make a hole in it. Then he dropped it into some hot fat. When it was done, the ring was such a beautiful nut-brown color that the fairy called it a dough-nut. That is how dough-nuts were first made. Find in the story the plural form of the following nouns: berry, butterfly, patty, fairy, dainty. Let us see how the plural form of each word is made. |