_The article_ a _or_ an _agrees with nouns in the singular
number only_.
NOTE. By considering the original meaning of this article, the
propriety of Rule 1, will appear. _A_ or _an_, (formerly written
_ane,)_ being equivalent to _one, any one_, or _some one_, cannot be
prefixed to nouns in the plural number. There is, however, an
exception to this rule. _A_ is placed before a plural noun when any
of the following adjectives come between the article and the noun:
_few, great, many, dozen, hundred, thousand, million_; as, _a_ few
_men, a_ thousand _houses_, &c.
EXERCISES IN PARSING.
A bird sings. An eagle flies. Mountains stand. The multitude pursue
pleasure. The reaper reaps the farmer's grain. Farmers mow the grass.
Farmers' boys spread the hay. The clerk sells the merchant's goods. An
ostrich outruns an Arab's horse. Cecrops founded Athens. Gallileo
invented the telescope. James Macpherson translated Ossian's poems. Sir
Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe. Doctor Benjamin Franklin
invented the lightning-rod. Washington Irving wrote the Sketch-Book.
I will now offer a few remarks on the misapplication of the articles,
which, with the exercise of your own discriminating powers, will enable
you to use them with propriety.
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