3.-ADJECTIVES.

An Adjective is a word which expresses the quality, size, shape, colour, number, quantity, or any other property or accident of a noun to which it is joined; as, "A good man;" “a bad heart;” "a large hill;" "a square table;"

66 the green grass; twenty horses;" "much noise;" "this hat."

"" 66

1. Adjective is a term derived from adjectus, signifying something added to something else. Thus, an adjective has always a noun either expressed or understood.

2. English adjectives, with the exception of the definitive, are not varied on account of the gender, number, or case of the nouns to which they are annexed; thus, we "A good boy;" "a good girl;" "good boys;" "good girls."

say,

3. An adjective may sometimes be known by its making sense with the addition of the word thing; as, "a good thing," "a bad thing." Also, by answering the question, What sort of? thus, "What sort of a thing is it?" Answer, good, bad; the words, good, bad, are therefore adjectives.

Adjectives are either Common, Proper, or Definitive.

Common adjectives indicate the quality or quantity of the nouns to which they are attached.

Compound adjectives are such as are composed of two or more primitive words, connected by a hyphen (-); as, "Nut-brown ale;" " Party-spirit zeal."

Common adjectives admit degrees of comparison.

There are two degrees of comparison; the comparative and the superlative.

The positive state or form expresses the simple quality; as, good, wise, great.

The comparative degree increases or lessens the signification of the positive; as, greater, less-wise.

The superlative degree increases or lessens the quality to the highest or lowest degree; as, greatest, least-wise.

The comparative refers to two persons or things; the superlative, to three or more persons or things.

The comparative of words of one syllable is generally formed by adding r or er to the positive; as, wise, wiser; great, greater; and the superlative by adding st or est; as wise, wisest; great, greatest.

When speaking of the Deity we generally prefix the word most; as, “ The most High."

Adjectives of more than one syllable are generally compared by prefixing more and most to the positive; as, generous, more-generous, most-generous.

1. Adjectives either of one or of two syllables in y after a consonant, change y into i before er and est; as, happy, happier, happiest. But y after a vowel is not changed into i before er and est; as gay, gayer, gayest.

2. Dissyllables ending in e are often compared by er and est, as, ample, ampler, amplest; also words accented on the last syllable have sometimes er and est, as, discreet, discreeter, discreetest.

Diminution of quality, whether the adjective is of one syllable or of more than one, is formed by less and least; as, less-happy, least-happy.

1. The termination ish serves to diminish the quality; as, black, blackish, or tending to blackness. The adverb rather also expresses a small degree of the quality; as, rather little.

2. The words more and most, less and least, prefixed to adjectives, may be considered as forming part of the adjective; consequently, more-happy, less-happy, &c., when taken collectively, will be adjectives in the comparative degree, but when considered as separate words, the prefixes more, most, &c. will be adverbs.

Much or many more

Near

Old

nearer

(foremost (in place);
first (in time or order);
latest (when referring to
time); last (to order);

least

most

S nearest (referring to place); next (to order);

older or elder oldest or eldest

many to

1. Much is applied to things weighed or measured, as, "much money;" things that are numbered, as, "many men were present." Much is sometimes joined with collective nouns denoting number in the aggregate; as, "much company."

2. Some adjectives are compared by adding most to the end of the word; as, upper, uppermost.

3. Prior, superior, ulterior, exterior, inferior, &c., which have the form of Latin comparatives, are not to be considered as comparatives in English, and, consequently, are not followed by than, as English comparatives are.

4. Adjectives, whose signification does not admit extension or diminution, are not compared. Such are, 1. Words expressive of figure; as, round, square, &c. 2. Definitive adjectives; as, first, second, three, four, any, several, &c. 3. Words which, in their simple form, denote the highest or lowest degree of the property or quality; as, chief, extreme, supreme, infinite, perfect, &c. 4. Certain words implying matter, time, place, or person; as, wooden, daily, English, Mosaic, &c. 5. Words denoting unity and universality; as, all, sole, alone, universal, &c.

5. Adjectives are sometimes used as nouns; as, "Providence rewards the good." Substantives sometimes become adjectives; as, "a wine-vessel," "a corn-field."

Proper adjectives are such as are derived from proper names; thus, English from England; Ciceronian from Cicero.

Definitive adjectives are put before nouns to define or limit their signification with greater or less exactness, but without expressing any quality; as, "this man," "any man," ""each country."

The principal definitives are each, every, either, neither ; -this, that, these, those, yon;—all, any, other, another, no, none, some, several, both, few, many, such;-one, two, &c. ; -first, second, &c.

1. Each, every, either, neither, are called distributives, because they denote the persons or things that make up a number, considered separately; as, "Each man in his order."

2. This, that, these, those, and yon, are demonstratives, because they precisely point out the objects to which they refer. This denotes a near object, that refers to one a little farther removed, and yon to one still more distant.

