'no' and 'none.' There are probably no other instances of adjectives used in predication alone.

The meanings of the possessive pronouns are so well understood, and so little subject to irregularity, as to need no special comment.

7. II. ADJECTIVES OF QUANTITY.

Setting aside the pronominal adjectives, we may include all the others under the two heads of quantity and quality; those of the one class (quantity) are few in number and peculiar in character; the other class (quality) comprises the great body of adjectives. The adjectives of quantity are subdivided as follows:

8. (1.) Quantity in mass or bulk: much,'' little,'' great,' 'small,'' some,' 'any :' 'much wind;' 'little light;' 'great rivers;'' some feeling.'

This kind of quantity is also called continuous quantity, and is opposed to broken, numbered, or discrete quantity. Space, motion, bulk, and material being in many instances unbroken, we do not always apply numbers to designate their amount. When we desire accuracy we suppose these things divided into parts, and number the parts; as ten yards.' But where we cannot do this, as in mental qualities, we use adjectives of degree, and apply qualifying words to specify the differences; thus, small, very small, exceedingly small, diminutive, insignificant;'great, large, somewhat large, rather large,, considerable, vast, huge, immense, enormous, infinite;' 'middling, average, moderate, ordinary, sober,' &c.

'Some' and 'any' are applied also to number.

9. (2.) Quantity in Number. Under this we have various

kinds.

(a.) Definite Numeral Adjectives; as 'eight days' (cardinal number); the eighth day' (ordinal number).

The cardinal numbers-one, two, three-denote totals made up to the amount of the number,-a total of two, five, fifty, &c. The ordinal numbers indicate a series, and state the place of an individual in the series the fifth' is the name of one object in a certain remove from the commencement.

We may include also the multipliers, single,' 'double,' 'triple,' 'quadruple;' and the combination of the numerals with particular subjects, as biennial,' ' quadrilateral,' ' heptagonal.'

A,' oran,' the Indefinite Article, is strictly speaking the numeral adjective one,' with a somewhat altered signification.

'Another' is an ordinal adjective, meaning the second of two.

The word is not confined to this meaning, but is used to signify one more;' another and another and another.'

NUMERAL ADJECTIVES.

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,

'Both' means two taken together, and is opposed to the distributives 'either' (one of two), and neither (none of two).

This word, being often used without the noun, assumes the character of a pronoun.

10. (b.) Indefinite numeral Adjectives; as many days,' any books,' 'all men.' These express number, but not in the definite form of numeration.

Many,' although plural in meaning, can be joined with a singular noun preceded by 'a: many a man.'

Any' after negative words has an emphatic exclusive force, 'without any remainder.' As a derivative from one,' in a positive signification it means 'one,' but no one in particular; hence called indefinite. It may, however, mean more than one, and it applies both to quantity and to number: any meat,' any trees.'

portion of an entire

'Some' has various meanings. In strict logic it signifies not none,' a certain number, but how many not stated, some at least. There is a more popular meaning, which implies less than the whole, 'some only,' or 'some at most.' Some men are wise,' insinuates that there are other men not wise. Hence the alternative signification : 'some believed,' and 'some (others) believed not.' Some fifty years ago' is a special idiom.

Certain is a small select number. Applied in the singular it means a particular and known individual. Several,' the Distributive Adjective, is also used to mean a small number without reference to distribution. 'Few' is opposed to many. Few, few shall part where many meet.' 'A few' is some-not many.

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Not a few is a more emphatic many;' the denying of an opposite being often a stronger form of the affirmative. Not inconsiderable' is perhaps a little less than considerable.'

'Most,' the larger number.

'All' is opposed alike to 'none,' and to 'some.' 'Whole,' or total, is opposed to part,' and hence to 'some.'

'No,' and 'None,' the absence, negation, or privation of anything.

These words must be followed by the singular or plural, according to the meaning. An ancient Greek disbelieving his religion would have said there are no Gods;' a Jew, there is no God.'

11. (c.) Distributive numeral Adjectives; as 'each man,' neither way.' These are 'each,' either,' 'neither,' 'several,'' every,'' other.'

'Each' is employed to denote two or more things taken separately, and when applied to two, is opposed to either,' which is one of the two, as well as to both,' or the two collectively. Each' is the word that should have been used in the following passage. The King of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, sat either of them on his throne.' Simeon and Levi took each man his sword,' shows the correct usage. 'Each' is a singular word. The correlative is 'other,' as seen in the elliptical phrase 'bear each other's burdens.'

Neither' excludes each of two.

‘Several' is a small number taken separately, but entirely, and is a plural: several witnesses attested the fact.'

'Every' means each individual of a whole collection separately stated or considered. When each' denoted, as it seems to have done at one time, one of two,' there was a real difference between each and 'every' that hardly exists now. Excepting in such idiomatic phrases as each other,' every' might be generally substituted for each.' 'Every' is an emphatic word for 'all,' as it seems to address the individuals separately: England expects every man to do his duty;' not every one that saith unto me.' 'Every three years' is an admitted idiom.

'Other,' opposed to 'one,' is the second or alternative of a couple,— a dual form. No other' has the more indefinite signification of 'none anywhere.' Followed by 'than' it is the same as 'none but.' By an incidental consequence, the other' may point out contrariety; as on the one side of the river stood our army, on the other, the enemy.' The meaning of addition comes naturally to attach to the word: 'get as much other knowledge as you can.' The other day' is an idiom for lately.' The word has a noun form and declension when opposed to 'some' and 'each: some sat, others stood;' they visited at each other's houses.' In this capacity the plural others' is a species of collective noun, like the 'rest' or the 'remainder.'

