CLASSES OF ADJECTIVES.
+Introductory Hints+.—You learned in Lesson 12 that, in the sentences Ripe apples are healthful, Unripe apples are hurtful, the adjectives ripe and unripe limit, or narrow, the application of apples by describing, or by expressing certain qualities of the fruit. You learned also that the, this, an, no, some, and many limit, or narrow, the application of any noun which they modify, as apple or apples, by pointing out the particular fruit, by numbering it, or by denoting the quantity of it.
Adjectives which limit by expressing quality are called +Descriptive Adjectives+; and those which limit by pointing out, numbering, or denoting quantity are called +Definitive Adjectives+.
Adjectives modifying a noun do not limit, or narrow, its application (1) when they denote qualities that always belong to the thing named; as, yellow gold, the good God, the blue sky; or (2) when they are attribute complements, denoting qualities asserted by the verb; as, The fields were green; The ground was dry and hard.
+DEFINITIONS+.
+An Adjective is a word used to modify a noun or a pronoun+.[Footnote: Pronouns, like nouns, are often modified by an "appositive" adjective, that is, an adjective joined loosely without restricting: thus—Faint and weary, he struggled on or, He, faint and weary, struggled on. Adjectives that complete the predicate belong as freely to pronouns as to nouns.]
+A Descriptive Adjective is one that modifies by expressing quality+.
+A Definitive Adjective is one that modifies by pointing out, numbering, or denoting quantity+.[Footnote: The definitive adjectives one, two, three, etc.; first, second, third, etc. are called +Numeral+ adjectives. One, two, three, etc. are called +Cardinal+ numerals; and first, second, third—etc. are called +Ordinal+ numerals]
The definitive adjectives an or a and the are commonly called +Articles+. An or a is called the Indefinite Article, and the is called the Definite Article.
A noun may take the place of an adjective.