Obs. In poetry the same usage is also found in the case of singulars ending in s: § 49. The following table shows the formation of the Possessive Case, Singular and Plural:— 66 men's § 50. In the case of a name or title consisting of several words, the sign of the Possessive is attached to the last : as, "the Duke of Saxony's nephew" (Merchant of Venice, i. 2); our poor brother Francis's death" (David Copperfield, ch. xli.); Messrs. Sotheran and Co.'s warehouse, &c. Also when two Nouns are closely connected by the Conjunction and, the sign of the Possessive is sometimes put with the latter only: as, "Mr. and Mrs. Walmsley's compliments;" "Jane and Emily's kind invitation." But when the persons are quite distinct and independent of each other, the Possessive sign must be used with each: as the pope's and the king's pleasure." (Hume, ii. 177.) "And Evan's, Donald's, fame rings in each clansman's ears." (Childe Harold, iii. 26.) Obs. 1. The use of the apostrophe is a modern practice. Milton writes mans disobedience (P. L. 1. 1), angels kenn (ib. 59), Sions daughters (ib. 453), and so always [Pickering's Edition]. In the early forms of English, when the Noun ended in a consonant, -es was the sign of the Possessive Case: as, God-s. The apostrophe marks the elision of the vowel. In words ending in s the vowel is still pronounced, though not written: as, Thomas's book. Obs. 2. It was once falsely supposed that the 's of the Possessive Case was an abbreviation of his hence was written "Thomas his book," and in the Liturgy, "Christ his sake." So Addison writes (Spectator, No. 135): "The same single letter [s] on many occasions does the office of the whole word, and represents the his and her of our forefathers." But how can 's added to feminine nouns represent her? There can be no doubt that 's is an abbreviation of the old English genitive -es. § 51. The VOCATIVE CASE stands by itself, and denotes the person addressed as "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears." (J. Cæs. iii. 2.) "Son, thou art ever with me." (Luke xv. 31.) Cbs. The Vocative is sometimes called the Nominative of Address. Adjectives. § 52. An ADJECTIVE is a word used with a Noun to specify some quality or particular of the thing spoken of: as, a wise man, a swift steamer, a stone bridge. Obs. 1. The Adjective denotes the quality of the thing, not of the Noun. Thus, if we say, "a good horse," the Adjective good specifies what sort of a horse is meant, not what sort of a Noun the word horse is. The horse is "good"; the Noun "horse" is common, masculine. Obs. 2. The Possessive Case of a Noun approaches very nearly to the character of an Adjective. Thus, if we say, " John's horse," "John's" is a word used with the Noun horse to specify some particular about the horse. And it will be seen below that the Possessive Cases of the Personal Pronouns pass into Adjectives (see 78). The word cujus, a, um (whose), is an instance of a Genitive Case in Latin which has undergone a similar change. Obs. 3. Some Nouns are used as Adjectives without change of form; as, calico, silk, cotton, iron, steel, silver, gold (= golden), brass (= brazen), etc. See Ex. 81. NOTE.-In O. E. Adjectives are inflected for Gender, Number, and Case, as in modern Geiman. These inflections had entirely disappeared before the Elizabethan period. § 53. Classification of Adjectives. —. Adjectives may be classified as follows: J. Adjectives of Quality [Latin, qualis, of what sort ?]: as, good, bad, indifferent; fine, coarse, thick, thin, great, little; English, French, Spanish, Turkish. II. Adjectives of Quantity [Lat. quantus, how great?]: as, much, little, enough, some, any, no (none). Obs. 1. All Adjectives of quantity are indefinite. Definite quantities are expressed by nouns: as, a bushel of wheat; a pound of sugar; a cubic foot of water. Obs. 2. Several Adjectives of quantity are used also of number [see below]. III. Adjectives of Number: viz. 1. The Cardinal Numerals, denoting an exact number: as, one, two, twenty; also the word both. Obs. The words hundred, thousand, million, are nouns, as appears from their taking the Adjective a before them, and being capable of forming a plural, hundreds, thousands, millions. Hundred and þúsend are nouns in the oldest form of English, with regular plurals. Accordingly, one (a) hundred men one hundred of men, &c. 2. Indefinite Numeral Adjectives: as, many, few, enough, some, all, any, no (none), several, sundry, certain. IV. Distinguishing Adjectives, or Adjectives of Distinction. These serve to single out an individual from a class as, this man, not that man; this blue cloth, not that blue cloth. They include the following kinds of words : 1. Demonstrative Adjectives: this, that, with their plurals these, those; yond, yon, yonder; the, an or a. NOTE.-The and an or a are usually called ARTICLES. [See § 69.] 2. Ordinal Numerals: as, first, second, tenth, thousandth. 3. Distributives: as, each, every, either, neither. 