Chapter IV: Adjectives (3)

OBS. 3.--For the chief points of the compass, we have so many adjectives, and so many modes of varying or comparing them, that it is difficult to tell their number, or to know which to choose in practice. (1.) _North, south, east_, and _west_, are familiarly used both as nouns and as adjectives. From these it seems not improper to form superlatives, as above, by adding _most_; as, "From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild of _southmost_ Abarim."--_Milton_. "There are no rivulets or springs in the island of Feror, the _westmost_ of the Canaries."--_White's Nat. Hist._ (2.) These primitive terms may also be compared, in all three of the degrees, by the adverbs _farther_ and _farthest_, or _further_ and _furthest_; as, "Which is yet _farther west_."--_Bacon_. (3.) Though we never employ as separate words the comparatives _norther, souther, easter, wester_, we have _northerly, southerly, easterly_, and _westerly_, which seem to have been formed from such comparatives, by adding _ly_; and these four may be compared by the adverbs _more_ and _most_, or _less_ and _least_: as, "These hills give us a view of the _most easterly, southerly_, and _westerly_ parts of England."--GRAUNT: _in Joh. Dict._ (4.) From these supposed comparatives likewise, some authors form the superlatives _northermost, southermost, eastermost_, and _westermost_; as, "From the _westermost_ part of Oyster bay."--_Dr. Webster's Hist. U. S._, p. 126. "And three miles southward of the _southermost_ part of said bay."--_Trumbull's Hist. of Amer._, Vol. i, p. 88. "Pockanocket was on the _westermost_ line of Plymouth Colony."--_Ib._, p. 44. "As far as the _northermost_ branch of the said bay or river."--_Ib._, p. 127. The propriety of these is at least questionable; and, as they are neither very necessary to the language, nor recognized by any of our lexicographers, I forbear to approve them. (5.) From the four primitives we have also a third series of positives, ending in _ern_; as, _northern, southern, eastern, western_. These, though they have no comparatives of their own, not only form superlatives by assuming the termination _most_, but are sometimes compared, perhaps in both degrees, by a separate use of the adverbs: as, "_Southernmost, a_. Furthest towards the south."--_Webster's Dict._ "Until it shall intersect the _northernmost_ part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude."--_Articles of Peace_. "To the _north-westernmost_ head of Connecticut river."--_Ib._ "Thence through the said lake to the _most north-western_ point thereof."--_Ib._

OBS. 4.--It may be remarked of the comparatives _former_ and _latter_ or _hinder, upper_ and _under_ or _nether, inner_ and _outer_ or _utter, after_ and _hither_; as well as of the Latin _superior_ and _inferior, anterior_ and _posterior, interior_ and _exterior, prior_ and _ulterior, senior_ and _junior, major_ and _minor_; that they cannot, like other comparatives, be construed with the conjunction _than_. After all genuine English comparatives, this conjunction may occur, because it is the only fit word for introducing the latter term of comparison; but we never say one thing is _former_ or _latter, superior_ or _inferior, than_ an other. And so of all the rest here named. Again, no real comparative or superlative can ever need an other superadded to it; but _inferior_ and _superior_ convey ideas that do not always preclude the additional conception of _more_ or _less_: as, "With respect to high and low notes, pronunciation is still _more inferior_ to singing."--_Kames, Elements of Criticism_, Vol. ii, p. 73. "The mistakes which the _most superior_ understanding is apt to fall into."--_West's Letters to a Young Lady_, p. 117.

OBS. 5.--Double comparatives and double superlatives, being in general awkward and unfashionable, as well as tautological, ought to be avoided. Examples: "The Duke of Milan, and his _more braver_ daughter, could control thee."--_Shak., Tempest_. Say, "his _more gallant_ daughter." "What in me was purchased, falls upon thee in a _more fairer_ sort."--_Id., Henry IV_. Say, "_fairer_," or, "_more honest_;" for "_purchased_" here means _stolen_. "Changed to a _worser_ shape thou canst not be."--_Id., Hen. VI_. Say, "a _worse_ shape"--or, "an _uglier_ shape." "After the _most straitest_ sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee."--_Acts_, xxvi, 5. Say, "the _strictest_ sect." "Some say he's mad; others, that _lesser_ hate him, do call it valiant fury."--_Shak_. Say, "others, that hate him _less_." In this last example, _lesser_ is used adverbially; in which construction it is certainly incorrect. But against _lesser_ as an adjective, some grammarians have spoken with more severity, than comports with a proper respect for authority. Dr. Johnson says, "LESSER, _adj_. A barbarous corruption of _less_, formed by the vulgar from the habit of terminating comparatives in _er; afterward adopted by poets, and then by writers of prose, till it has all the authority which a mode originally erroneous can derive from custom_."--_Quarto Dict._ With no great fairness, Churchill quotes this passage as far as the semicolon, and there stops. The position thus taken, he further endeavours to strengthen, by saying, "_Worser_, though _not more barbarous_, offends the ear in a much greater degree, because it has not been so frequently used."--_New Gram._, p. 232. Example: "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the _lesser_ light to rule the night."--_Gen._, i, 16. Kirkham, after making an _imitation_ of this passage, remarks upon it: "_Lesser_ is _as incorrect_ as _badder, gooder, worser_."--_Gram._, p. 77. The judgement of any critic who is ignorant enough to say this, is worthy only of contempt. _Lesser_ is still frequently used by the most tasteful authors, both in verse and prose: as, "It is the glowing style of a man who is negligent of _lesser_ graces."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 189.

