s, "A
_couple of_ fowls,"--"A _score of_ fat bullocks."--_Churchill's Gram._, p.
279. Neither solution is free from difficulty. For example: "There are a
great many adjectives."--_Dr. Adam_. Now, if _many_ is here a singular
nominative, and the only subject of the verb, what shall we do with _are_?
and if it is a plural adjective, what shall we do with _a_ and _great?_
Taken in either of these ways, the construction is anomalous. One can
hardly think the word "_adjectives_" to be here in the objective case,
because the supposed ellipsis of the word _of_ cannot be proved; and if
_many_ is a noun, the two words are perhaps in apposition, in the
nominative. If I say, "_A thousand men_ are on their way," the men _are the
thousand_, and the thousand _is nothing but the men_; so that I see not why
the relation of the terms may not be that of _apposition_. But if
_authorities_ are to decide the question, doubtless we must yield it to
those who suppose the whole numeral phrase to be taken _adjectively_; as,
"Most young Christians have, in the course of _half a dozen_ years, time to
read _a great many_ pages."--_Young Christian_, p. 6.

"For harbour at _a thousand doors_ they knock'd;
Not one of all _the thousand_ but was lock'd."--_Dryden_.

OBS. 27.--The numeral words considered above, seem to have been originally
adjectives, and such may be their most proper construction now; but all of
them are susceptible of being construed as nouns, even if they are not such
in the examples which have been cited. _Dozen_, or _hundred_, or
_thousand_, when taken abstractly, is unquestionably a noun; for we often
speak of _dozens, hundreds_, and _thousands_. _Few_ and _many_ never assume
the plural form, because they have naturally a plural signification; and _a
few_ or _a great many_ is not a collection so definite that we can well
conceive of _fews_ and _manies_; but both are sometimes construed
substantively, though in modern English[139] it seems to be mostly by
ellipsis of the noun. Example: "The praise of _the judicious few_ is an
ample compensation for the neglect of _the illiterate many_."--_Churchill's
Gram._, p. 278. Dr. Johnson says, the word _many_ is remarkable in Saxon
for its frequent use. The following are some of the examples in which he
calls it a substantive, or noun: "After him the rascal _many_
ran."--_Spenser_. "O thou fond _many_."--_Shakspeare_. "A care-craz'd
mother of a _many_ children."--_Id._ "And for thy s