The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown (free ebook reader .txt) 📕

   "Whatever faction's partial notions are,
    No hand is wholly innocent in war."
        —Rowe's Lucan, B. vii, l. 191.

An adjective sometimes relates to a phrase or sentence which is made the subject of an intervening verb; as, "To insult the afflicted, is impious"—Dillwyn. "That he should refuse, is not strange"—"To err is human." Murray says, "Human belongs to its substantive 'nature' understood."—Gram., p. 233. From this I dissent.

In combined arithmetical numbers, one adjective often relates to an other, and the whole phrase, to a subsequent noun; as, "One thousand four hundred and fifty-six men."—"Six dollars and eighty-seven and a half cents for every five days' service."—"In the one hundred and twenty-second year."—"One seven times more than it was wont to be heated."—Daniel, iii, 19.

With an infinitive or a participle denoting being or action in the abstract, an adjective is sometimes also taken abstractly; (that is, without reference to any particular noun, pronoun, or other subject;) as, "To be sincere, is to be wise, innocent, and safe."—Hawkesworth. "Capacity marks the abstract quality of being able to receive or hold."—Crabb's Synonymes. "Indeed, the main secret of being sublime, is to say great things in few and plain words."—Hiley's Gram., p. 215. "Concerning being free from sin in heaven, there is no question."—Barclay's Works, iii, 437. Better: "Concerning freedom from sin," &c.

Adjectives are sometimes substituted for their corresponding abstract nouns; (perhaps, in most instances, elliptically, like Greek neuters;) as, "The sensations of sublime and beautiful are not always distinguished by very distant boundaries."—Blair's Rhet., p. 47. That is, "of sublimity and beauty." "The faults opposite to the sublime are chiefly two: the frigid, and the bombast"—Ib., p. 44. Better: "The faults opposite to sublimity, are chiefly two; frigidity and bombast." "Yet the ruling character of the nation was that of barbarous and cruel."—Brown's Estimate, ii, 26. That is, "of barbarity and cruelty." "In a word, agreeable and disagreeable are qualities of the objects we perceive," &c.—Kames, El. of Crit., i, 99. "Polished, or refined, was the idea which the author had in view."—Blair's Rhet., p. 219.

OBS. 1.—Adjectives often relate to nouns or pronouns understood; as, "A new sorrow recalls all the former" [sorrows].—Art of Thinking, p. 31. [The place] "Farthest from him is best."—Milton, P. L. "To whom they all gave heed, from the least [person] to the greatest" [person].—Acts, viii, 10. "The Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty [God], and a terrible" [God].—Deut., x, 17. "Every one can distinguish an angry from a placid, a cheerful from a melancholy, a thoughtful from a thoughtless, and a dull from a penetrating, countenance."—Beattie's Moral Science, p. 192. Here the word countenance is understood seven times; for eight different countenances are spoken of. "He came unto his own [possessions], and his own [men] received him not."—John, i, 11. The Rev. J. G. Cooper, has it: "He came unto his own (creatures,) and his own (creatures) received him not."—Pl. and Pract. Gram., p. 44. This ambitious editor of Virgil, abridger of Murray, expounder of the Bible, and author of several "new and improved" grammars, (of different languages,) should have understood this text, notwithstanding the obscurity of our version. "[Greek: Eis ta idia ælthe. kai oi idioi auton ou parelabon]."—"In propria venit, et proprii eum non receperunt."—Montanus. "Ad sua venit, et sui eum non exceperunt."—Beza. "Il est venu chez soi; et les siens ne l'ont point reçu."—French Bible. Sometimes the construction of the adjective involves an ellipsis of several words, and those perhaps the principal parts of the clause; as, "The sea appeared to be agitated more than [in that degree which is] usual."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 217. "During the course of the sentence, the scene should be changed as little as [in the least] possible" [degree].—Blair's Rhet., p. 107; Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 312.

   "Presumptuous man! the reason wouldst thou find,
    Why [thou art] form'd so weak, so little, and so blind"
        —Pope.

