* * * * * CHAPTER XIII. THE ARTICLES. § 469. The rule of most practical importance about the articles is the rule that determines when the article shall be repeated as often as there is a fresh substantive, and when it shall not. When two or more substantives following each other denote the same object, the article precedes the first only. We say, _the secretary and treasurer_ (or, _a secretary and treasurer_), when the two offices are held by one person. When two or more substantives following each other denote different objects, the article is repeated, and precedes each. We say, _the_ (or _a_) _secretary and the_ (or _a_) _treasurer_, when the two offices are held by different persons. This rule is much neglected. * * * * * CHAPTER XIV. THE NUMERALS. § 470. The numeral _one_ is naturally single. All the rest are naturally plural. Nevertheless such expressions--_one two_ ( = _one collection of two_), _two threes_ ( = _two collections of three_) are legitimate. These are so, because the sense of the word is changed. We may talk of several _ones_ just as we may talk of several _aces_; and of _one two_ just as of _one pair_. Expressions like _the thousand-and-first_ are incorrect. They mean neither one thing nor another: 1001st being expressed by _the thousand-and-first_, and 1000th + 1st being expressed by _the thousandth and the first_. Here it may be noticed that, although I never found it to do so, the word _odd_ is capable of taking an ordinal form. The _thousand-and-odd-th_ is as good an expression as the _thousand-and-eight-th_. The construction of phrases like the _thousand-and-first_ is the same construction as we find in the _king of Saxony's army_. § 471. It is by no means a matter of indifference whether we say the _two first_ or the _first two_. The captains of two different classes at school should be called the _two first boys_. The first and second boys of the same class should be called the _first two boys_. I believe that when this rule is attended to, more is due to the printer than to the author: such, at least, is the case with myself. * * * * * CHAPTER XV. ON VERBS IN GENERAL. § 472. For the purposes of syntax it is necessary to divide verbs into the five following divisions: transitive, intransitive, auxiliary, substantive, and impersonal.