The following were originally singular forms, but they are now treated as
plural.
Alms (Anglo-Saxon _aelmaesse_), eaves (A. S. _efese_), riches (Norman
French _richesse_).
The following have no singular corresponding in meaning.
Colors (flag), compasses (dividers), goods (property), grounds (dregs),
letters (literature), manners (behavior), matins (morning service); morals
(character), remains (dead body), spectacles (glasses), stays (corsets),
vespers (evening service).
(The singular form is sometimes an adjective.)
Bitters, greens, narrows, sweets, valuables, etc.
Collective nouns are treated as plural when the individuals in the
collection are thought of, and as singular when the collection as a whole
is thought of.
+Examples+.--The _committee were_ unable to agree, and _they_ asked to be
discharged. A _committee was_ appointed, and _its_ report will soon be
made.
(Collective nouns have plural forms; as, _committees, armies_.)
* * * * *
LESSON 115.
REVIEW IN NUMBER.
+Direction+.--_Write the plural of the singular nouns and pronouns in the
following list, and the singular of those that are plural; give the Rule or
the Remark that applies to each; and note those that have no plural, and
those that have no singular:_--
Hope, age, bench, bush, house, loss, tax, waltz, potato, shoe, colony,
piano, kangaroo, pulley, wharf, staff, fife, loaf, flagstaff, handkerchief,
Mr.
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