54. Letters, figures, etc., form their plurals by adding _-s_ or
_'s_. Words quoted merely as words, without reference to their
meaning, also add _-s_ or _'s_; as, "His _9's_ (or _9s_) look like
_7's_ (or _7s_)," "Avoid using too many _and's_ (or _ands_)," "Change
the _+'s_ (or _+s_) to _-'s_ (or _-s_)."


CASE.


[Sidenote: _Definition._]

55. Case is an inflection or use of a noun (or pronoun) to show its
relation to other words in the sentence.

In the sentence, "He sleeps in a felon's cell," the word _felon's_
modifies _cell_, and expresses a relation akin to possession; _cell_
has another relation, helping to express the idea of place with the
word _in_.


56. In the general wearing-away of inflections, the number of case
forms has been greatly reduced.

[Sidenote: _Only two_ case forms.]

There are now only two case forms of English nouns,--one for the
_nominative_ and _objective_, one for the _possessive_: consequently
the matter of inflection is a very easy thing to handle in learning