"Athos, Olympus, Ætna, Atlas, made
These hills seem things of _lesser_ dignity."--_Byron_.

OBS. 6.--The adjective _little_ is used in different senses; for it contrasts sometimes with _great_, and sometimes with _much_. _Lesser_ appears to refer only to size. Hence _less_ and _lesser_ are not always equivalent terms. _Lesser_ means _smaller_, and contrasts only with _greater_. _Less_ contrasts sometimes with _greater_, but oftener with _more_, the comparative of _much_; for, though it may mean _not so large_, its most common meaning is _not so much_. It ought to be observed, likewise, that _less_ is not an adjective of _number_,[182] though not unfrequently used as such. It does not mean _fewer_, and is therefore not properly employed in sentences like the following: "In all verbs, there are no _less_ than three things implied at once."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 81. "_Smaller_ things than three," is nonsense; and so, in reality, is what the Doctor here says. _Less_ is not the proper opposite to _more_, when _more_ is the comparative of _many: few, fewer, fewest_, are the only words which contrast regularly with _many, more, most_. In the following text, these comparatives are rightly employed: "And to the _more_ ye shall give the _more_ inheritance, and to the _fewer_ ye shall give the _less_ inheritance."--_Numbers_, xxxiii, 54. But if writers will continue to use _less_ for _fewer_, so that "_less cattle_," for instance, may mean "_fewer cattle_;" we shall be under a sort of _necessity_ to retain _lesser_, in order to speak intelligibly: as, "It shall be for the sending-forth of oxen, and for the treading of _lesser_ cattle."--_Isaiah_, vii, 25. I have no partiality for the word _lesser_, neither will I make myself ridiculous by flouting at its rudeness. "This word," says Webster, "is a corruption, but [it is] too well established to be discarded. Authors always write the _Lesser_ Asia."--_Octavo Dict._ "By the same reason, may a man punish the _lesser_ breaches of that law."--_Locke_. "When we speak of the _lesser_ differences among the tastes of men."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 20. "In greater or _lesser_ degrees of complexity."--_Burke, on Sublime_, p. 94. "The greater ought not to succumb to the _lesser_."--_Dillwyn's Reflections_, p. 128. "To such productions, _lesser_ composers must resort for ideas."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 413.

"The larger here, and there the _lesser_ lambs,
The new-fall'n young herd bleating for their dams."--_Pope_.

OBS. 7.--Our grammarians deny the comparison of many adjectives, from a false notion that they are already superlatives. Thus W. Allen: "Adjectives compounded with the Latin preposition _per_, are already superlative: as, _perfect, perennial, permanent_, &c."--_Elements of E. Gram._, p. 52. In reply to this, I would say, that nothing is really superlative, in English, but what has the form and construction of the superlative; as, "The _most permanent_ of all dyes." No word beginning with _per_, is superlative by virtue of this Latin prefix. "Separate spirits, which are beings that have _perfecter_ knowledge and greater happiness than we, must needs have also a _perfecter_ way of communicating their thoughts than we have."--_Locke's Essay_, B. ii, Ch. 24, §36, This mode of comparison is not now good, but it shows that _perfect_ is no superlative. Thus Kirkham: "The _following_ adjectives, and _many others_, are _always in the superlative degree_; because, by expressing a quality _in the highest degree_, they carry in themselves a superlative signification: _chief, extreme, perfect, right, wrong, honest, just, true, correct, sincere, vast, immense, ceaseless, infinite, endless, unparalleled, universal, supreme, unlimited, omnipotent, all-wise, eternal_." [183]--_Gram._, p. 73. So the Rev. David Blair: "The words _perfect, certain, infinite, universal, chief, supreme, right, true, extreme, superior_, and some others, which express a perfect and superlative sense in themselves, do not admit of comparison."--_English Gram._, p. 81. Now, according to Murray's definition, which Kirkham adopts, none of these words can be at all in the superlative degree. On the contrary, there are several among them, from which true superlatives are frequently and correctly formed. Where are the positives which are here supposed to be "_increased to the highest degree_?" Every real superlative in our language, except _best_ and _worst, most_ and _least, first_ and _last_, with the still more irregular word _next_, is a derivative, formed from some other English word, by adding _est_ or _most_; as, _truest, hindmost_. The propriety or impropriety of comparing the foregoing words, or any of the "_many others_" of which this author speaks, is to be determined according to their meaning, and according to the usage of good writers, and not by the dictation of a feeble pedant, or upon the supposition that if compared they would form "_double superlatives_."