4. The word same with its compound self-same. § 54. Most of the Adjectives of Quantity are capable of being used substantively: as § 55. The Indefinite Numeral Adjective many is often used with an or a for the purpose of denoting a number of persons or things looked at individually: as "Many a man and many a maid." (L'Allegro.) It then takes a singular Verb: as “Full many a flower is born to blush unseen." (Gray, Elegy.) Obs. The expression a many also occurs in familiar language- "Shed a many tears." (Tennyson.) Many has here a noun force: like a few, a little (§ 56), a hundred, a thousand (§ 53, III. Obs.) § 56. Little, a little; few, a few.-With the Adjective an or a [see § 55, Obs.], these words have a positive sense; without it, a negative one: as— "Thou hast a little [= some] strength, and hast kept my word." (Rev. iii. 8.) "To make much out of little" [= hardly anything]. (Arn. R. H. i. 102.) "I have a few [= some] things against thee." (Rev. ii. 14.) "Few or none of their ships were taken." (Smollett, H. C.) § 57. The Demonstrative Adjectives this and that, with their plurals these and those, are often used without a Noun. In most cases, however, a Noun is understood, and may be at once supplied: as, This book is cheaper than that [book]; these [books] than those [books]. But sometimes a Noun cannot be so supplied, and they must then be regarded as Pronouns. See § 81. § 58. The Ordinals, first, second, third, are commonly classed as Adjectives of Quantity or Number. But this appears to be incorrect. Adjectives of Number answer to the question, How many?-Answer, one, two, a hundred, none. Adjectives of Distinction serve to single out one of a class, and answer the question, Which one?—Answer, the first, second, hundredth. COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES. § 59. In comparing objects together, certain forms are used to denote the possession of a quality or attribute in a higher degree by one object than by another, or than by all others: as "Great Britain is a large island." "Borneo is a larger island than Great Britain." "Australia is the largest island in the world." These forms are called Degrees of Comparison. There are Three Degrees of Comparison: the Positive, the Comparative, and the Superlative. § 60. The Positive Degree does no more than denote the possession of a certain quality: as, a black spot; a white skin; a wise saying; a high temperature. Cbs. Strictly speaking, therefore, the Positive is not a Degree of Comparison, but for the sake of convenience it is always reckoned as such in Grammar. § 61. The Comparative Degree is used to denote that one thing possesses a certain quality in a higher degree than another: as "The Gulf-stream has a higher temperature than that of the air." (Page.) "Sweeter than honey and the honeycomb." (Ps. xix. 10.) “The priestess replied that no other man was wiser than Sokrates." (Grote.) Obs. Spenser uses the Comparative Degree in the sense of too much so: thy weaker novice, i. e. too weak (Prol. F. Q.); whose dryer brain, i. e. too dry (F. Q. i. 42). This is a Latin usage. § 62. The Superlative Degree is used to denote that one thing possesses a certain quality in a higher degree than all the other objects with which it is compared: as"Her face, it is the fairest That e'er the sun shone on." (Song.) "Adam the goodliest man of men since born His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve." (P. L. iv.) Obs. In the last quoted example, Milton has followed a Greek idiom. "Cƒ” here compared with. § 63. Only Adjectives of Quality and Indefinite Adjectives of Quantity and Number are capable of comparison. Such Adjectives as one, two, three-first, second, third-this, that do not admit the possibility of more so and less so. The case is the same with some Adjectives of Quality: as, single, double, right, left, top, bottom, extreme, supreme, almighty, chief, hexagonal, triangular. Obs. Adjectives, having in themselves a Superlative signification, sometimes have the Superlative form superadded, especially in poetry: "Whosoever of you will be chiefest, shall be servant of all." (Mark x. 44.) "But first and chiefest with thee bring Him, that yon soars on golden wing, Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne, The Cherub contemplation." (Milton, Il Penseroso.) "That on the sea's extremest border stood." (Addison.) § 64. FORMATION OF COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE.The Comparative is formed by adding -er, and the Superlative by adding -est, to the Positive: as Obs. 1. If the Positive end in -e, -r and -st only are added: as Obs. 2. If the Positive end in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, the consonant is doubled before -er and -est: as Obs. 3. Final y, when not preceded by a vowel, is changed into i before -er and -est: § 65. Only Adjectives of one and two syllables are compared by -er and -est. In other cases comparison is expressed by more and most: as beautiful more beautiful most beautiful Obs. 1. In older English, polysyllabic Adjectives were also compared by -er and -est. 66 Thus we read: no men avarouser [more avarous, i.e. avaricious] than hii [they]." "the marvellousest metels [dream].” (Ib. viii.) (Piers Plowman, i.) |