CLASSES OF ADJECTIVES
242. Adjectives, like nouns and pronouns, are divided into classes. Adjectives are divided into two main classes, qualifying and limiting.
243. An adjective which qualifies a noun is one which names some quality which is possessed by the word which it modifies. When we say, Trees grow, we are making a general statement; that is, we are saying something that is true of any kind of trees. We have not described any particular tree. But when we say, The tall trees grow, The old trees grow, The young trees grow, the words tall, old and young describe certain qualities of the trees, which separate them into classes. So these adjectives are qualifying adjectives.
An adjective qualifies a noun when it attributes some quality to the noun, as, The brave man, The sweet apple, The pretty girl, The large house, etc.
244. But if we say, this tree, that tree, some trees, many trees, three trees, or four trees, we are not giving any quality of the tree, but are pointing out a particular tree or trees and limiting the word to the ones pointed out. So such adjectives as the, this, that, some, many, three and four are limiting adjectives. An adjective limits a noun when it restricts or limits its meaning as to quantity or number.
245. So adjectives are divided into two classes, qualifying adjectives and limiting adjectives.
Words that limit or qualify other words are called modifiers because they modify or affect the meaning of the words to which they are added. So adjectives are modifiers of the nouns and pronouns to which they are added because they modify or qualify or limit the meaning of the noun or pronoun.
The limiting adjectives answer the questions which and how many. The qualifying adjectives answer the questions which and what kind.
246. A qualifying adjective is an adjective which describes the noun it modifies by attributing to it some quality.
A limiting adjective is an adjective which merely shows which one or how many, without describing the noun it modifies.
HOW TO DISCOVER AN ADJECTIVE
247. Sometimes the noun may have several adjectives qualifying or modifying it; as,
- The beautiful, old elm tree shades the lawn.
The, beautiful, old and elm, all modify tree, telling something of the qualities or pointing out which tree we are speaking of. You can discover an adjective in a sentence by asking the questions, which, what kind, or how many; and the words that answer these questions will be the adjectives in the sentence. For example in this sentence:
- Those three immense factories employ thousands of men.
Factories is the noun, subject of the sentence. Which factory is indicated by the adjective those. How many factories is indicated by the adjective three. What kind of factories is indicated by the adjective immense. So we have three adjectives answering the three questions, which, what kind and how many.
Exercise 1
In the following sentences the adjectives are printed in italics. Study them carefully and determine which are qualifying and which are limiting adjectives. Note that the possessive nouns and possessive pronouns are not adjectives. Its in the phrases its cruel fangs and its savage claws, is a possessive pronoun, third person singular. In the last sentence beggar's, miser's, and Ingersoll's, are nouns in the possessive form.
- This terrible war in Europe is slaughtering the working-class.
- Gaunt famine follows war.
- A docile, meek, humble, working-class makes war possible.
- The shrieking shell snarls like a living thing; like some wild beast in ferocious glee it thrusts its cruel fangs in earth and rock and rends living flesh with its savage claws.
- Its fetid breath of poison powder scorches in the autumn winds.
- Shattered bones, torn flesh and flowing blood were mingled on the battlefield with broken swords and split rifles.
- The best modern rifles will force a bullet through five human bodies at a range of twelve hundred feet.
- The pitiful dead, slain in war, sleep under the solemn pines, the sad hemlock, the tearful willow and the embracing vines.
- A world without the beggar's outstretched palm, the miser's heartless stony stare, the piteous wail of want, the livid lips of lies, the cruel eyes of scorn, was Ingersoll's vision of the future.