depth, grave's mouth, goose's feathers, Nelson's bravery, gold, ass's milk, prince's feather, minister's stipend, Mary's prudence, Blair's Lectures, Job's patience, patience's reward, birds' eggs, Goldsmith's Hall, people's choice, Moses' servant, Jesus' feet, conscience' sake, girls' play, ships' ballast, scholar's progress, Grace's frock, mother's sorrows, Dundee's harbour, foxes' tails, James's top. ADJECTIVES OR QUALITIES. Adjectives are words associated with nouns to express their attributes, or their form, magnitude, extension, colour, weight, or other inherent properties by which they are distinguished. Thus, if we say apple, we merely express a name; if we say a sweet apple, a sour apple, a large apple, a small apple, we associate with the noun, apple, the inherent qualities, sweet, sour, large, small; these qualities are adjectives. The attributes or properties of nouns are susceptible of augmentation or diminution, in degree, by comparison. The simple inherent quality of nouns is termed the positive; as, a swift horse, a hot fire, a tall man; swift, hot, tall, being the attributes of the nouns horse, fire, man. These qualities may be augmented by comparison, a swift horse, a swifter horse; a hot fire, a hotter fire; a tall man, a taller man; the increased degree is termed the comparative. The qualities may be more enhanced by comparing three or more objects; as, a swift horse, a swifter horse, the swiftest horse; a tall man, a taller man, the tallest man. This is the superlative, or highest degree. The comparison of adjectives is thus exhibited : Positive. : A loud noise The comparative is formed by adding er to the positive, and the superlative by adding est. When the positive ends in e, the comparative has r added, and the superla tive st; as White cloth Grave looks Wise measures whiter cloth graver looks wiser measures whitest cloth. gravest looks. wisest measures. All qualities of one syllable may be compared as above; adjectives ending in y, when composed of two syllables, drop the y and substitute i; as A happy child A lofty mind a happier child a loftier mind the happiest child. Adjectives of two syllables ending in le, after a mute, are compared in the same manner; as, an able scholar, an abler scholar, the ablest scholar. A few adjectives of two syllables, accented on the last syllable, may be compared by er and est when the pronunciation is inoffensive to the ear; as An obscure man A sedate youth An intense study an obscurer man a sedater youth the obscurest man. the sedatest youth. the intensest study. an intenser study In general, adjectives of two or more syllables are com pared by more and most; as— The comparison by diminution is effected by prefixing the terms little, less, least; as, a little book, a less book, the least book. Bad, ill, or evil conduct worse conduct less money worst conduct. The comparison of adjectives does not determine the exact difference between the qualities compared, the estimate being altogether relative. The highest mountains in Britain are much lower than the Alps, which are the highest mountains in Europe. The Alps are lower than the Andes, the loftiest mountains in America; and the Andes are exceeded in height by the Himmalaya mountains in Asia, the highest in the world. When qualities are incapable of comparison by their form, extent, or unique character, they should not be compared; as, a square figure, a triangular form, boundless space, Divine wisdom, the Deity is perfect. When the qualities of two nouns are compared, it is improper to use the superlative degree; as, he is the wiser of the two, but not the stronger. Which is older, John or James ? * Southern Very (French vrai, true) southmost. Up and in are frequently used as adverbs or prepositions according to the sense. The affix ish expresses an imperfect or very small degree of the quality or attribute; as, sweetish, saltish, brackish, whitish, greenish. Very, when prefixed to the positive, expresses a high degree of the quality; as, very good, very learned, very strange, very excellent. When the intensive words too, very, exceedingly, are connected with adjectives, they are called the superlative of eminence to distinguish them from the superlative of comparison. Some attributes are employed to specify particulars, or to limit the signification of the noun to which they are prefixed. They are named definitives from their office; as, a, an, the, this, that, these, those, another, other, one, some, none. One, other, another, when unconnected with a noun, are declinable. My, thy, thine, his, her, our, your, their, when employed as attributes with nouns, are termed possessive attributes. Its and whose belong to the same class when they indicate possession or ownership. When each and every are not distributive, they are to be classed with definitives. is an intensive and emphatic attribute. Own Adjectives of number are of two kinds: Cardinals, which denote abstract number, or number in general; as, one, two, three, five, ten, a hundred: Ordinals, which denote number in arrangement and succession; as, first, second, third, sixth, hundredth. Any, as an attribute of number, denotes unity; but it is indefinite in its application. All signifies the whole number or quantity, the aggregate of a number. Many and few stand in contrariety. Several signifies a small number considered singly. Some denotes a small part rather than a specific number. Another is singular; it means one more added to a former number. Other signifies not the same, different. It is a correlative to each; as, "they asked each other of their welfare." None signifies not one, not any, no part. No and none imply denial, refusal, or negation. Some adjectives express contrariety of meaning only; as, anterior, the one before, opposed to posterior, the one behind; interior, the inside, is opposed to exterior, the outside. Preferable signifies better than; previous means prior to. Both words should be followed by the preposition to, when they are not associated with a noun. Sometimes two nouns are collocated as if one of them were an adjective; as, corn-fields, sea-fowl, race-horses, wine-merchant, stock-broker, silver-candlestick. Expressions of this kind are elliptical descriptions, being equivalent to a field producing corn, a fowl frequenting the sea, a horse trained for racing, a merchant who deals in wines, a broker who buys and sells stock, a candlestick made of silver. In parsing such words, they should be defined as compound nouns. Adjectives may be converted into nouns by affixing various terminations, as, ness, great, greatness; fearful, fearfulness; ity, as, grave, gravity; pure, purity; ery, as, brave, bravery. Nouns of this formation denote abstract qualities. Compare a high hill, a grand sight, a little weight, a sound apple, pure water, careless people, soft wool, safe conduct, a simple man, commendable behaviour, a strait gate, clean hands, rare plants, young rabbits, beauteous sky, busy people, careful servants, careless girls, carious teeth, unclean spirits, |