The Grammar of English Grammars Part 114

EXCEPTION FOURTH.

Adjectives are sometimes subst.i.tuted for their corresponding abstract nouns; (perhaps, in most instances, _elliptically_, like Greek neuters;) as, "The sensations of _sublime_ and _beautiful_ are not always distinguished by very distant boundaries."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 47. That is, "of _sublimity_ and _beauty_." "The faults opposite to _the sublime_ are chiefly two: _the frigid_, and _the bombast_"--_Ib._, p. 44. Better: "The faults opposite to _sublimity_, are chiefly two; _frigidity_ and _bombast_." "Yet the ruling character of the nation was that of _barbarous_ and _cruel_."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 26. That is, "of _barbarity_ and _cruelty_." "In a word, _agreeable_ and _disagreeable_ are qualities of the objects we perceive," &c.--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 99. "_Polished_, or _refined_, was the idea which the author had in view."--_Blair's Rhet._, p.

219.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE IX.

OBS. 1.--Adjectives often relate to nouns or p.r.o.nouns _understood_; as, "A new sorrow recalls _all_ the _former_" [sorrows].--_Art of Thinking_, p.

31. [The place] "_Farthest_ from him is best."--_Milton, P. L._ "To whom they all gave heed, from the _least_ [person] to the _greatest_"

[person].--_Acts_, viii, 10. "The Lord your G.o.d is G.o.d of G.o.ds, and Lord of lords, a great G.o.d, a _mighty_ [G.o.d], and a _terrible_" [G.o.d].--_Deut._, x, 17. "Every one can distinguish an _angry_ from a _placid_, a _cheerful_ from a _melancholy_, a _thoughtful_ from a _thoughtless_, and a _dull_ from a penetrating, countenance."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, p. 192. Here the word _countenance_ is understood seven times; for eight different countenances are spoken of. "He came unto his _own_ [possessions], and his _own_ [men] received him not."--_John_, i, 11. The _Rev. J. G. Cooper_, has it: "He came unto his own (_creatures_,) and his own (_creatures_) received him not."--_Pl. and Pract. Gram._, p. 44. This ambitious editor of Virgil, abridger of Murray, expounder of the Bible, and author of several "new and improved" grammars, (of different languages,) should have understood this text, notwithstanding the obscurity of our version. "[Greek: Eis ta idia aelthe. kai oi idioi auton ou parelabon]."--"In _propria_ venit, et _proprii_ eum non receperunt."--_Monta.n.u.s_. "Ad _sua_ venit, et sui eum non exceperunt."--_Beza_. "Il est venu _chez soi_; et _les siens_ ne l'ont point recu."--_French Bible_. Sometimes the construction of the adjective involves an ellipsis of _several words_, and those perhaps the princ.i.p.al parts of the clause; as, "The sea appeared to be agitated more than [in that degree _which_ is] _usual_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 217. "During the course of the sentence, the scene should be changed as little as [in the least] _possible_" [degree].--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 107; _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 312.

"Presumptuous man! the reason wouldst thou find, Why [_thou art_] form'd so _weak_, so _little_, and so _blind_"

--_Pope_.

OBS. 2.--Because _qualities_ belong only to _things_, most grammarians teach, that, "_Adjectives_ are capable of being added _to nouns only_."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 26. Or, as Murray expresses the doctrine: "Every adjective, and every adjective p.r.o.noun, _belongs to a substantive_, expressed or understood."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 161. "The adjective _always_ relates to a _substantive_."--_Ib._, p. 169. This teaching, which is alike repugnant to the true _definition_ of an adjective, to the true _rule_ for its construction, and to _all the exceptions_ to this rule, is but a sample of that hasty sort of induction, which is ever jumping to false conclusions for want of a fair comprehension of the facts in point. The position would not be tenable, even if all our _p.r.o.nouns_ were admitted to be _nouns_, or "_substantives_;" and, if these two parts of speech are to be distinguished, the consequence must be, that Murray supposes a countless number of unnecessary and absurd _ellipses._ It is sufficiently evident, that in the construction of sentences, adjectives often relate immediately to _p.r.o.nouns_, and only through them to the nouns which they represent.

