Adjectives

CHAPTER XVII

ADJECTIVES

A. KINDS.

388. Most adjectives are words that may be added to a noun to describe the object named by showing that it is of a certain kind or quality, or that it is in a certain state or condition. As, —

white snow;

skilful surgeons;

wounded men;

daily walks.

Such adjectives often limit the application of a noun to those of a certain kind, as in the last three examples.

389. All other adjectives do nothing else but determine or limit the application of a noun by showing which ones, how many, or what quantity. As, —

this book;

the fourth day;

six perch;

few trout;

much rain.

390. A Descriptive adjective is one that describes what is mentioned.

391. Descriptive adjectives derived from proper nouns are clled proper adjectives. Those that are forms of verbs are called participial adjectives. Thus: —

South African diamonds;

fatiguing vacations;

decayed wood.

EXERCISE 271.

392. A Limiting adjective is one that merely shows which ones, how many, and so on, without describing.

     393. Limiting adjectives include the following: —
     I. The two Articles, — the; an or a.
     ( a ) The is the definite article, used with either singular or plural nouns to point out some particular thing or things.
     ( b ) An or a is the only indefinite article, used with singular nouns to show that we mean either one only or any one.
     II. The indefinite Identifiers, — some, any, one, no, other.
     ( a ) Some, used with non-countable nouns to show that we mean an indefinite amount.
     ( b ) Any, used with countable nouns to show that we mean an indefinite number.
     III. The two kinds of Numeral adjectives, — the cardinals showing how many, and the ordinals showing which one of a series, or how large a part. As, —

	March contains thirty-one days, or four weeks and three days.
	Pronounce the third word on the ninety-first page.
	A tenth is smaller that a sixth part

IV. The Interrogative adjectives, — which and what, with their compound forms used for emphasis: whichever, and whatever. As, —

	Which road leads to Rome?
	What cities were destroyed?
	Whatever do you want now?

V. The Conjunctive adjectives, — which and what, with their compound forms: whichever, and whatever, along with their compound forms used for emphasis: whichsoever, and whatsoever, used to introduce an indefinite noun clause, or to connect it with the rest of the sentence. As, —

	Do you know what presidents died in office?
	Send me whatsoever facts as you may be able to obtain.
	We have not heard which army was victorious.

     Some conjunctive adjectives are indefinite relatives, and some are interrogative.
     VI. Possessive adjectives, — nouns and pronouns like Mary’s, my, his, etc., which are adjectives by use. [See § 231.]
     VII. Demonstrative adjectives, — this, that, these, those, and yonder, which serve to point out objects definitely.
     VIII. Distributive adjectives, — each, every, either, neither, and many a, which refer to objects singly.
     IX. Quantifiers, — all, both, few, little, more, less, several, which refer to a quantity of a substance or objects.
     X. Article intensifiers Former, latter, own, certain, and same, used to strengthen the way an article refers to something.

393a. Many, but not all, of the limiting adjectives find themselves used as (adjective) pronouns. [See § 347.] Sometimes there are two separate forms. Thus, —

	The boys want no part in the plan. [indefinite adjective]
	He asked for water, but I had none. [adjective pronoun]

EXERCISE 272.

B. INFLECTION: CHANGES OF FORM.

COMPARISON.

EXERCISE 273.

394. Many adjectives are changed in form to show that one object has more of the quality than others with which it is compared.
Thus, without making a comparison, we say, —

This is a high mountain.

but to show that another mountain with which we compare it has the quality of height in a greater degree, we add -er to the adjective, and say, —

Mt. Lafayette is a higher mountain.

And if we wish to show that one mountain among all those we are considering has the quality of height in a greatest degree, we add -est to the adjective, and say, —

Mt. Washington is the highest mountain in the state.

395. To add -er and -est to an adjective so that it may denote different degrees of a quality is to compare it.

396. Comparison is a change in the form of an adjective to denote different degrees of the quality.

     397. The positive degree of an adjective is its simple, unchanged form. As, tall, heavy, sad.
     The comparative degree is the form that ends in er. As, taller, heavier, sadder.
     The superlative degree is the form that ends in est. As, tallest, heaviest, saddest.