OBS. 2.—Because qualities belong only to things, most grammarians teach, that, "Adjectives are capable of being added to nouns only."—Buchanan's Syntax, p. 26. Or, as Murray expresses the doctrine: "Every adjective, and every adjective pronoun, belongs to a substantive, expressed or understood."—Octavo Gram., p. 161. "The adjective always relates to a substantive."—Ib., p. 169. This teaching, which is alike repugnant to the true definition of an adjective, to the true rule for its construction, and to all the exceptions to this rule, is but a sample of that hasty sort of induction, which is ever jumping to false conclusions for want of a fair comprehension of the facts in point. The position would not be tenable, even if all our pronouns were admitted to be nouns, or "substantives;" and, if these two parts of speech are to be distinguished, the consequence must be, that Murray supposes a countless number of unnecessary and absurd ellipses. It is sufficiently evident, that in the construction of sentences, adjectives often relate immediately to pronouns, and only through them to the nouns which they represent. Examples: "I should like to know who has been carried off, except poor dear me."—Byron. "To poor us there is not much hope remaining."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p 204. "It is the final pause which alone, on many occasions, marks the difference between prose and verse."—Murray's Gram., p. 260. "And sometimes after them both."—Ib., p. 196. "All men hail'd me happy."—Milton. "To receive unhappy me."—Dryden. "Superior to them all."—Blair's Rhet., p. 419. "They returned to their own country, full of the discoveries which they had made."—Ib., p. 350. "All ye are brethren."—Matt., xxiii, 8. "And him only shalt thou serve."—Matt., iv, 10.

   "Go wiser thou, and in thy scale of sense
    Weigh thy opinion against Providence."—Pope.

OBS. 3.—When an adjective follows a finite verb, and is not followed by a noun, it generally relates to the subject of the verb; as, "I am glad that the door is made wide."—"An unbounded prospect doth not long continue agreeable."—Kames, El. of Crit., i, 244. "Every thing which is false, vicious, or unworthy, is despicable to him, though all the world should approve it."—Spectator, No. 520. Here false, vicious, and unworthy, relate to which; and despicable relates to thing. The practice of Murray and his followers, of supplying a "substantive" in all such cases, is absurd. "When the Adjective forms the Attribute of a Proposition, it belongs to the noun [or pronoun] which serves as the Subject of the Proposition, and cannot be joined to any other noun, since it is of the Subject that we affirm the quality expressed by this Adjective."—De Sacy, on General Gram., p. 37. In some peculiar phrases, however, such as, to fall short of, to make bold with, to set light by, the adjective has such a connexion with the verb, that it may seem questionable how it ought to be explained in parsing. Examples: (1.) "This latter mode of expression falls short of the force and vehemence of the former."—L. Murray's Gram., p. 353. Some will suppose the word short to be here used adverbially, or to qualify falls only; but perhaps it may as well be parsed as an adjective, forming a predicate with "falls," and relating to "mode," the nominative. (2.) "And that I have made so bold with thy glorious Majesty."—Jenks's Prayers, p. 156. This expression is perhaps elliptical: it may mean, "that I have made myself so bold," &c. (3.) "Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother: and all the people shall say, Amen."—Deut., xxvii, 16. This may mean, "that setteth light esteem or estimation," &c.

OBS. 4.—When an adjective follows an infinitive or a participle, the noun or pronoun to which it relates, is sometimes before it, and sometimes after it, and often considerably remote; as, "A real gentleman cannot but practice those virtues which, by an intimate knowledge of mankind, he has found to be useful to them."—"He [a melancholy enthusiast] thinks himself obliged in duty to be sad and disconsolate."—Addison. "He is scandalized at youth for being lively, and at childhood for being playful."—Id. "But growing weary of one who almost walked him out of breath, he left him for Horace and Anacreon."—Steele.

