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Names of ideas, not
things.
8. Abstract nouns
are names of qualities, conditions, or actions, considered abstractly, or apart
from their natural connection.
When we speak of a wise man, we recognize in him an
attribute or quality. If we wish to think simply of that quality without
describing the person, we speak of the wisdom of the man. The quality is
still there as much as before, but it is taken merely as a name. So
poverty would express the condition of a poor person; proof means
the act of proving, or that which shows a thing has been proved; and so on.
Again, we may say, "Painting is a fine art,"
"Learning is hard to acquire," "a man of understanding."
9. There are two chief
divisions of abstract nouns:—
(1) ATTRIBUTE NOUNS, expressing attributes or
qualities.
(2) VERBAL NOUNS, expressing state, condition, or
action.
Attribute abstract nouns.
10. The ATTRIBUTE ABSTRACT
NOUNS are derived from adjectives and from common nouns. Thus,
(1) prudence from prudent,
height from high, redness from red,
stupidity from stupid, etc.; (2) peerage from peer,
childhood from child, mastery from master,
kingship from king, etc.
Verbal abstract nouns.
II. The VERBAL ABSTRACT NOUNS Originate in verbs,
as their name implies. They may be—
(1) Of the same form as the simple verb. The verb, by
altering its function, is used as a noun; as in the expressions, "a long
run" "a bold move," "a brisk walk."
(2) Derived from verbs by changing the ending or adding a
suffix: motion from move, speech from speak,
theft from thieve, action from act, service
from serve.
Caution.
(3) Derived from verbs by adding -ing to the simple
verb. It must be remembered that these words are free from any verbal
function. They cannot govern a word, and they cannot express action,
but are merely names of actions. They are only the husks of verbs, and
are to be rigidly distinguished from gerunds (Secs. 272, 273).
To avoid difficulty, study carefully these examples:
The best thoughts and sayings of the Greeks; the
moon caused fearful forebodings; in the beginning of his life; he
spread his blessings over the land; the great Puritan awakening;
our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; a wedding or a
festival; the rude drawings of the book; masterpieces of the Socratic
reasoning; the teachings of the High Spirit; those opinions and
feelings; there is time for such reasonings; the
well-being of her subjects; her longing for their favor;
feelings which their original meaning will by no means justify;
the main bearings of this matter.
Underived abstract nouns.
12. Some abstract nouns
were not derived from any other part of speech, but were framed directly for
the expression of certain ideas or phenomena. Such are beauty,
joy, hope, ease, energy; day, night,
summer, winter; shadow, lightning, thunder,
etc.
The adjectives or verbs corresponding to these are either
themselves derived from the nouns or are totally different words; as
glad—joy, hopeful—hope, etc. |
