“Hast thou left thy blue course in the heavens, golden-haired sun of the sky?”

“Father, may the Great Spirit so brighten the chain of friendship between us, that a child may find it, when the sun is asleep in his wig-wam behind the western waters.”

  “Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies! 
   Sink down, ye mountains, and, ye valleys, rise!”
  “Eternal Hope, thy glittering wings explore
   Earth’s loneliest bounds, and ocean’s wildest shore.”

In these examples, the nouns, sun, father, mountains, valleys, and hope, are of the second person, and, as you will hereafter learn, in the nominative case independent.  Course, heavens, sky, Spirit, chain, friendship, child, sun, wig-wam, waters, earth, skies, wings, earth, bounds, ocean, and shore, are all of the third person.

NUMBER.

Number is the distinction of objects, as one or more.  Nouns are of two numbers, the singular and the plural.

The singular number implies but one; as, a book.

The plural number implies more than one; as, books.

    NOTES.

1.  Some nouns are used only in the singular form; as, hemp, flax, barley, wheat, pitch, gold, sloth, pride, honesty, meekness, compassion, &c.; others only in the plural form; as, bellows, scissors, ashes, riches, snuffers, tongs, thanks, wages, embers, ides, pains, vespers, &c.

    2.  Some words are the same in both numbers; as, deer, sheep, swine;
    and, also, hiatus, apparatus, series, species.

3.  The plural number of nouns is generally formed by adding s to the singular; as, dove, doves; face, faces; but sometimes we add es in the plural; as, box, boxes; church, churches; lash, lashes; cargo, cargoes.

4.  Nouns ending in f or fe, are rendered plural by a change of that termination into ves; as, half, halves; wife, wives:  except grief, relief, reproof, and several others, which form their plurals by the addition of s.  Those ending in ff, have the regular plural; as, ruff, ruffs; except staff, staves.

5.  Nouns ending in y in the singular, with no other vowel in the same syllable, change it into ies in the plural; as, beauty, beauties; fly, flies.  But the y is not changed, where there is another vowel in the syllable; as, key, keys; delay, delays; attorney, attorneys; valley, valleys; chimney, chimneys.

    6. Mathematics, metaphysics, politics, optics, ethics, pneumatics,
    hydraulics, &c. are construed either as singular or plural nouns.