[Sidenote: _No "common gender._"]

25. According to the definition, there can be no such thing as
"common gender:" words either distinguish sex (or the sex is
distinguished by the context) or else they do not distinguish sex.

If such words as _parent_, _servant_, _teacher_, _ruler_, _relative_,
_cousin_, _domestic_, etc., do not show the sex to which the persons
belong, they are neuter words.


26. Put in convenient form, the division of words according to sex,
or the lack of it, is,--

(MASCULINE: Male beings.
Gender nouns {
(FEMININE: Female beings.

Neuter nouns: Names of inanimate things, or of living beings whose
sex cannot be determined.


27. The inflections for gender belong, of course, only to masculine
and feminine nouns. _Forms_ would be a more accurate word than
_inflections_, since inflection applies only to the _case_ of nouns.

There are three ways to distinguish the genders:--