Читать книгу The Etymology and Syntax of the English Language Explained and Illustrated онлайн

31 страница из 93

... “My arm’d knees,

Which bow’d but in my stirrup, bend like his

That hath received an alms.”—Shakspeare.

“The poor beggar hath a just demand of an alms from the rich man.”—Swift.

Lowth objected to the phraseology a means, for this reason, that means, being a plural noun, cannot admit the indefinite article, or name of unity. The objection would be conclusive, if the expressions this means, that means, did not oppose the learned author’s opinion, that means is a noun plural. To the substantive alms, as represented by Johnson to have no singular, the objection is applicable.

Thanks is considered to be a plural noun, though denoting only one expression of gratitude. It occurs in Scripture as a substantive singular. “What thank have ye?”

It has been observed, that many of those words which have no singular denote things consisting of two parts, and therefore have a plural termination. Hence the word pair is used with many of them, as, “a pair of bellows, a pair of scissors, a pair of colours, a pair of drawers.”