OBS. 8.--_Chief_ is from the French word _chef_, the _head: chiefest_ is therefore no more a double superlative than _headmost_: "But when the _headmost_ foes appeared."--_Scott_. Nor are _chief_ and _chiefest_ equivalent terms: "Doeg an Edomite, the _chiefest_ of the herdsmen."--_1 Samuel_, xxi, 7. "The _chief_ of the herdsmen," would convey a different meaning; it would be either the _leader_ of the herdsmen, or the _principal part_ of them. _Chiefest_, however, has often been used where _chief_ would have been better; as, "He sometimes denied admission to the _chiefest_ officers of the army."--_Clarendon_, let us look further at Kirkham's list of _absolute_ "_superlatives_."

OBS. 9.--_Extreme_ is from the Latin superlative _extremus_, and of course its literal signification is not really susceptible of increase. Yet _extremest_ has been used, and is still used, by some of the very best writers; as, "They thought it the _extremest_ of evils."--_Bacon_. "That on the sea's _extremest_ border stood."--_Addison_. "How, to _extremest_ thrill of agony."--_Pollok_, B. viii, l. 270. "I go th' _extremest_ remedy to prove."--_Dryden_. "In _extremest_ poverty."--_Swift_. "The hairy fool stood on th' _extremest_ verge of the swift brook, augmenting it with tears."--_Shak_. "While the _extremest_ parts of the earth were meditating submission."--_Atterbury_. "His writings are poetical to the _extremest_ boundaries of poetry."--_Adams's Rhetoric_, i, 87. In prose, this superlative is not now very common; but the poets still occasionally use it, for the sake of their measure; and it ought to be noticed that the simple adjective is _not partitive_. If we say, for the first example, "the _extreme_ of evils;" we make the word a _noun_, and do not convey exactly the same idea that is there expressed.

OBS. 10.--_Perfect_, if taken in its strictest sense, must not be compared; but this word, like many others which mean most in the positive, is often used with a certain latitude of meaning, which renders its comparison by the adverbs not altogether inadmissible; nor is it destitute of authority, as I have already shown. (See Obs. 8th, p. 280.) "From the first rough sketches, to the _more perfect_ draughts."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 152. "The _most perfect_."--_Adams's Lect. on Rhet._, i, 99 and 136; ii, 17 and 57: _Blair's Lect._, pp. 20 and 399. "The most _beautiful and perfect_ example of analysis."--_Lowth's Gram., Pref._, p. 10. "The plainest, _most perfect_, and most useful manual."--_Bullions's E. Gram., Rev._, p. 7. "Our sight is the _most perfect_, and the most delightful, of all our senses."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 411; _Blair's Lect._, pp. 115 and 194; _Murray's Gram._, i, 322. Here Murray anonymously copied Blair. "And to render natives _more perfect_ in the knowledge of it."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 171; _Murray's Gram._, p. 366. Here Murray copied Campbell, the most accurate of all his masters. Whom did he copy when he said, "The phrases, _more perfect_, and _most perfect_, are improper?"--_Octavo Gram._, p. 168. But if these are wrong, so is the following sentence: "No poet has ever attained a _greater perfection_ than Horace."--_Blair's Lect._, p. 398. And also this: "Why are we brought into the world _less perfect_ in respect to our nature?"--_West's Letters to a Young Lady_, p. 220.

OBS. 11.--_Right_ and _wrong_ are not often compared by good writers; though we sometimes see such phrases as _more right_ and _more wrong_, and such words as _rightest_ and _wrongest_: "'Tis always in the _wrongest_ sense."--_Butler_. "A method of attaining the _rightest_ and greatest happiness."--PRICE: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 78. "It is no _more right_ to steal apples, than it is to steal money."--_Webster's New Spelling-Book_, p. 118. There are equivalent expressions which seem preferable; as, _more proper, more erroneous, most proper, most erroneous_.

OBS. 12.--_Honest, just, true, correct, sincere_, and _vast_, may all be compared at pleasure. Pope's Essay on Criticism is _more correct_ than any thing this modest pretender can write; and in it, he may find the comparative _juster_, the superlatives _justest, truest, sincerest_, and the phrases, "_So vast_ a throng,"--"_So vast_ is art:" all of which are contrary to his teaching. "_Unjuster_ dealing is used in buying than in selling."--_Butler's Poems_, p. 163. "_Iniquissimam_ pacem _justissimo_ bello antefero."--_Cicero_. "I prefer the _unjustest_ peace before the _justest_ war."--_Walker's English Particles_, p. 68. The poet Cowley used the word _honestest_; which is not now very common. So Swift: "What _honester_ folks never durst for their ears."--_The Yahoo's Overthrow_. So Jucius: "The _honestest_ and ablest men."--_Letter XVIII_. "The sentence would be _more correct_ in the following form."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 223. "Elegance is chiefly gained by studying the _correctest_ writers."--_Holmes's Rhetoric_, p. 27. _Honest_ and _correct_, for the sake of euphony, require the adverbs; as, _more honest_, "_most correct_."--_Lowth's Gram., Pref._, p. iv. _Vast, vaster, vastest_, are words as smooth, as _fast, faster, fastest_; and _more vast_ is certainly as good English as _more just_: "Shall mortal man be _more just_ than God?"--_Job_, iv, 17. "Wilt thou condemn him that is _most just_?"--_Ib._, xxxiv, 17. "More wise, more learn'd, _more just_, more-everything."--_Pope. Universal_ is often compared by the adverbs, but certainly with no reënforcement of meaning: as, "One of the _most universal_ precepts, is, that the orator himself should feel the passion."--_Adams's Rhet._, i, 379. "Though not _so universal_."--_Ib._, ii, 311. "This experience is general, though not _so universal_, as the absence of memory in childhood."--_Ib._, ii, 362. "We can suppose no motive which would _more universally_ operate."--_Dr. Blair's Rhet._, p. 55. "Music is known to have been _more universally_ studied."--_Ib._, p. 123. "We shall not wonder, that his grammar has been _so universally_ applauded."--_Walker's Recommendation in Murray's Gram._, ii, 306. "The pronoun _it_ is the _most universal_ of all the pronouns."--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 66. Thus much for one half of this critic's twenty-two "_superlatives_." The rest are simply adjectives that are not susceptible of comparison: they are not "superlatives" at all. A man might just as well teach, that _good_ is a superlative, and not susceptible of comparison, because "_there is none good but one_."