Examples: "I should like to know who has been carried off, except _poor dear me_."--_Byron_. "To _poor us_ there is not much hope remaining."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p 204. "It is the final pause _which alone_, on many occasions, marks the difference between prose and verse."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 260. "And sometimes after _them both_."--_Ib._, p. 196. "All men hail'd _me happy_."--_Milton_. "To receive _unhappy me_."--_Dryden_. "Superior to _them all_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p.

419. "_They_ returned to their own country, _full_ of the discoveries which they had made."--_Ib._, p. 350. "_All ye_ are brethren."--_Matt._, xxiii, 8. "And _him only_ shalt thou serve."--_Matt._, iv, 10.

"Go _wiser thou_, and in thy scale of sense Weigh thy opinion against Providence."--_Pope_.

OBS. 3.--When an adjective follows a finite verb, and is not followed by a noun, it generally relates to the subject of the verb; as, "_I_ am _glad_ that the _door_ is made _wide_."--"An unbounded _prospect_ doth not long continue _agreeable_."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 244. "Every thing which is _false, vicious_, or _unworthy_, is _despicable_ to him, though all the world should approve it."--_Spectator_, No. 520. Here _false, vicious_, and _unworthy_, relate to _which_; and _despicable_ relates to _thing_. The practice of Murray and his followers, of supplying a "substantive" in all such cases, is absurd. "When the Adjective forms the _Attribute_ of a Proposition, it belongs to the noun [or p.r.o.noun] which serves as the _Subject_ of the Proposition, and cannot be joined to any other noun, since it is of the Subject that we affirm the quality expressed by this Adjective."--_De Sacy, on General Gram._, p. 37. In some peculiar phrases, however, such as, _to fall short of, to make bold with, to set light by_, the adjective has such a connexion with the verb, that it may seem questionable how it ought to be explained in parsing. Examples: (1.) "This latter mode of expression falls _short_ of the force and vehemence of the former."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 353. Some will suppose the word _short_ to be here used _adverbially_, or to qualify _falls_ only; but perhaps it may as well be pa.r.s.ed as an adjective, forming a predicate with "_falls_,"

and relating to "_mode_," the nominative. (2.) "And that I have made so _bold_ with thy glorious Majesty."--_Jenks's Prayers_, p. 156. This expression is perhaps elliptical: it may mean, "that I have made _myself_ so bold," &c. (3.) "Cursed be he that _setteth light_ by his father or his mother: and all the people shall say, Amen."--_Deut._, xxvii, 16. This may mean, "that setteth light _esteem_ or _estimation_," &c.

OBS. 4.--When an adjective follows an infinitive or a participle, the noun or p.r.o.noun to which it relates, is sometimes before it, and sometimes after it, and often considerably remote; as, "A real gentleman cannot but practice those virtues _which_, by an intimate knowledge of mankind, he has found to be _useful_ to them."--"He [a melancholy enthusiast] thinks _himself_ obliged in duty to be _sad_ and _disconsolate_."--_Addison_. "He is scandalized at _youth_ for being _lively_, and at _childhood_ for being playful."--_Id._ "But growing _weary_ of one who almost walked him out of breath, _he_ left him for Horace and Anacreon."--_Steele._

OBS. 5.--Adjectives preceded by the definite article, are often used, by _ellipsis_, as _nouns_; as, _the learned_, for _learned men_. Such phrases usually designate those cla.s.ses of persons or things, which are characterized by the qualities they express; and this, the reader must observe, is a use quite different from that _subst.i.tution_ of adjectives for nouns, which is noticed in the fourth exception above. In _our_ language, the several senses in which adjectives may thus be taken, are not distinguished with that clearness which the inflections of other tongues secure. Thus, _the n.o.ble, the vile, the excellent_, or _the beautiful_, may be put for three extra constructions: first, for _n.o.ble persons, vile persons_, &c.; secondly, for _the n.o.ble man, the vile man_, &c.; thirdly, for the abstract qualities, _n.o.bility, vileness, excellence, beauty_. The last-named usage forms an exception to the rule; in the other two the noun is understood, and should be supplied by the pa.r.s.er. Such terms, if elliptical, are most commonly of the plural number, and refer to the word _persons_ or _things_ understood; as, "_The careless_ and _the imprudent, the giddy_ and _the fickle, the ungrateful_ and _the interested_, everywhere meet us."--_Blair_. Here the noun _persons_ is to be six times supplied. "Wherever there is taste, _the witty_ and _the humorous_ make themselves perceived."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 21. Here the author meant, simply, the qualities _wit_ and _humour_, and he ought to have used these words, because the others are equivocal, and are more naturally conceived to refer to persons. In the following couplet, the noun _places_ or _things_ is understood after "_open_," and again after "_covert_," which last word is sometimes misprinted "_coverts_:"