EXERCISE 274.

398. Irregular comparison. The following adjectives are compared inan irregular way,— sometimes by quite different words: —

POSITIVE.	COMPARA- TIVE.	SUPERLA- TIVE.	POSITIVE.	COMPARA- TIVE.	SUPERLA- TIVE.
Good Well	better	best	Late	later latter	latest last
Bad Ill	worse	worst	Near (Nigh)	nearer (near)	nearest next
Many Much	more	most	Old	older elder	oldest eldest
Little	less	least	[In]	inner	inmost innermost
[Forth] Far	further farther	furthest farthest	[Out]	outer utter	outmost outermost uttermost
Fore	former	first foremost	[Up]	upper	uppermost

The words in brackets are adverbs. Several other superlatives are made by adding -most instead of -est. As, —

northern, northernmost; southern, southernmost.

399. We have learned (§ 223) that by using adverbs as modifiers adjective phrases may be formed denoting various degrees of quality. Thus: —

cold, slightly cold, rather cold, very cold, unusually cold, extremely cold.

400. In this way, by using the adverbs less and least, we may represent degrees of quality below the positive; and by using more and most, we may form adjective phrases, which are equivalent to the inflected forms in -er and -est. Thus: —

least polite;

less polite,

polite;

more polite
or
politer

most polite
or
politest.

400a. The adjective phrase that is equivalent to the comparison of an adjective is called the Pariphrastic form. It is really not a word form, but a phrase — a substitute for the inflectional form.

401. Adjectives that are not Compared. Since to most adjectives we cannot add -er and -est without making awkward or ill-formed words, we must use the pariphrastic form in comparing objects.
Thus we say “a more remarkable adventure,” “the most porous substance,” and not “remarkabler” or “porousest.”

402. The adjectives to which -er and -est are added are words of one syllable and a few words of two syllables, chiefly those ending in -y and le. As, —

Happy, hearty, ready; noble, able; polite, mellow etc.

403. A few adjectives denote qualities that logically cannot exist in different degrees, and hence they are not normally compared (inflectionally or periphrastically). As, —

Dead, chief, square, equal, principal, spherical, etc.

Such forms as rounder, straighter, truest, are sometimes used to mean more nearly round or straight, or nearest true.

EXERCISE 275.

404. Number. Only two adjectives, this and that, change their form when used with nouns plural in meaning. Thus: —

this kind; these varieties; that reason; those reasons.

( a ) An or a, another, each, either, many a, much, and one are used only with singular nouns; and both, many, several, sundry, divers, and most numeral adjectives, only with plural nouns.

C. USES, OR CONSTRUCTIONS.

405. An adjective may stand in several different relations to the word that it modifies.

406. I. ( a ) An adjective may be closely connected with its noun as an attribute, or part of the name. Thus: —

Those | brave soldiers prepared for the | coming battle.

( b ) Or it may be used separately, as an appositive.

	The enemy, equally brave began the conflict.
	Cool and resolute, they awaited the onset.

Punctuation. — When thus used, adjective phrases should be set off by commas.

407. II. It may be joined to a copulative verb as a predicate adjective, showing what is asserted of that which the subject names. Thus: —

The contest was long and bloody, and the result seemed doubtful.

( a ) When an adjective [or a noun] is the complement of one of the infinitives or participles of a copulative verb, (1) it may refer to some word in the sentence. As in, —

	Each army strove to be victorious. He tried to become king.
	Having been successful, we pursued the enemy.

or (2) it may be used abstractly, without the same reference as any noun; as in, —
To be intemperate is to be miserable. Being good is one way of doing good. To become a scholar is a laudable desire.

408. III. An adjective may be joined to a transitive verb or verbal word as an objective complement to complete its meaning and at the same time add a quality to the object of it. [See § 313.] As in, —
His troubles made him insane. We tried to make him comfortable.