OBS. 13.--Pronominal adjectives, when their nouns are expressed, simply relate to them, and have no modifications: except _this_ and _that_, which form the plurals _these_ and _those_; and _much, many_, and a few others, which are compared. Examples: "Whence hath _this_ man _this_ wisdom, and _these_ mighty works?"--_Matt._, xiii, 54. "But _some_ man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with _what_ body do they come?"--_1 Cor._, xv, 35. "The _first_ man Adam was made a living soul; the _last_ Adam was made a quickening spirit."--_Ib._, 45. So, when one pronominal adjective "precedes an other, the former _must be taken_ simply as an adjective;" as,

"Those suns are set. O rise _some other_ such!"
--_Cowper's Task_, B. ii, l. 252.

OBS. 14.--Pronominal adjectives, when their nouns are not expressed, may be parsed as representing them in _person, number, gender_, and _case_; but those who prefer it, may supply the ellipsis, and parse the adjective, _simply as an adjective_. Example: "He threatens _many_, who injures _one_."--_Kames_. Here it may be said, "_Many_ is a pronominal adjective, meaning _many persons_; of the third person, plural number, masculine gender, and objective case." Or those who will take the word simply as an adjective, may say, "_Many_ is a pronominal adjective, of the positive degree, compared _many, more, most_, and relating to _persons_ understood." And so of "_one_," which represents, or relates to, _person_ understood. Either say, "_One_ is a pronominal adjective, not compared," and give the _three definitions_ accordingly; or else say, "One is a pronominal adjective, relating to _person_ understood; of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and objective case," and give the _six definitions_ accordingly.

OBS. 15.--_Elder_ for _older_, and _eldest_ for _oldest_, are still frequently used; though the ancient positive, _eld_ for _old_, is now obsolete. Hence some have represented _old_ as having a two-fold comparison; and have placed it, not very properly, among the irregular adjectives. The comparatives _elder_ and _better_, are often used as _nouns_; so are the Latin comparatives _superior_ and _inferior, interior_ and _exterior, senior_ and _junior, major_ and _minor_: as, The _elder's_ advice,--One of the _elders_,--His _betters_,--Our _superiors_,--The _interior_ of the country,--A handsome _exterior_,--Your _seniors_,--My _juniors_,--A _major_ in the army,--He is yet a _minor_. The word _other_, which has something of the nature of a comparative, likewise takes the form of a noun, as before suggested; and, in that form, the reader, if he will, may call it a noun: as, "What do ye more than _others_?"--_Bible_. "God in thus much is bounded, that the evil hath he left unto _an other_; and _that Dark Other_ hath usurped the evil which Omnipotence laid down."--_Tupper's Book of Thoughts_, p. 45. Some call it a pronoun. But it seems to be pronominal, merely by ellipsis of the noun after it; although, unlike a mere adjective, it assumes the ending of the noun, to mark that ellipsis. Perhaps therefore, the best explanation of it would be this: "'_Others_ is a pronominal adjective, having the form of a noun, and put for _other men_; in the third person, plural number, masculine gender, and nominative case." The gender of this word varies, according to that of the contrasted term; and the case, according to the relation it bears to other words. In the following example, it is neuter and objective: "The fibres of this muscle act as those of _others_."--_Cheyne_. Here, "as _those of others_," means, "as _the fibres_ of _other muscles_."

OBS. 16.--"Comparatives and superlatives seem sometimes to part with their relative nature, and only to retain their _intensive_, especially those which are formed by the superlative adverb _most_; as, 'A _most learned_ man,'--'A _most brave_ man:' i. e. not the bravest or the most learned man that ever was, but a man possessing bravery or learning in a very eminent degree."--See _Alexander Murray's Gram._, p. 110. This use of the terms of comparison is thought by some not to be very grammatical.

