OBSERVATIONS ON RULE IX.
OBS. 1.—Adjectives often relate to nouns or pronouns 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 God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty [God], and a terrible" [God].—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 ælthe. kai oi idioi auton ou parelabon]."—"In propria venit, et proprii eum non receperunt."—Montanus. "Ad sua venit, et sui eum non exceperunt."—Beza. "Il est venu chez soi; et les siens ne l'ont point reçu."—French Bible. Sometimes the construction of the adjective involves an ellipsis of several words, and those perhaps the principal 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 pronoun, 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 pronouns 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 pronouns, 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 pronoun] 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 parsed 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 pronoun 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 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 classes 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 substitution 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 noble, the vile, the excellent, or the beautiful, may be put for three extra constructions: first, for noble persons, vile persons, &c.; secondly, for the noble man, the vile man, &c.; thirdly, for the abstract qualities, nobility, 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 parser. 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 pronouns, most commonly follow them; as, "They left me weary on a grassy 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 circumstances, 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. "God 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 assertions, "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 assuming 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 substituted; but the singular may be repeated, if the repetition be thought necessary. Yet, when these same pronominal 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 pronoun, 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 snatch'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 illustrate 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 accumulated, 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.