_Neuter nouns_, or those which denote things
inanimate; as, book, field, mountain, Cincinnati. The following,
however, is quite a rational division: _Material nouns_ are the
names of things formed of matter; as, stone, book: _Immaterial
nouns_ are the names of things having no substance; as, hope,
immortality.
To nouns belong gender, person, number, and case.
GENDER.
GENDER is the distinction of sex. Nouns have three genders, the
masculine, the feminine, and the neuter.
The _masculine gender_ denotes males; as, a _man_, a _boy_.
The _feminine gender_ denotes females; as, a _woman_, a _girl_.
The _neuter gender_ denotes things without sex; as, a _hat_, a _stick_.
_Neuter_ means _neither:_ therefore neuter gender signifies neither
gender; that is, neither masculine nor feminine. Hence, neuter gender
means _no gender_. Strictly speaking, then, as there are but two sexes,
nouns have but _two_ genders; but for the sake of practical convenience,
we apply to them three genders, by calling that a gender which is _no_
gender. The English and the pure Persian, appear to be the only
languages which observe, in the distinction of sex, the natural division
of nouns.
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