OBS. 17.--Contractions of the superlative termination _est_, as _high'st_ for _highest, bigg'st for biggest_, though sometimes used by the poets, are always inelegant, and may justly be considered grammatically improper. They occur most frequently in doggerel verse, like that of _Hudibras_; the author of which work, wrote, in his droll fashion, not only the foregoing monosyllables, but _learned'st_ for _most learned, activ'st_ for _most active, desperat'st_ for _most desperate, epidemical'st_ for _most epidemical_, &c.

"And _th' activ'st_ fancies share as loose alloys,
For want of equal weight to counterpoise."--_Butler's Poems_.

"Who therefore finds the _artificial'st_ fools
Have not been chang'd _i th'_ cradle, but the schools."--_Ib._, p. 143.

OBS. 18.--Nouns used adjectively are not varied in number to agree with the nouns to which they relate, but what is singular or plural when used substantively, is without number when taken as an adjective: as, "One of the nine _sister_ goddesses."--_Webster's Dict., w. Muse_. "He has money in a _savings_ bank." The latter mode of expression is uncommon, and the term _savings-bank_ is sometimes compounded, but the hyphen does not really affect the nature of the former word. It is doubtful, however, whether a plural noun can ever properly assume the character of an adjective; because, if it is not then really the same as the possessive case, it will always be liable to be thought a false form of that case. What Johnson wrote "_fullers earth_" and "_fullers thistle_;" Chalmers has "_fullers earth_" and "_fuller's thistle_;" Webster, "_fuller's-earth_" and "_fuller's-thistle_;" Ainsworth, "_fuller's earth_" and "_fuller's thistle_;" Walker has only "_fullers-earth_;" Worcester, "_fuller's-earth_;" Cobb, "_fullers earth_;" the Treasury of Knowledge, "_fullers'-earth_." So unsettled is this part of our grammar, that in many such cases it is difficult cult to say whether we ought to use the apostrophe, or the hyphen, or both, or neither. To insert neither, unless we make a close compound, is to use a plural noun adjectively; which form, I think, is the most objectionable of all. See "_All souls day_,"--"_All-fools-day_,"--"_All-saints'-day_," &c., in the dictionaries. These may well be written "_All Souls' Day_" &c.

EXAMPLES FOR PARSING.

PRAXIS IV.--ETYMOLOGICAL.

_In the Fourth Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and the classes and modifications of the_ ARTICLES, NOUNS, _and_ ADJECTIVES.

_The definitions to be given in the Fourth Praxis, are two for an article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, and one for a pronoun, a verb, a participle, an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection. Thus_:--

EXAMPLE PARSED.

"The best and most effectual method of teaching grammar, is precisely that of which the careless are least fond: teach learnedly, rebuking whatsoever is false, blundering, or unmannerly."--_G. Brown_.

_The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things.

_Best_ is a common adjective, of the superlative degree; compared irregularly, _good, better, best_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. The superlative degree is that which is _most_ or _least_ of all included with it.

_And_, is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in constructing, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected.

_Most_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner.

_Effectual_ is a common adjective, compared by means of the adverbs; _effectual, more effectual, most effectual_; or, _effectual, less effectual, least effectual_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. Those adjectives which may be varied in sense, but not in form, are compared by means of adverbs.

_Method_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person, is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb.

_Of_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun.

_Teaching_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb.

_Grammar_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition.

_Is_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_.

_Precisely_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner.

_That_ is a pronominal adjective, not compared; standing for _that method_, in the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. [See OBS. 14th,] 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A pronominal adjective is a definitive word which may either accompany its noun or represent it understood. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb.

_Of_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun.

_Which_ is a pronoun. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun.

_The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things.

_Careless_ is a common adjective, compared by means of the adverbs; _careless, more careless, most careless_; or, _careless, less careless, least careless_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. Those adjectives which may be varied in sense, but not in form, are compared by means of adverbs.

_Are_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_.

_Least_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner.

_Fond_ is a common adjective, compared regularly, _fond, fonder, fondest_; but here made superlative by the adverb _least_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 8. The superlative degree is that which is _most_ or _least_ of all included with it.

_Teach_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_.

_Learnedly_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner.

_Rebuking_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb.

_Whatsoever_ is a pronoun. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun.

_Is_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_.

_False_ is a common adjective, of the positive degree; compared regularly, _false, falser, falsest_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. The positive degree is that which is expressed by the adjective in its simple form.

_Blundering_ is a participial adjective, compared by means of the adverbs; _blundering, more blundering, most blundering_; or, _blundering, less blundering, least blundering_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A participial adjective is one that has the form of a participle, but differs from it by rejecting the idea of time. 3. Those adjectives which may be varied in sense, but not in form, are compared by means of adverbs.

_Or_ is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected.

_Unmannerly_ is a common adjective, compared by means of the adverbs; _unmannerly, more unmannerly, most unmannerly_; or, _unmannerly, less unmannerly, least unmannerly_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. Those adjectives which may be varied in sense, but not in form, are compared by means of adverbs.

LESSON I.--PARSING.

"The noblest and most beneficial invention of which human ingenuity can boast, is that of writing."--_Robertson's America_, Vol. II, p. 193.