3. Any, other, another, some, several, few, many, such, do not limit their subjects to any exact number.

Other signifies the second of two objects. Another is an and other. Several signifies more than two, but not a great many; some denotes a larger number than several.

Both denotes two objects taken together. All denotes the whole, whether quantity or number, as, all the corn; all the men. None (no-one) is used in both numbers. Other is thus declined :

Numeral adjectives distinguish the number or order of beings or things, and belong to the class of definitives.

They are of two kinds, Cardinal and Ordinal.

The Cardinal express a number absolutely; as, one, two, three, four, five, &c.

The Ordinal denote the order or succession in which any number of persons or things is mentioned; as, first, second, third, fourth, &c.

1. Cardinal adjectives are so called, because they are, as it were, the hinge (cardo) on which the Ordinals turn.

2. When definitives perform the office of pronouns, they must be considered as such; as, "One ought to know one's own mind." Here one and one's are considered as pronouns. Sometimes they appear to possess the nature of substantives, when, in reality, they are only definitives, having nouns understood; as, "Virtue and vice are different in their nature and consequences; the one (quality understood) leads to happiness, the other (quality) to misery."

4. PRONOUNS.

A Pronoun is a word used to supply the place of a noun; as, "When Cæsar had conquered Gaul, he turned his arms against his country."

There are two kinds of pronouns, the Personal and the Relative.

Personal pronouns are employed as substitutes for nouns that denote persons. There are five personal pronouns ; namely, I, thou, he, she, it.

1. The pronoun it, however, is generally applied to things and not to persons.

2. The term person properly signifies a sound through, and was a mask worn by Roman actors on the stage, through which their voice was sounded; at last the mask was employed to denote the individual represented on the stage.

Personal pronouns admit of number, person, gender, and

case.

They have two numbers, like nouns, the singular and plural; and three persons in each number; namely,

I, the first person, represents the speaker. Thou, the second person, represents the person spoken to. He, she, it, the third person, represent the person or thing spoken of.

Pronouns, like nouns, have three genders, but variety of form to distinguish the sex is confined to the third person. He is masculine, she is feminine, it is neuter. Pronouns of the first and the second person are either masculine or feminine according to the sex of the speaker, or of the person addressed.

As the persons speaking, or spoken to, are supposed to be present, or their sex sufficiently obvious, variety of form in their corresponding pronouns is unnecessary to express distinction of gender. But persons or things spoken of, being considered as absent, it is proper to make a distinction of gender; and accordingly the third person of the pronoun is distinguished by using he for the masculine, she for the feminine, and it for the neuter.

Pronouns have also three cases, the Nominative, the Possessive, and the Objective.

Personal pronouns are thus declined :—

My, thy, her, our, your, their, are put before nouns; mine, thine, hers, ours, yours, theirs, are used without nouns; as, my house, this is mine. His and its are used

either with or without a noun.

1. My, thy, his, her, its, our, your, their, when put before nouns, are sometimes, but improperly, termed adjective pronouns.

2. Mine and thine are sometimes, for the sake of euphony, used instead of my and thy before a substantive or adjective beginning with a vowel or silent h; as, "Blot out all mine iniquities."

3. Own and self (plural selves) are used in conjunction with pronouns to render them emphatical; as, "This house is my own." Self is frequently called a reciprocal pronoun, because, when used after verbs, it denotes that the agent and the object of an action are the same; as, "He injures himself." Self, when used alone, is a noun; as, "The love of self is predominant."

4. Myself, thyself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, with their plurals, ourselves, yourselves, &c., are used only in the nominative and objective cases, having the same form in both.

The relative pronouns are who, which, that, and what. They are called relative, because they refer to some noun, pronoun, or phrase, going before, which is called the antecedent; as, "He, who wishes to become learned, must be

studious."

In the sentence, "He, who wishes to become learned, must be studious," who is the relative pronoun, and he is its antecedent.-The word as is sometimes employed as a relative.

Who is applied to persons, which to infants, irrational animals, and things without life.

That is used for who or which, and is applied to both persons and things.

What is a compound relative; that is, it includes both the antecedent and relative, and is mostly equivalent to that which or those which; as, "Give me what I want," namely, that which I want.

Who and which are the same in both numbers, and are thus declined :

1. What and which are sometimes used as adjectives; as, "By what means will you become clever?" "For which reason."

2. That and what are used in the nominative and objective cases in both numbers, without varying their termination.

3. Who, which, and what, have sometimes the words soever and ever annexed to them; as, whosoever or whoever, whichsoever or whichever, whatsoever or whatever. But whosoever is now seldom used, and whoever and whatever are more common than the others. These words may be termed a kind of compound relatives, as they are equivalent to he who, the person who, that which, &c.