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.