"Charlemagne was the tallest, the handsomest, and the strongest man of his time; his appearance was truly majestic, and he had surprising agility in all sorts of manly exercises."--_Stories of France_, p. 19.

"Money, like other things, is more or less valuable, as it is less or more plentiful."--_Beanie's Moral Science_, p. 378.

"The right way of acting, is, in a moral sense, as much a reality, in the mind of an ordinary man, as the straight or the right road."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. Lang._, i, 118.

"The full period of several members possesses most dignity and modulation, and conveys also the greatest degree of force, by admitting the closest compression of thought."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 79.

"His great master, Demosthenes, in addressing popular audiences, never had recourse to a similar expedient. He avoided redundancies, as equivocal and feeble. He aimed only to make the deepest and most efficient impression; and he employed for this purpose, the plainest, the fewest, and the most emphatic words."--_Ib._, p. 68.

"The high eloquence which I have last mentioned, is always the offspring of passion. A man actuated by a strong passion, becomes much greater than he is at other times. He is conscious of more strength and force; he utters greater sentiments, conceives higher designs, and executes them with a boldness and felicity, of which, on other occasions, he could not think himself capable."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 236.

"His words bore sterling weight, nervous and strong,
In manly tides of sense they roll'd along."--_Churchill_.

"To make the humble proud, the proud submiss,
Wiser the wisest, and the brave more brave."--_W. S. Landor_.

LESSON II.--PARSING.

"I am satisfied that in this, as in all cases, it is best, safest, as well as most right and honorable, to speak freely and plainly."--_Channing's Letter to Clay_, p. 4.

"The gospel, when preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, through the wonder-working power of God, can make the proud humble, the selfish disinterested, the worldly heavenly, the sensual pure."--_Christian Experience_, p. 399.

"I am so much the better, as I am the liker[184] the best; and so much the holier, as I am more conformable to the holiest, or rather to Him who is holiness itself."--_Bp. Beneridge_.

"Whether any thing in Christianity appears to them probable, or improbable; consistent, or inconsistent; agreeable to what they should have expected, or the contrary; wise and good, or ridiculous and useless; is perfectly irrelevant."--_M'Ilvaine's Evidences_, p. 523.

"God's providence is higher, and deeper, and larger, and stronger, than all the skill of his adversaries; and his pleasure shall be accomplished in their overthrow, except they repent and become his friends."--_Cox, on Christianity_, p. 445.

"A just relish of what is beautiful, proper, elegant, and ornamental, in writing or painting, in architecture or gardening, is a fine preparation for the same just relish of these qualities in character and behaviour. To the man who has acquired a taste so acute and accomplished, every action wrong or improper must be highly disgustful: if, in any instance, the overbearing power of passion sway him from his duty, he returns to it with redoubled resolution never to be swayed a second time."--_Kames, Elements of Criticism_, Vol. i, p. 25.

"In grave Quintilian's copious work, we find
The justest rules and clearest method join'd."--_Pope, on Crit._

LESSON III.--PARSING.

"There are several sorts of scandalous tempers; some malicious, and some effeminate; others obstinate, brutish, and savage. Some humours are childish and silly; some, false, and others, scurrilous; some, mercenary, and some, tyrannical."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 52.

"Words are obviously voluntary signs: and they are also arbitrary; excepting a few simple sounds expressive of certain internal emotions, which sounds being the same in all languages, must be the work of nature: thus the unpremeditated tones of admiration are the same in all men."--_Kames, Elements of Crit._, i, 347.

"A stately and majestic air requires sumptuous apparel, which ought not to be gaudy, nor crowded with little ornaments. A woman of consummate beauty can bear to be highly adorned, and yet shows best in a plain dress."--_Ib._, p. 279. "Of all external objects a graceful person is the most agreeable. But in vain will a person attempt to be graceful, who is deficient in amiable qualities."--_Ib._, p. 299.

"The faults of a writer of acknowledged excellence are more dangerous, because the influence of his example is more extensive; and the interest of learning requires that they should be discovered and stigmatized, before they have the sanction of antiquity bestowed upon them, and become precedents of indisputable authority."--_Dr. Johnson, Rambler_, Vol. ii, No. 93.

"Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverend than plausible, and more advised than confident; above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue."--_Bacon's Essays_, p. 145.

"The wisest nations, having the most and best ideas, will consequently have the best and most copious languages."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 408.

"Here we trace the operation of powerful causes, while we remain ignorant of their nature; but everything goes on with such regularity and harmony, as to give a striking and convincing proof of a combining directing intelligence."--_Life of W. Allen_, Vol. i, p. 170.

"The wisest, unexperienced, will be ever
Timorous and loth, with novice modesty,
Irresolute, unhardy, unadventurous."--_Milton_.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

ERRORS OF ADJECTIVES.

LESSON I.--DEGREES.

"I have the real excuse of the honestest sort of bankrupts."--_Cowley's Preface_, p. viii.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the adjective _honestest_ is harshly compared by _est_. But, according to a principle stated on page 283d concerning the regular degrees, "This method of comparison is to be applied only to monosyllables, and to dissyllables of a smooth termination, or such as receive it and still have but one syllable after the accent." Therefore, _honestest_ should be _most honest_; thus, "I have real excuse of the _most honest_ sort of bankrupts."]

