Chapter 9.6 Summary

The author remarks that only two areas of noun inflection contain variations. One is in the nominative case, he notes, and the other is in the genitive case. He finds one variation in a rule that is disregarded: that the -s to pluralize compound nouns goes at the end of the principle noun. The ending -s is now, he says, put at the end. He finds the other variation in a similar rule. When the noun is used as the object of the sentence, its relative parts are treated equally. That is, the verb of a singular noun is also singular; the verb of a plural noun must agree in plural form. This rule, too, has been mistreated, Mencken finds, making for more confounded, complicated language.

Chapter 9.6 Analysis

Mencken finds two areas of decay where noun inflection is concerned - one in a...