"The hat cost ten _dollars_."
7. "The load weighs a _tun_."
8. "The spar measures ninety _feet_."

REMARKS.--_Anomaly_ is derived from the Greek, _a_, without, and
_omales_, similar; that is, _without similarity_. Some give its
derivation thus; _anomaly_, from the Latin, _ab_, from, or out of, and
_norma_, a rule, or law, means an _outlaw_; a mode of expression that
departs from the rules, laws, or _general_ usages of the language; a
construction in language peculiar to itself. Thus, it is a general rule
of the language, that adjectives of one syllable are compared by adding
_r_, or _er_, and _st_, or _est_, to the positive degree; but good,
_better, best_; bad, _worse, worst_, are not compared according to the
general rule. They are, therefore, anomalies. The plural number of nouns
is generally formed by adding s to the singular: man, _men_; woman,
_women_; child, _children_; penny, _pence_, are anomalies. The use of
_news, means, alms_ and _amends_, in the singular, constitutes
anomalies. Anomalous constructions are correct according to custom; but,
as they are departures from general rules, by them they cannot be
analyzed.

An _idiom_, Latin _idioma_, a construction peculiar to a language, may
be an anomaly, or it may not. An idiomatical expression which is not an
anomaly, can be analyzed.

_Feet_ and _years_, in the 1st and 2d examples, are not in the
nominative after _is_, according to Rule 21, because they are not in
apposition with the respective nouns that precede the verb; but the
constructions are anomalous; and, therefore, no rule can be applied to
analyze them. The same ideas, however; can be conveyed by a legitimate
construction which can be analyzed; thus, "The _height_ of the wall is
three _feet_;" "The _age_ of my son is eight _years_."

An anomaly, when ascertained to be such, is easily disposed of; but
sometimes it is very difficult to decide whether a construction is
anomalous or not. The 3d, 4th, and 5th examples, are generally
considered anomalies; but if we supply, as we are, perhaps, warranted in
doing, the associated words which modern refinement has dropped, they
will cease to be anomalies; thus, "My knife is _of the_ worth _of_ a
shilling;" "--_of the_ worth _of_ him," &c. "He has been there _for_
three times;" as we say, "I was unwell _for_ three days, after I
arrived;" or, "I was unwell three days." Thus it appears, that by
tracing back, _for_ a few centuries, what the merely modern Engl