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12. III. ADJECTIVES OF QUALITY; as a broad way,' a heavy weight,' a prudent man.'

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These embrace the great body of adjectives, and are co-extensive with human knowledge. They could be classified only by a reference to the sciences, or different departments of knowledge, as mathematics, natural history, morals, &c. Everything that can be pointed out as a property, power, or agency, is liable to be expressed as an adjective, so as to qualify some subject. In Roget's Thesaurus of Words and Phrases there is a classification of human knowledge given as a basis for the classification of words according to their meaning, and it will be found that the words thus arranged are nouns, adjectives, and verbs; and there is hardly any meaning that cannot appear in all the three forms.

The nouns least suited to become adjectives are the names of natural classes or kinds, as tree,' horse,' 'monkey;' because these objects contain too many qualities to be predicated of anything besides themselves. We cannot well have a thing different from a tree and possessing all the characters of a tree; hence when we derive an adjective from tree, as arborescent,' we mean only the form of a tree, and not the whole attributes. So 'manly,' 'leonine,' or 'lionlike,' merely indicate some prominent character of a man, or of a lion, and do not transfer the whole of the attributes of a man or a lion to something that is neither.

Adjectives formed from the metals, minerals, woods, &c., generally signify made from these materials.'

Adjectives derived from the great natural objects, often mean only a reference to those objects; as the solar, the lunar tables-tables respecting the sun or moon.

13. The class of Adjectives derived from proper names, and called PROPER ADJECTIVES, are principally adjectives of quality, as the Socratic Method,' which means a certain kind of method, invented or employed by Socrates.

Some proper adjectives might be looked upon as contributing to form proper names, as English law,' 'French literature, the Elizabethan Age.'

THE ARTICLES.

The articles are of great value in our language. They indicate three different forms of the noun, each with a separate meaning: 'a virtue,' the virtue,' and 'virtue,' are all distinct.

14. A' or 'An' is called the Indefinite Article: 'a horse' means no one horse in particular. It gives the species or kind of thing wanted, and leaves the choice of the individual free.

The indefinite article is the unemphatic form of the numeral 'one,' and has a meaning of its own, different from the numeral. Give me a pen,' means give me an object of the species 'pen;' 'give me one pen,' lays an emphasis upon one, and implies that one is asked for, and not two or three. A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse,' is any horse, anything that is a horse.

The article having a singular meaning, is a sign of the singular number, and is used with all singular things (provided they are such as admit of the plural). Thus we do not say house,' table,' 'star,' but a house,' a table,' a star.' Hence it is used with general or class names, and not with proper names (Adam, Mary), nor with names of material (air, gold), nor with abstract names (wisdom, bravery). When class nouns have no plural change (sheep, cannon), the presence or absence of the article is a mark of the number a

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sheep, sheep). When 'a' is prefixed to a proper name (a Mr. Brown), one of a class is meant.

15. 'A' is used before a consonant, and before ‘h' (sounded as h),y,' or 'w' a meal,' 'a house,' 'a year,' a world.' An is used before a vowel, and before silent 'h;' as 6 an ounce,'' an hour.'

Many of the best writers, as Macaulay, use an before 'h' (not silent) when the accent is on the second syllable: an historical parallel.'

16. 'THE' is called the Definite Article: 'the horse' means some one horse in particular.

It is the unemphatic form of the demonstrative 'that,' and has itself a weaker demonstrative force than that.'

The circumstances determining the use of this article may bị stated thus. There is a collection of various things before us, say in a room, and one of each thing: a door, a window, a table, a sofa, a fire. If we want to single out one of these, we say 'the door,' 'the table,' 'the fire.' In like manner, the house,' the garden,' 'the stables,' are the single objects that enter into the aggregate whole of a residence. A definite collection, or total, must be supposed to be before the mind of the hearer, and there must be no more than one object of a kind. Hence when we speak of the town hall,' 'the market cross,' the harbour,'' the provost,' we are understood to refer to the aggregate whole that makes up the town that we live in; and there being only one of each of these objects in the town, it is indicated by prefixing 'the,' 'the provost.' So the parliament,' the constitution, the navy,' suppose the collective whole of the nation, and that there are not two parliaments or constitutions. 'The sun,' 'the stars,' suppose that we are thinking of the great sidereal whole, and that we indicate therein the one sun, or the one collection of stars.

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The various applications of the definite article seem to branch out from this principal meaning. Thus, when applied, as it is, to indicate a species, as the rose,' the lion,' the gorilla,' a certain higher genus is supposed present to the mind, containing many species, one of which is singled out: 'as the cedar among the woods, so is my beloved.' Having in view animals generally, we say 'the lion' to indicate the one species of that name. The use of the article is less common with very high or comprehensive groups; we sometimes, but not often, say the plant,' the animal,' having in our view organized beings as a whole. In Philosophy the whole of known existence is divided into the object,' the external world, and the subject,' the world of mind.

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The same specification explains the application of the article to designate geographical objects, as the Alps' (among mountains), the Rhine' (among rivers), the Atlantic' (among oceans); likewise the French,' the English' (among nations).