"The honourablest part of talk, is, to give the occasion."--_Bacon's Essays_, p. 90. "To give him one of his own modestest proverbs."-- _Barclay's Works_, iii, 340. "Our language is now certainly properer and more natural, than it was formerly."--_Bp. Burnet_. "Which will be of most and frequentest use to him in the world."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 163. "The same is notified in the notablest places in the diocese."--_Whitgift_. "But it was the dreadfullest sight that ever I saw."--_Pilgrim's Progress_, p. 70. "Four of the ancientest, soberest, and discreetest of the brethren, chosen for the occasion, shall regulate it."--_Locke, on Church Gov_. "Nor can there be any clear understanding of any Roman author, especially of ancienter time, without this skill."--_Walker's Particles_, p. x. "Far the learnedest of the Greeks."--_Ib._, p. 120. "The learneder thou art, the humbler be thou."--_Ib._, p. 228. "He is none of the best or honestest."-- _Ib._, p. 274. "The properest methods of communicating it to others."-- _Burn's Gram._, Prof, p. viii. "What heaven's great King hath powerfullest to send against us."--_Paradise Lost_. "Benedict is not the unhopefullest husband that I know."--SHAK.: _in Joh. Dict._ "That he should immediately do all the meanest and triflingest things himself."--RAY: _in Johnson's Gram._, p. 6. "I shall be named among the famousest of women."--MILTON'S _Samson Agonistes: ib._ "Those have the inventivest heads for all purposes."--ASCHAM: _ib._ "The wretcheder are the contemners of all helps."--BEN JONSON: _ib._ "I will now deliver a few of the properest and naturallest considerations that belong to this piece."--WOTTON: _ib._ "The mortalest poisons practised by the West Indians, have some mixture of the blood, fat, or flesh of man."--BACON: _ib._ "He so won upon him, that he rendered him one of the faithfulest and most affectionate allies the Medes ever had."--_Rollin_, ii, 71. "'You see before you,' says he to him, 'the most devoted servant, and the faithfullest ally, you ever had.'"--_Ib._, ii, 79. "I chose the flourishing'st tree in all the park."--_Cowley_. "Which he placed, I think, some centuries backwarder than Julius Africanus thought fit to place it afterwards."--_Bolingbroke, on History_, p. 53. "The Tiber, the notedest river of Italy."--_Littleton's Dict._

"To fartherest shores the ambrosial spirit flies."
--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 140.

----"That what she wills to do or say,
Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best."
--_Milton_, B. viii, l. 550.

LESSON II.--MIXED.

"During the three or four first years of its existence."--_Taylor's District School_, p. 27.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the cardinal numbers, _three_ and _four_ are put before the ordinal _first_. But, according to the 7th part of Obs. 7th, page 280th, "In specifying any part of a series, we ought to place the cardinal number after the ordinal." Therefore the words _three_ and _four_ should be placed after _first_; thus, "During the _first three_ or _four_ years of its existence."]

"To the first of these divisions, my ten last lectures have been devoted."--_Adams's Rhet._, Vol. i, p. 391. "There are in the twenty-four states not less than sixty thousand common schools."--_Taylor's District School_, p. 38. "I know of nothing which gives teachers so much trouble as this want of firmness."--_Ib._, p. 57. "I know of nothing that throws such darkness over the line which separates right from wrong."--_Ib._, p. 58. "None need this purity and simplicity of language and thought so much as the common school instructor."--_Ib._, p. 64. "I know of no periodical that is so valuable to the teacher as the Annals of Education."--_Ib._, p. 67. "Are not these schools of the highest importance? Should not every individual feel the deepest interest in their character and condition?"--_Ib._, p. 78. "If instruction were made a profession, teachers would feel a sympathy for each other."--_Ib._, p. 93. "Nothing is so likely to interest children as novelty and change."--_Ib._, p. 131. "I know of no labour which affords so much happiness as that of the teacher's."--_Ib._, p. 136. "Their school exercises are the most pleasant and agreeable of any that they engage in."--_Ib._, p. 136. "I know of no exercise so beneficial to the pupil as that of drawing maps."--_Ib._, p. 176. "I know of nothing in which our district schools are so defective as they are in the art of teaching grammar."--_Ib._, p. 196. "I know of nothing so easily acquired as history."--_Ib._ p. 206. "I know of nothing for which scholars usually have such an abhorrence, as composition."--_Ib._, p. 210. "There is nothing in our fellow-men that we should respect with so much sacredness as their good name."--_Ib._, p. 307. "Sure never any thing was so unbred as that odious man."--CONGREVE: _in Joh. Dict._ "In the dialogue between the mariner and the shade of the deceast."--_Philological Museum_, i, 466. "These master-works would still be less excellent and finisht"--_Ib._, i, 469. "Every attempt to staylace the language of polisht conversation, renders our phraseology inelegant and clumsy."--_Ib._, i, 678. "Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words that ever blotted paper."--SHAK.: _in Joh. Dict._ "With the most easy, undisobliging transitions."--BROOME: _ib._ "Fear is, of all affections, the unaptest to admit any conference with reason."--HOOKER: _ib._ "Most chymists think glass a body more undestroyable than gold itself."--BOYLE: _ib._ "To part with unhackt edges, and bear back our barge undinted."--SHAK.: _ib._ "Erasmus, who was an unbigotted Roman Catholic, was transported with this passage."--ADDISON: _ib._ "There are no less than five words, with any of which the sentence might have terminated."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 397. "The one preach Christ of contention; but the other, of love."--_Philippians_, i, 16. "Hence we find less discontent and heart-burnings, than where the subjects are unequally burdened."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 56.

