Note 16.—Adjectives are sometimes improperly used for adverbs, as indifferent well, extreme bad, for indifferently well, extremely bad. An example of this error is also found in the following sentence. “He was interrogated relative to that circumstance.” Relative is an adjective, and must have a substantive expressed or understood; the question is then, what, or who was relative? The answer, according to the rules of construction, should be he. This, however, is not the meaning. The word ought to be relatively.
I am somewhat, however, inclined to think that our grammarians have been hypercritical, if not chargeable with error, in condemning such expressions as these, exceeding great, exceeding strong. This phraseology, I apprehend, has been reprobated, partly because not conformable to the Latin idiom, and partly because such expressions as these, excessive good, extreme dear, excellent well, are justly repudiated. Neither of these, however, can be deemed a sufficient reason for condemning this phraseology. For when it is said, “His strength was exceeding great,” may not the expression be considered as elliptical, the word exceeding being construed as a participle, thus, “his strength was exceeding,” or “surpassing great strength,” that is, “his strength exceeded great strength.”[123] So Shakspeare says, “it was passing strange.” Though exceedingly strong, exceedingly good, are now considered to be the preferable phraseologies, there can be no doubt, as Webster has observed, that adjectives are sometimes used to modify the sense of other adjectives; thus we say, “red hot,” “a closer grained wood,” “a sharper edged sword.”
In connection with the preceding note, we would here observe, that adjectives are used to modify the meaning of the verbs to which they refer; thus we say, “Open thy hand wide.”—Bible. “Cry shrill with thy voice.”—Ib. “He fought hard for his life.” The use of the kindred adverbs, as will be afterwards shown, would in many instances materially alter the meaning.
Rule VI.—The article a or an is joined to nouns of the singular number only, or nouns denoting a plurality of things in one aggregate, as,
| A man | An army | A thousand | A few. |
Note 1.—To distinguish between the use of a and an, it is usually given as a general rule that a be placed before consonants and h aspirated, and an before vowels and h not aspirated, as a table, a hat, an oak, an heir. In respect to a before h aspirated, it must be observed, that usage is divided. It would appear that, when the Bible was translated, and the Liturgy composed, an was almost universally used before h, whether the aspirate belonged to an emphatic or an unemphatic syllable. A change has since taken place; and some give it as a rule, to put a before h, when the syllable is emphatic, and an when the syllable has not the emphasis. This rule, however, is not universally observed; some writing “a history,” others “an history;” some writing “a hypothesis,” others “an hypothesis.” As far as easy pronunciation is concerned, or the practice of Greek and Roman writers may furnish a precedent, there seems to be no solid objection to either of these modes. The former is more common in Scotch and Irish writers than it is in English authors, with whom the aspiration is less forcible, and less common.
An is used before a vowel; but from this rule two deviations are admitted. Before the simple sound of u, followed by another vowel sound, whether signified or not, a and not an is used. Thus we say, “such a one,” “such a woman.” If the sound of “one” be analyzed, we shall find it resolvable into oo-un or won, as some orthoepists have expressed it; and woman into oo-umman. Again, before the diphthongal sound of eu, in whatsoever manner that sound may be noted, a may be, and frequently is, used. Thus we say, “a youth,” “a yeoman,” “a eunuch,” “a unicorn.” Sheridan, indeed, contends, that all words beginning with u, when it has the diphthongal sound of eu, should be preceded by a and not an. And here I must remark, that it is with no common surprise, I find Webster, in his introduction to his Dictionary, denying that the vowel u is anywhere equivalent to eu or e-oo. Who those public speakers are, whom, he says, he heard in England, and to whose authority he appeals, we are utterly at a loss to conjecture. But this we confidently affirm, that there is no orthoepist, no public orator, nay, not an individual in any rank of society, who does not distinguish between the sound of u in brute, rude, intrude, and in cube, fume, cure. His reference to Johnson, who says that u is long in confusion, and short in discussion, is irrelevant and nugatory. Dr. Webster surely has not to learn, that the vowel may be long, whether the sound be monophthongal, or diphthongal. It is strange, too, that in the very example which he quotes from Johnson, the u has the diphthongal sound, which he, notwithstanding, denies as anywhere existing.
Note 2.—A is employed to express one individual of a species without determining who or which; the denotes some particular individual or individuals; thus, “a book” means any book, “the book” some particular book; and when both articles are omitted the whole class is signified, as, “Man is born unto trouble,” i.e. “all men.” Hobbes errs against this rule when he says, “God Almighty has given reason to a man, to be a light to him.” The article should be suppressed. Pope commits a similar error when he writes,
“Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel.”
It is not any wheel that he meant to express, but a known instrument of torture, or “the wheel.”