"Together let us beat this ample field, Try what _the open_, what _the covert_, yield."--_Pope, on Man._

OBS. 6.--The adjective, in English, is generally placed immediately _before its noun_; as, "_Vain_ man! is grandeur given to _gay_ attire?"--_Beattie_.

Those adjectives which relate to _p.r.o.nouns_, most commonly follow them; as, "They left _me weary_ on a gra.s.sy turf."--_Milton._ But to both these general rules there are many exceptions; for the position of an adjective may be varied by a variety of circ.u.mstances, not excepting the mere convenience of emphasis: as, "And Jehu said, Unto _which_ of _all us_?"--_2 Kings_, ix, 5. In the following instances the adjective is placed _after the word_ to which it relates:

1. When other words depend on the adjective, or stand before it to qualify it; as, "A mind _conscious of right_,"--"A wall _three feet thick_,"--"A body of troops _fifty thousand strong_."

2. When the quality results from an action, or receives its application through a verb or participle; as, "Virtue renders _life happy_."--"He was in Tirzah, drinking _himself drunk_ in the house of Arza."--_1 Kings_, xvi, 9. "All men agree to call _vinegar sour, honey sweet_, and _aloes bitter_."--_Burke, on Taste_, p. 38. "G.o.d made _thee perfect_, not _immutable_."--_Milton_.

3. When the quality excites admiration, and the adjective would thus be more clearly distinctive; as, "Goodness _infinite_,"--"Wisdom _unsearchable_."--_Murray_.

4. When a verb comes between the adjective and the noun; as, "Truth stands _independent_ of all external things."--_Burgh_. "Honour is not _seemly_ for a fool."--_Solomon_.

5. When the adjective is formed by means of the prefix _a_; as, _afraid, alert, alike, alive, alone, asleep, awake, aware, averse, ashamed, askew_.

To these may be added a few other words; as, _else, enough, extant, extinct, fraught, pursuant_.

6. When the adjective has the nature, but not the form, of a participle; as, "A queen _regnant_,"--"The prince _regent_,"--"The heir _apparent_,"--"A lion, not _rampant_, but _couchant_ or _dormant_"--"For the time then _present_."

OBS. 7.--In some instances, the adjective may _either precede or follow_ its noun; and the writer may take his choice, in respect to its position: as, 1. In _poetry_--provided the sense be obvious; as,

------------------"Wilt thou to the _isles Atlantic_, to the _rich Hesperian clime_, Fly in the train of Autumn?"

--_Akenside, P. of I._, Book i, p. 27.

-----------------------------"Wilt thou fly With laughing Autumn to _the Atlantic isles_, And range with him th' _Hesperian field_?"

--_Id. Bucke's Gram._, p. 120.

2. When technical usage favours one order, and common usage an other; as, "A notary _public_," or, "A _public_ notary;"--"The heir _presumptive_,"

or, "The _presumptive_ heir."--See _Johnson's Dict._, and _Webster's_.

3. When an adverb precedes the adjective; as, "A Being _infinitely_ wise,"

or, "An _infinitely wise_ Being." Murray, Comly, and others, here approve only the former order; but the latter is certainly not ungrammatical.

4. When several adjectives belong to the same noun; as, "A woman, _modest, sensible_, and _virtuous_," or, "A _modest, sensible_, and _virtuous_ woman." Here again, Murray, Comly, and others, approve only the former order; but I judge the latter to be quite as good.

