IV. When a verb comes between the adjective and the noun; as, "Truth stands independent of all external things."

Obs. 9.—In some cases, the adjective may either precede or follow the

noun; as,

I. In poetry; as,

"There as I pass'd with careless steps and slow."—Goldsmith.

II. In some technical expressions; as, "A notary public," or "A public notary."

III. When an adverb precedes the adjective; as, "A Being infinitely wise," or "An infinitely wise Being."

IV. When several adjectives belong to the same noun; as, "A woman, modest, sensible, and virtuous;" or, "A modest, sensible, and virtuous woman."

Os. 10. An emphatic adjective may he placed first in the sentence, though it belong after the verb; as, "Sad was the hour, and luckless was the day!"—Collins,

Obs. 11.—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.” parsing, supply the ellipsis. [See Obs. 2d, under Rule XXII.]

NOTES TO RULE IV.

In

NOTE I.—Adjectives that imply unity or plurality must agree with their nouns in number; as, "That sort, those

sorts."

Note II.-When the adjective is necessarily plural, the noun should be made so too; as, "Twenty pounds"—not, "Twenty pound."

Obs. 1.—In some peculiar phrases this rule appears to be disregarded; as, "Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient. John vi. 7. 66 Twenty sail of vessels"—" A hundred head of cattle." Obs. 2.--To denote a collective number, a singular adjective may precede a plural one; as, "One hundred men"—" Every six weeks." Obs. 3.—To denote plurality, the adjective many may, in like manner, precede a or an with a singular noun; as,

"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,

And waste its sweetness on the desert air."--Gray.

Note III.—The noun means and some others have the same form in both numbers: they should therefore be used without change of number, with an adjective singular or plural, as the sense requires; as, "By this means they

bear witness to each other."—Burke. Mean, in this sense, is not in good use.

Note IV.—The comparative degree can only be used in reference to two objects, or classes of objects; the superlative compares one or more things with all others of the same class, whether few or many; as, "Edward is taller than James; he is the strongest of my sons."

Note V. When the comparative degree is employed, the latter term of comparison should never include the former; as, "Gold is more valuable than all the metals." It should be," than all the other metals."

Note VI.—When the superlative degree is employed, the latter term of comparison should never exclude the former; as, "A fondness for show is, of all other follies, the most vain." The word other should be expunged.

Note VII.—Comparative terminations, and adverbs of degree, should not be applied to adjectives that are not susceptible of comparison; and all double comparatives and superlatives should be avoided; as, "So universal a complaint:" say," so general."—" Some less nobler plunder:" say, "less noble."

Note VIII.—When adjectives are connected by conjunctions, the shortest and simplest should be placed first; as, " He is older and more respectable than his brother." Note IX.—An adjective and its noun may be taken as a compound term, to which other adjectives may be prefixed. The most distinguishing quality should be expressed next to the noun; as, "A fine young man"—not, "A young fine

man."

Note X.—In prose, the use of adjectives for adverbs is improper; as, "He writes correct"—say, "correctly."

OBS.-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 or manner is to be expressed: if the former, an adjective is proper; if the latter, an adverb. The following examples will illustrate this point: "I sat silent;—I sat silently musing."— "Stand firm ;-maintain your cause firmly."

Note XI.—When the pronominal adjectives, this and that, or these and those, are contrasted; this or these should

represent the latter of the antecedent terms, and that or those, the former: as,

66

'And, reason raise o'er instinct as you can,

In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis man."—Pope. "Farewell my friends! farewell my foes!

My peace with these, my love with those."-Burns. Note XII. The pronominal adjectives, each, one, either, and neither, are always in the third person singular; and, when they are the leading words in their clauses, they require verbs and pronouns to agree with them accordingly: as, "Each of you is entitled to his share.""Let no one

deceive himself."

Note XIII.—The pronominal adjectives either and neither relate to two things only; when more are referred to, any and none should be used instead of them: as, "Any of the three"—not, "Either of the three." "None of the four"—not, "Neither of the four."

Note XIV.—Participial adjectives retain the termination, but not the government, of participles; when, therefore, they are followed by the objective case, a preposition must be inserted to govern it: as, "The man who is most sparing of his words, is generally most deserving of attention."

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE IV.

Examples under Note 1.

Those sort of people you will find to be troublesome.

66

[Not proper, because the adjective those is in the plural number, and does not agree with its noun sort, which is singular. But, according to Note 1st under Rule 4th, " Adjectives that imply unity or plurality must agree with their nouns in number." Therefore, those should be that; thus, That sort of people you will find to be troublesome.]

Things of these kind are easily understood.

I disregard this minutiæ.

Those sort of injuries we need not fear.

Under Note 2.

We rode about ten mile an hour.

"'Tis for a thousand pound."—Cowper. How deep is the water? About six fathom.

Under Note 3.

Industry is one mean of obtaining competence.

Marlborough was wise and brave, and by this means became great.

Under Note 4.

He chose the latter of these three.

Which are the two more remarkable islands in the Atlantic?

Under Note 5.

The Scriptures are more valuable than any writings. The Russian empire is more extensive than any government in the world.

Under Note 6.

Of all other bad habits, idleness is the most incorrigible.
Hope is the most constant of all the other passions.

Under Note 7.

That opinion is too universal to be easily corrected. The tongue is like a race-horse: the lesser weight it carries, the faster it runs.

Under Note 8.

He shewed us a more agreeable and easier way.
This was the most convincing and plainest argument.
This is an honourable and ancient fraternity.

Under Note 9.

He is a young industrious man.

She has a new elegant house.
The two first classes have read.

"England had not seen such another king."—Goldsmith.

Under Note 10.

She reads well and writes neat.

They went, conformable to their engagement.
The deepest streams run the most silent.

He was scarce gone, when you arrived.

I am exceeding sorry to hear of your misfortunes.

Under Note 11.

The poor want some advantages which the rich enjoy; but we should not therefore account those happy, and these

miserable.

Memory and forecast just returns engage,

This pointing back to youth, that on to age.

Under Note 12.

Let each of them be heard in their turn.

Are either of these men known?

No: neither of them have any connexions here.

Under Note 13.

Did either of the company stop to assist you?
Here are six; but neither of them will answer.

Under Note 14.

Some crimes are thought deserving death.

To eat with unwashen hands was disgusting a Jew.

RULE V.—PRONOUNS.

A Pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender: as, "This is the sister of whom I spoke; she has just arrived.". "This is the watch which I bought; it is an excellent time-piece."—" Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons to love it too."—Cowper.

EXCEPTION FIRST.

When a pronoun stands for some person or thing indefinite, or unknown to the speaker, this rule is not strictly applicable; because the person, number, and gender, are rather assumed than regulated by an antecedent: as, "I do not care who knows it."—Steele. "Who touched me ?"

EXCEPTION SECOND.

The neuter pronoun it may be applied to a young child, or to other creatures masculine or feminine by nature, when the sex is not announced: as, "Which is the real friend to the child, the person who

How many and what exceptions are there to Rule 5th?