a. Masculine gender denotes the male. b. Feminine gender, the female.

c. Neuter gender, the absence of sex; as, chair, table, desk.

d. Common gender denotes either sex; as, children,

animals.

2. Number denotes one or more than one.

a. Singular number denotes one.

b. Plural number denotes more than one.

(For

the formation of irregular plurals see section on spelling, page 488.)

3. Person denotes whether the person speaking is meant, the person spoken to, or the person,

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place, or thing spoken about, the First,

Second, and Third person respectively.

4. Case is that property of nouns and pronouns which denotes their direct relation with other words in a sentence.

a. The Nominative case denotes that a noun or pronoun is used:

(1) As subject (The man is ill).

(2) As attribute complement or predicate nominative (Clara is the girl).

(3) As noun in apposition with a noun or pronoun in the nominative case (John, the student, has been absent).

(4) As nominative by direct address or vocative (Tom, leave the room).

(5) As nominative absolute (The ring having been lost, I advertised for it).

b. The Objective case denotes that a noun or pronoun is used:

(1) As direct object of a verb (I like candy).

(2) As indirect object or dative object of a verb (He gave me some candy).

(3) As objective complement or factitive object (They called John captain).

(4) As object of a preposition (He gave the book to me).

(5) As noun in apposition with a noun or pronoun in the objective case (I went with my brother William).

Ob

(6) As adverbial objective to denote direction, measure, time, or space (He walked a mile). c. The Possessive (or Genitive) case of a noun or pronoun is used to denote ownership or possession. It is usually formed by 's. (For the formation of the possessive see section on spelling, pages 489-490.) serve in this connection: (1) That of and not 's should be used to indicate the possessive case of nouns that name inanimate things, unless these nouns connote or suggest personality; thus, John's hat but not the chair's leg. The leg of the chair but the ship's wake, because "ship" is usually thought of as "her." (2) That a noun or pronoun used before a gerund is usually in the possessive case, . my running, the girl's singing, his receiving.

B. The Properties of Verbs are Voice, Mode, Tense, Person, and Number.

1. Voice denotes whether the subject is acting or

acted upon.

a. Active voice denotes that the subject is acting; as, John threw the ball.

b. Passive voice denotes that the subject is acted upon; as, The ball was thrown by John.

2. Mood (Mode) denotes the manner in which the action is expressed.

a. The Indicative mode indicates simple, declarative expression.

b. The Subjunctive mode is used to indicate condition, doubt, or desire. It is usually designated by if,- If I were you.

c. The Potential mode is used to express ability, permission, possibility, necessity, obligation. It is designated by the auxiliaries may, can, must, might, could, would, should. d. The Imperative mode is used to express a command or entreaty. The subject of a verb in the imperative mode is in the second person and is usually understood.

3. Tense is that property of verbs which denotes the time of the action.

a. The Present tense denotes present time,-I talk. b. The Past or Imperfect tense denotes past time,

- I talked.

c. The Future tense denotes future time and uses shall and will as auxiliaries, I shall talk.

d. The Perfect or Present Perfect tense denotes action completed at the present time and uses the auxiliary have (has in third singular) for this purpose, I have talked; she has talked. e. The Pluperfect or Past Perfect tense denotes ac1 For the use of these auxiliaries see pages 572–574.

f. The

tion completed in past time and uses had as auxiliary, I had talked.

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Future Perfect tense indicates action that is to be completed at some future time. It combines the auxiliaries of the future and the perfect, I shall have talked.

4. The Person and Number of a verb are the same as the person and number of its subject. 5. Other verbal properties and forms:

a. An Infinitive is a verbal form denoting, but not completing, action. It may be used as a noun, as an adjective, or as an adverb. To is the sign of the infinitive; as, to go, to see, to feel. When to is not expressed, the infinitive is called elliptical,- He made me (to) go; please (to) close the door.

b. A Participle is a verbal adjective.

c. A Gerund is a verbal noun. Both the participle and the gerund end in ing, but it must be remembered that the longer word indicates the adjective; the shorter, the noun. d. The Conjugation of the verb is the orderly enumeration of all its forms to express voice, mood, tense, number, and person. There are three conjugations of the English verb, The Simple; the Progressive; and the Emphatic.

e. The Synopsis of the verb is the naming of one person and number in every tense of the conjugation.

f. The Passive voice of the simple conjugation of any verb is formed by adding its past participle to every form of the verb to be.

g. The Active Progressive conjugation of a verb is formed by adding the present participle to every simple form of the verb be. The Passive Progressive is formed by adding the past participle to every progressive form of the verb be.

h. The Emphatic conjugation of a verb is formed by using do as auxiliary in the present tense, and did in the past. It occurs in no other tense or voice.

i. The Principal parts of a verb are the present and imperfect tenses in the indicative mode, and the present and past participles:

(1) A Defective verb is one for which all these parts cannot be given :

(2) A Redundant verb is one which has more than one form for any one of these parts:

j. Transitive and Intransitive verbs.

(1) A Transitive verb is one whose action passes over to a receiver of the action. Usually therefore it has an object which receives and is affected by the action expressed. "John hit the ball." Here