5. When the adjective is emphatic, it may be _foremost_ in the sentence, though the natural order of the words would bring it last; as, "_Weighty_ is the anger of the righteous."--_Bible_. "_Blessed_ are the pure in heart."--_Ib._ "_Great_ is the earth, _high_ is the heaven, _swift_ is the sun in his course."--_1 Esdras_, iv, 34. "_The more laborious_ the life is, _the less populous_ is the country."--_Goldsmith's Essays_, p. 151.

6. When the adjective and its noun both follow a verb as parts of the predicate, either may possibly come before the other, yet the arrangement is _fixed by the sense intended_: thus there is a great difference between the a.s.sertions, "We call the _boy good_," and, "We call the _good boy_"

OBS. 8.--By an ellipsis of the noun, an adjective with a preposition before it, is sometimes equivalent to an adverb; as, _"In particular;"_ that is, _"In a particular manner;"_ equivalent to _particularly_. So _"in general"_ is equivalent to _generally_. It has already been suggested, that, in parsing, the scholar should here supply the ellipsis. See Obs. 3d, under Rule vii.

OBS. 9.--Though English adjectives are, for the most part, incapable of any _agreement_, yet such of them as denote unity or plurality, ought in general to have nouns of the same number: as, _this man, one man, two men, many men_.[372] In phrases of this form, the rule is well observed; but in some peculiar ways of numbering things, it is commonly disregarded; for certain nouns are taken in a plural sense without a.s.suming the plural termination. Thus people talk of many _stone_ of cheese,--many _sail_ of vessels,--many _stand_ of arms,--many _head_ of cattle,--many _dozen_ of eggs,--many _brace_ of partridges,--many _pair_ of shoes. So we read in the Bible of "two hundred _pennyworth_ of bread," and "twelve _manner_ of fruits." In all such phraseology, there is, in regard to the _form_ of the latter word, an evident disagreement of the adjective with its immediate noun; but sometimes, (where the preposition _of_ does not occur,) expressions that seem somewhat like these, may be elliptical: as when historians tell of _many thousand foot_ (soldiers), or _many hundred horse_ (troops). To denote a collective number, a singular adjective may precede a plural one; as, "_One_ hundred men,"--"_Every_ six weeks." And to denote plurality, the adjective many may, in like manner, precede _an_ or _a_ with a singular noun; as, "The Odyssey entertains us with _many a wonderful adventure_, and _many a landscape_ of nature."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 436."

There _starts up many_ a writer."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 306.

"Full _many a flower is born_ to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air."--_Gray_.

OBS. 10.--Though _this_ and _that_ cannot relate to plurals, many writers do not hesitate to place them before singulars taken conjointly, which are equivalent to plurals; as, "_This power and will_ do necessarily produce that which man is empowered to do."--_Sale's Koran_, i, 229. "_That sobriety and self-denial_ which are essential to the support of virtue."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 218. "_This modesty and decency_ were looked upon by them as a law of nature."--_Rollin's Hist._, ii, 45. Here the plural forms, _these_ and _those_, cannot be subst.i.tuted; but the singular may be repeated, if the repet.i.tion be thought necessary. Yet, when these same p.r.o.nominal adjectives are placed _after_ the nouns to suggest the things again, they must be made plural; as, "_Modesty and decency_ were thus carefully guarded, for _these_ were looked upon as being enjoined by the law of nature."

OBS. 11.--In prose, the use of adjectives for adverbs is improper; but, in poetry, an adjective relating to the noun or p.r.o.noun, is sometimes elegantly used in stead of an adverb qualifying the verb or participle; as; "_Gradual_ sinks the breeze Into a perfect calm."--_Thomson's Seasons_, p.

34. "To Thee I bend the knee; to Thee my thoughts _Continual_ climb."--_Ib._, p. 48. "As on he walks _Graceful_, and crows defiance."--_Ib._, p. 56. "As through the falling glooms _Pensive_ I stray."--_Ib._, p. 80. "They, _sportive_, wheel; or, sailing down the stream, Are s.n.a.t.c.h'd _immediate_ by the quick-eyed trout."--_Ib._, p. 82.

"_Incessant_ still you flow."--_Ib._, p. 91. "The shatter'd clouds _Tumultuous_ rove, the interminable sky _Sublimer_ swells."--_Ib._, p. 116.