409. How to Parse an Adjective. To parse an adjective we have to tell only its (1) kind, (2) form, — if comparative or superlative, — (3) use.
These forms may be followed: —

	1.	“< Full many a > gem < of purest ray serene > ( The ) ( dark ), ( unfathomed ) caves ( of ocean ) bear.”
	2.	Do you know { ( what ) ( American ) historian was blind } ?
	3.	( Which ) king ( of England ) had < six > wives?

many a is a limiting adjective; used to modify gem.
purest is a superlative, descriptive adjective; used to modify ray.
American is a proper, descriptive adjective; used to modify historian.
what is a conjunctive adjective; used to modify historian.
blind is a descriptive adjective; used as subjective complement of was.
which is a interrogative adjective; used to modify king.
six is a cardinal numeral adjective; used to modify wives.

EXERCISE 276.

SUMMARY: ADJECTIVES.

410. To sum up: An adjective is a word that adds to the meaning of a noun or a pronoun, without asserting anything nor standing by itself as a name.

411.

	Kinds	Descriptive Limiting	Proper Participle Numeral Interrogative Conjunctive	Forms	Positive Comparative Superlative
	Uses or Constructions

1. Modifies the noun (or pronoun) .
2. Subjective Complement of the verb (infinitive or participle) .

( a ) Referring to . ( b ) Used abstractly.

3. Objective Complement of the verb (infinitve or participle) .

D. ILLOGICAL USES OF ADJECTIVES.

     412. An or a. A should be used only before words beginning with consonant sounds, and an before words beginning with vowel sounds. Thus: —
     A house, an honor; a wonder, a one, an onion, an ounce; a yew, a ewe, a use, a unit, a eulogy, an urchin, an uncle.
     Notice that one begins with the consonant sound of w, and long u begins with the consonant sound of y.

413. Article repeated. When two or more connected adjectives describe different objects, the article is used with each; but when they describe the same object, the article is used with the first only. Thus: —

A pink and a white dahlia. [two flowers]

A pink and white dahlia. [one flower]

     414. Agreement. An adjective that denotes one, or more than one, must agree in number with the noun that it limits. Thus logically we should say, —
     “This kind,” not “these kind”; “three feet wide,” not “three foot wide”; “that sort,” not “those sort”; “six pounds of tea,” not “six pound of tea.”
     Notice, however, that in the case of the measures, the use of foot and pound in the singular does have historical roots and may be justified in much the same manner as the noun phrases of § 415. These phrases may also be considered adverb phrases when they modify adjectives. They may be considered non-count nouns when used in the singular.

415. Such expressions as are formally noun phrases, such as a few, lots, a dozen, a great many, a hundred, ten thousand, three hundred sixty-five, two and a half, may be considered adjective phrases when they modify nouns.

416. Them. Never use them as an adjective.
Expressions like “them books,” “them things” are among the most obvious of non-standard usages. The usage of this pronoun as a demonstrative is reminiscent of the use of non-standard compound pronouns. [See § 379a.]

EXERCISE 277.

417. Adjectives not compared. Do not compare adjectives so as to make non-standard or illogical forms.
Say the most awkward fellow, not the “awkwardest”; and more nearly square, rather than “squarer.”

418. Double Comparison. Do not modify comparitives with more nor superlatives by most.
For “They could not find a more worthier man,” say, “a worthier man” or “a more worthy man.” In “This is the most wisest course,” omit either most or the st.

419. Forms Confused. It is most logical to use the comparitive form in comparing two objects, the superlative in comparing more than two. Thus: —

Which is better, — health or wealth?

Which is best, — health, wealth, or learning?

420. OTHER misused. Do not spoil a comparison by illogically inserting or omitting other.
“New York is larger than any city in America,” should of course be “than any other city in America”; and “Rhode Island is the smallest of all the other States,” should be “of all the States.”

421. Adverbs for Adjectives. Avoid using as an adverb a form used as an adjective where there is an indisputably standard adverb form available.
Not “move slow,” but “move slowly”; not “real good,” but “really or very good.” Some adjectives, like fast, hard, high, late, low, straight, have adverb forms with a different meaning. Lowly is another adjective, and early, daily, weekly, etc. have no separate adjective form.

EXERCISE 278.

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