Old English grammar in the feminine singular and neuter plural: The following shows an example of an adjective ending with -h: The following shows an example of an adjective ending with -ƿ: Old English had two main determiners: "se", which could function as both 'the' or 'that', and "þes" for 'this'. Modern English 'that' descends from the neuter nominative/accusative form, and 'the' from the masculine nominative form, with 's' replaced analogously by the 'th' of the other forms. The feminine nominative form was possibly the source of Modern English 'she'. Most pronouns are declined by number, case and gender; in the plural form
Names for the number 0 in English well be substituted. So the name of the board game is "noughts & crosses", whereas the rhetorical phrases are "bring to naught", "set at naught", and "availeth naught". The Reader's Digest "Right Word at the Right Time" labels "naught" as "old-fashioned". Whilst British English makes this distinction, in United States English, the spelling "naught" is preferred for both the literal and rhetorical/poetic senses. "Naught" and "nought" come from the Old English "nāwiht" and "nōwiht", respectively, both of which mean "nothing". They are compounds of "no-" ("no") and "wiht" ("thing"). The words "aught" and "ought" (the latter in its noun sense)