A patriot disinterested to a great degree.
Single simple adjectives thus placed after their substantive, belong to the poetry of England, and especially to the ballad poetry—sighs profound—the leaves green.
[§ 494]. Government.—The only adjective that governs a case, is the word like. In the expression, this is like him, &c., the original power of the dative remains. This we infer—
1. From the fact that in most languages which have
inflections to a sufficient extent, the word meaning like governs a dative case.
2. That if ever we use in English any preposition at all to express similitude, it is the preposition to—like to me, like to death, &c.
Expressions like full of meat, good for John, are by no means instances of the government of adjectives; the really governing words being the prepositions to and for respectively.
The most that can be said, in cases like these, is that particular adjectives determine the use of particular prepositions—thus the preposition of, generally follows the adjective full, &c.
[§ 495]. The positive degree preceded by the adjective more, is equivalent to the comparative form—e. g., more wise=wiser.
The reasons for employing one expression in preference to the other, depend upon the nature of the particular word used.