The Grammar of English Grammars, page 578 by Gould Brown

<< Return to Title Details & Download

 < previous  next > 

579

ll show the opinions of some other grammarians, upon the foregoing point: "Proper nouns have the plural only when they refer to a race or family; as, _The Campbells_; or to several persons of the same name; as, _The eight Henrys; the two Mr. Sells; the two Miss Browns_; or, without the numeral, _the Miss Roys._ But in addressing letters in which both or all are equally concerned, and also when the names are different, we pluralize the title, (Mr. or Miss,) and write, Misses Brown; Misses Roy; Messrs, (for Messieurs, Fr.) Guthrie and Tait."_--Lennie's Gram._, p. 7. "If we wish to distinguish the unmarried from the married Howards, we call them _the Miss Howards._ If we wish to distinguish these Misses from other Misses, we call them the Misses Howard."--_Fowle's Gram._ "To distinguish several persons of the same name and family from others of a different name and family, the title, and not the proper name, is varied to express the distinction; as, the Misses Story, the _Messrs._ Story. The elliptical meaning is, the Misses and Messrs, who are named Story. To distinguish unmarried from married ladies, the proper name, and not the title, should be varied; as, the Miss Clarks. When we mention more than one person of different names, the title should be expressed before each; as, Miss Burns, Miss Parker, and Miss Hopkinson, were present."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 79. In the following examples from Pope's Works, the last word only is varied: "He paragons himself to two Lord Chancellors for law."--Vol. iii, p. 61. "Yearly panegyrics upon the Lord Mayors."--_Ib._, p. 83.

"Whence hapless Monsieur much complains at Paris Of wrongs from Duchesses and Lady Maries."_--Dunciad_, B. ii, L 135.

OBS. 18.--The following eleven nouns in f, change the f into v and assume es for the plural: _

 < previous  next >