"The serpent, subtil'st beast of all the field,
I knew; but not with human voice indu'd."
--MILTON: _Joh. Dict., w. Human._

"How much more grievous would our lives appear,
To reach th' eighth hundred, than the eightieth year?"
--DENHAM: B. P., ii, 244.

LESSON III.--MIXED.

"Brutus engaged with Aruns; and so fierce was the attack, that they pierced one another at the same time."--_Lempriere's Dict._

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the phrase _one another_ is here applied to two persons only, the words _an_ and _other_ being needlessly compounded. But, according to Observation 15th, on the Classes of Adjectives, _each other_ must be applied to two persons or things, and _one an other_ to more than two. Therefore _one another_ should here be _each other_; thus, "Brutus engaged with Aruns; and so fierce was the attack, that they pierced _each other_ at the same time."]

"Her two brothers were one after another turned into stone."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 194. "Nouns are often used as adjectives; as, A _gold_-ring, a _silver_-cup."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 14. "Fire and water destroy one another."--_Wanostrocht's Gram._, p. 82. "Two negatives in English destroy one another, or are equivalent to an affirmative."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 94; _E. Devis's_, 111; _Mack's_, 147; _Murray's_, 198; _Churchill's_, 148; _Putnam's_, 135; _C. Adams's_, 102; _Hamlin's_, 79; _Alger's_, 66; _Fisk's_, 140; _Ingersoll's_, 207; and _many others_. "Two negatives destroy one another, and are generally equivalent to an affirmative."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 191; _Felton's_, 85. "Two negatives destroy one another and make an affirmative."--_J. Flint's Gram._, p. 79. "Two negatives destroy one another, being equivalent to an affirmative."--_Frost's El. of E. Gram._, p. 48. "Two objects, resembling one another, are presented to the imagination."--_Parker's Exercises in Comp._, p. 47. "Mankind, in order to hold converse with each other, found it necessary to give names to objects."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 42. "Words are derived from each other[185] in various ways."--_Cooper's Gram._, p. 108. "There are many other ways of deriving words from one another."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 131. "When several verbs connected by conjunctions, succeed each other in a sentence, the auxiliary is usually omitted except with the first."--_Frost's Gram._, p. 91. "Two or more verbs, having the same nominative case, and immediately following one another, are also separated by commas." [186]--_Murray's Gram._, p. 270; _C. Adams's_, 126; _Russell's_, 113; and others. "Two or more adverbs immediately succeeding each other, must be separated by commas."--_Same Grammars_. "If, however, the members succeeding each other, are very closely connected, the comma is unnecessary."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 273; _Comly's_, 152; _and others_. "Gratitude, when exerted towards one another, naturally produces a very pleasing sensation in the mind of a grateful man."--_Mur._, p. 287. "Several verbs in the infinitive mood, having a common dependence, and succeeding one another, are also divided by commas."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 153. "The several words of which it consists, have so near a relation to each other."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 268; _Comly's_, 144; _Russell's_, 111; _and others_. "When two or more verbs have the same nominative, and immediately follow one another, or two or more adverbs immediately succeed one another, they must be separated by commas."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 145. "Nouns frequently succeed each other, meaning the same thing."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 63. "And these two tenses may thus answer one another."--_Johnson's Gram._ _Com._, p. 322. "Or some other relation which two objects bear to one another."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 149. "That the heathens tolerated each other, is allowed."--_Gospel its own Witness_, p. 76. "And yet these two persons love one another tenderly."--_Murray's E. Reader_, p. 112. "In the six hundredth and first year."--_Gen._, viii, 13. "Nor is this arguing of his but a reiterate clamour."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 250. "In severals of them the inward life of Christianity is to be found."--_Ib._, iii, 272. "Though Alvarez, Despauterius, and other, allow it not to be Plural."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 169. "Even the most dissipate and shameless blushed at the sight."--_Lemp. Dict., w. Antiochus_. "We feel a superior satisfaction in surveying the life of animals, than that of vegetables."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, 172. "But this man is so full fraughted with malice."--_Barclay's Works_, i11, 205. "That I suggest some things concerning the properest means."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 337.

"So hand in hand they pass'd, the loveliest pair
That ever since in love's embraces met."
--_Milton_, P. L., B., iv, l. 321.

"Aim at the high'est, without the high'est attain'd
Will be for thee no sitting, or not long."
--_Id._, P. R., B. iv, l. 106.