In order to determine, in difficult cases, whether an adjective or an adverb is required, the learner should carefully attend to the definitions of these parts of speech, and consider whether, in the case in question, _quality_ is to be expressed, or _manner_: if the former, an adjective is always proper; if the latter, an adverb. That is, in this case, the adverb, though not always required in poetry, is specially requisite in prose. The following examples will ill.u.s.trate this point: "She looks _cold_;"--"She looks _coldly_ on him."--"I sat _silent_;"--"I sat _silently_ musing."--"Stand _firm_; maintain your cause _firmly_." See _Etymology_, Chap, viii, Obs. 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th, on the Modifications of Adverbs.

OBS. 12.--In English, an adjective and its noun are often taken as a sort of compound term, to which other adjectives may be added; as, "An _old man_; a _good_ old man; a very _learned, judicious_, good old man."--_L.

Murray's Gram._, p. 169; _Brit. Gram._, 195; _Buchanan's_, 79. "Of an _other determinate positive new_ birth, subsequent to baptism, we know nothing."--_West's Letters_, p. 183. When adjectives are thus acc.u.mulated, the subsequent ones should convey such ideas as the former may consistently qualify, otherwise the expression will be objectionable. Thus the ordinal adjectives, _first, second, third, next_, and _last_, may qualify the cardinal numbers, but they cannot very properly be qualified by them. When, therefore, we specify any part of a series, the cardinal adjective ought, by good right, to follow the ordinal, and not, as in the following phrase, be placed before it: "In reading the _nine last chapters_ of John."--_Fuller_. Properly speaking, there is but one last chapter in any book. Say, therefore, "the _last nine_ chapters;" for, out of the twenty-one chapters in John, a man may select several different nines. (See _Etymology_, Chap, iv, Obs. 7th, on the Degrees of Comparison.) When one of the adjectives merely qualifies the other, they should be joined together by a hyphen; as, "A _red-hot_ iron."--"A _dead-ripe_ melon." And when both or all refer equally and solely to the noun, they ought either to be connected by a conjunction, or to be separated by a comma. The following example is therefore faulty: "It is the business of an epic poet, to form a _probable interesting_ tale."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 427. Say, "probable _and_ interesting;" or else insert a comma in lieu of the conjunction.

"Around him wide a sable army stand, A _low-born, cell-bred, selfish, servile band_."

--_Dunciad_, B. ii, l. 355.

OBS. 13.--Dr. Priestley has observed: "There is a remarkable ambiguity in the use of the negative adjective _no_; and I do not see," says he, "how it can be remedied in any language. If I say, '_No laws are better than the English_,' it is only my known sentiments that can inform a person whether I mean to praise, or dispraise _them_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 136. It may not be possible to remove the ambiguity from the phraseology here cited, but it is easy enough to avoid the form, and say in stead of it, "_The English laws are worse than none_," or, "_The English laws are as good as any_;" and, in neither of these expressions, is there any ambiguity, though the other may doubtless be taken in either of these senses. Such an ambiguity is sometimes used on purpose: as when one man says of an other, "He is no small knave;" or, "He is no small fool."

"There liv'd in primo Georgii (they record) A worthy member, _no small fool, a lord_."--_Pope_, p. 409.

NOTES TO RULE IX.

NOTE I.--Adjectives that imply unity or plurality, must agree with their nouns in number: as, "_That sort, those sorts_;"--"_This hand, these hands_." [373]

NOTE II.--When the adjective is necessarily plural, or necessarily singular, the noun should be made so too: as, "_Twenty pounds_" not, "Twenty _pound_;"--"_Four feet_ long," not, "_Four foot_ long;"--"_One session_" not, "One _sessions_."

NOTE III.--The reciprocal expression, _one an other_, should not be applied to two objects, nor _each other_, or _one the other_, to more than two; as, "Verse and prose, on some occasions, run into _one another_, like light and shade."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 377; _Jamieson's_, 298. Say, "into _each other_" "For mankind have always been butchering _each other_"--_Webster's Essays_, p. 151. Say, "_one an other_" See _Etymology_, Chap, iv, Obs.