Adjectives belong to, and qualify nouns, expressed or understood; as, "He is a good, as well as a wise man."
NOTE 1. Adjectives frequently belong to pronouns; as, "I am miserable; He is industrious."
2. Numeral adjectives belong to nouns, which nouns must agree in number with their adjectives, when of the cardinal kind; as, "Ten feet; Eighty fathoms." But some anomalous and figurative expressions form an exception to this rule; as, "A fleet of forty sail;" "Two hundred head of cattle."
3. Adjectives sometimes belong to verbs in the infinitive mood, or to a part of a sentence; as, "To see is pleasant; To be blind is unfortunate; To die for our country is glorious."
4. Adjectives are often used to modify the sense of other adjectives, or the action of verbs, and to express the quality of things in connexion with the action by which that quality is produced; as, "Red hot iron; Pale blue lining; Deep sea-green sash; The apples boil soft; Open your hand wide; The clay burns white; The fire burns blue; The eggs boil hard."
5. When an adjective is preceded by a preposition, and the noun is understood, the two words may be considered an adverbial phrase; as, "In general, in particular;" that is, generally, particularly.
6. Adjectives should be placed next to the nouns which they qualify; as, "A tract of good land."
7. We should generally avoid comparing such adjectives as do not literally admit of comparison; such as, more impossible, most impossible; more unconquerable, more perfect, &c. See REMARKS on adjectives, page 76.
8. When an adjective or an adverb is used in comparing two objects, it should be in the comparative degree; but when more than two are compared, the superlative ought to be employed; as, "Julia is the taller of the two; Her specimen is the best of the three."