OBS. 5.—Adjectives preceded by the definite article, are often used, by ellipsis, as nouns; as, the learned, for learned men. Such phrases usually designate those classes of persons or things, which are characterized by the qualities they express; and this, the reader must observe, is a use quite different from that substitution of adjectives for nouns, which is noticed in the fourth exception above. In our language, the several senses in which adjectives may thus be taken, are not distinguished with that clearness which the inflections of other tongues secure. Thus, the noble, the vile, the excellent, or the beautiful, may be put for three extra constructions: first, for noble persons, vile persons, &c.; secondly, for the noble man, the vile man, &c.; thirdly, for the abstract qualities, nobility, vileness, excellence, beauty. The last-named usage forms an exception to the rule; in the other two the noun is understood, and should be supplied by the parser. Such terms, if elliptical, are most commonly of the plural number, and refer to the word persons or things understood; as, "The careless and the imprudent, the giddy and the fickle, the ungrateful and the interested, everywhere meet us."—Blair. Here the noun persons is to be six times supplied. "Wherever there is taste, the witty and the humorous make themselves perceived."—Campbell's Rhet., p. 21. Here the author meant, simply, the qualities wit and humour, and he ought to have used these words, because the others are equivocal, and are more naturally conceived to refer to persons. In the following couplet, the noun places or things is understood after "open," and again after "covert," which last word is sometimes misprinted "coverts:"

   "Together let us beat this ample field,
    Try what the open, what the covert, yield."—Pope, on Man.

OBS. 6.—The adjective, in English, is generally placed immediately before its noun; as, "Vain man! is grandeur given to gay attire?"—Beattie. Those adjectives which relate to pronouns, most commonly follow them; as, "They left me weary on a grassy turf."—Milton. But to both these general rules there are many exceptions; for the position of an adjective may be varied by a variety of circumstances, not excepting the mere convenience of emphasis: as, "And Jehu said, Unto which of all us?"—2 Kings, ix, 5. In the following instances the adjective is placed after the word to which it relates:

1. When other words depend on the adjective, or stand before it to qualify it; as, "A mind conscious of right,"—"A wall three feet thick,"—"A body of troops fifty thousand strong."

2. When the quality results from an action, or receives its application through a verb or participle; as, "Virtue renders life happy."—"He was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza."—1 Kings, xvi, 9. "All men agree to call vinegar sour, honey sweet, and aloes bitter."—Burke, on Taste, p. 38. "God made thee perfect, not immutable."—Milton.

3. When the quality excites admiration, and the adjective would thus be more clearly distinctive; as, "Goodness infinite,"—"Wisdom unsearchable."—Murray.

4. When a verb comes between the adjective and the noun; as, "Truth stands independent of all external things."—Burgh. "Honour is not seemly for a fool."—Solomon.

5. When the adjective is formed by means of the prefix a; as, afraid, alert, alike, alive, alone, asleep, awake, aware, averse, ashamed, askew. To these may be added a few other words; as, else, enough, extant, extinct, fraught, pursuant.

6. When the adjective has the nature, but not the form, of a participle; as, "A queen regnant,"—"The prince regent,"—"The heir apparent,"—"A lion, not rampant, but couchant or dormant"—"For the time then present."

OBS. 7.—In some instances, the adjective may either precede or follow its noun; and the writer may take his choice, in respect to its position: as, 1. In poetry—provided the sense be obvious; as,

    —————————"Wilt thou to the isles
    Atlantic, to the rich Hesperian clime,
    Fly in the train of Autumn?"
        —Akenside, P. of I., Book i, p. 27.

    ——————————————-"Wilt thou fly
    With laughing Autumn to the Atlantic isles,
    And range with him th' Hesperian field?"
        —Id. Bucke's Gram., p. 120.

2. When technical usage favours one order, and common usage an other; as, "A notary public," or, "A public notary;"—"The heir presumptive," or, "The presumptive heir."—See Johnson's Dict., and Webster's.

3. When an adverb precedes the adjective; as, "A Being infinitely wise," or, "An infinitely wise Being." Murray, Comly, and others, here approve only the former order; but the latter is certainly not ungrammatical.

4. When several adjectives belong to the same noun; as, "A woman, modest, sensible, and virtuous," or, "A modest, sensible, and virtuous woman." Here again, Murray, Comly, and others, approve only the former order; but I judge the latter to be quite as good.

5. When the adjective is emphatic, it may be