Page:The Comic English Grammar.djvu/32

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THE COMIC ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

ladies, is the vonderful heagle of the sun; the 'otterer it grows, the higherer he flies!"



CHAPTER III.

Section I.

OF SUBSTANTIVES IN GENERAL.

Substantives are either proper or common.

Proper names, or substantives, are the names belonging to individuals: as William, Birmingham.

These are sometimes converted into nicknames, or improper names: as Bill, Brummagem.

Common names, or substantives, denote kinds containing many sorts, or sorts containing many individuals under them: as brute, beast, bumpkin, cherub, infant, goblin, &c.

Proper names, when an article is prefixed to them, are employed as common names: as, "They thought him a perfect Chesterfield; he quite astonished the Browns."

Common names, on the other hand, are made to denote individuals, by the addition of articles or pronouns: as,

"There was a little man, and he had a little gun."

"That boy will be the death of me!"

Substantives are considered according to gender, number, and case; they are all of the third person when spoken of, and of the second when spoken to: as,

Matilda, fairest maid, who art

 In countless bumpers toasted,