45. ATTRIBUTES: WORDS.

ATTRIBUTES are placed in relation with substantive words and with phrases, of which the meanings or uses require enlargement or definition. The definition sup

plied may have reference to quality, quantity, order, identity, or possession. In the attributive relation a connexion of the attributive with the substantive is not asserted, but is indicated or assumed, as in the examples 'a firm will,' 'a defeated army.' In the predicative relation the attributive is so placed that its connexion with the substantive is asserted, as in the examples Your will is firm,' The army was defeated.' Here the attribute is made a predicate. In many grammars the verb and the attribute, taken together, are collectively described as making a predicate.

6

Observations.-1. An attribute may consist of any one of the following forms:-an ordinary adjective; a verbal form in ing, or ed, or en; a noun in apposition; the possessive case of a noun or a pronoun; a phrase; or a clause. It will be noticed that here, as in the sequel, words in syntax are always treated with reference to their uses. Accordingly, certain attributive uses of words called nouns are noticed in this place.

2. A noun, when placed in apposition with another, may serve as an attributive word; it helps to enlarge or to define the meaning of a substantive.

3. The possessive case of a noun is governed by the noun following, and serves as an attribute. The possessive inflexion should mostly be employed when the governed noun is the name of a person. In some other cases the particle of, preceding a noun, may be used instead of 's, if no change of meaning is made; but of has versatile uses, and is not always a correct substitute. The 's appended to a noun of time denotes duration, not possession.

4. One attribute may belong to several nouns, and several attributes may belong to one noun. In its comparative form the adjective has mostly reference to two individuals, or to two classes; but the superlative refers to several in one class, or in one series. Some forms often called adjectives may serve as adverbs, and some words mostly called adverbs serve here and there as adjectives. Many adjectives may be defined

by adverbs; but the meanings of some attributive words exclude comparison.

5. The following vague words, of which the greater number may serve as pronouns, serve also as adjectives, and are often placed before nouns :—

6. Several adjectives have, with respect to gender and number in nouns, the restricted uses shown in the examples appended.

7. The two adjectives an (or a), indefinite, and the, definite, are mostly called articles, and have peculiar uses, which are shown in the examples. These uses may be partly defined and prescribed, but are best learned in the course of reading; Indeed, they are commonly well understood in a practical way. In form, as in meaning, an is cognate with one (1. ân) and with any (1. ænig). Give the boy a shilling' means 'Give him one shilling." 'Give him the shilling' means that which he claims, or ought to have, as the case may be. Placed before few and little, the indefinite article makes their meanings more positive. The definite article is a weak substitute for that. Where a weakened word like that or those is required, write the; where it would have no force, leave it out, if usage permit. Names of materials (such as metals), virtues and vices, arts, sciences, theories, and studies are placed alone; but a special theory may, by means of the, be set in contrast with another. The serves to show that two nouns placed near each other are names of two different things or persons. Again, in a series, items are made distinct by setting the before each name; but there is no rule here save usage. An adjective form following the may serve as a noun, concrete or abstract. The is set before collective nouns, national names, party-names, and names of families and species (here man is an exception); often before names of rivers, but rarely before names of countries. A proper name following the is often made common. The correlative phrases 'the more less' are adverbials of proportion, and in each the by that [degree], and represents the pronominal instrumental case pê in First English. Lastly, readers will find the inserted in many places where its force is hardly perceptible.

=

the

8. Verbal forms having the endings ing, en, ed, d, or t serve as adjectives, and of these forms some are often placed before nouns, but others are seldom or never so placed. Here, as elsewhere, respect must be paid to usage. The verbal, where transitive, governs an object. Adjectives ending in ed are not always verbal. [See § 35.]

9. In certain words, but chiefly in phrases, the two relations attributive and adverbial are closely associated. The sign ax may here and there indicate the character of such connective words and phrases.

10. Adjectives are often used as complements with verbs of incomplete predication. [See § 46.]

6

Examples.-1. Clear daylight suddenly appeared, and brightened all the rippling streams in the green valley.'-G. Our old friend the miller was there.' 'The week's holiday was enjoyed by our boys.'-G. 'The captain was an honourable man.' 'He is a man of honour.' Here lies the deed to be signed.' 'The workman's task was hard.' ['hard' = c.]

Cro

2.Peter the Hermit was preaching there.'Stephen the Martyr was there put to death.' 'Solomon, the son of David, built the temple.' sus, King of Lydia, was then renowned for his wealth.'

6

3. The children's toys were bought there.' 'The tyrant's power was dreaded.' The tyrant Henry's power was made absolute.' "The Nortons impounded the Cliffords' stray deer.' [After a plural ending in s the apostrophe marks the possessive case.] A month's holiday.' [The possessive case here denotes duration.] The poet Gray's letters are good specimens of fluent prose.' [The inflexion 's is here, as before, added to the latter of two nouns set in apposition.] 'We have read Gray's poems and Cowper's. [These two inflexions make the two nouns distinct from the names of two joint authors.] We have read Beaumont and Fletcher's plays.' [Here the proper nouns are the names of two joint authors.] At the end of this street you will find Smith's and Brown's offices, opposite each other.' [The men are not partners.] St. James's Square.' Lycurgus' sons.' [When the singular ends in es, or is, or us, sounded as a distinct syllable, the apostrophe is often used alone; but it is better to say 'the sons of Lycurgus.'] We must respect a British critic's censure.'-G. [Here one of the two harsher sibilants might be avoided by saying 'the censure of a British critic.] He soared on eagles' wings.' [After a plural noun ending in s, the apostrophe alone represents the inflexion.] 'She went to the baker's' [shop]. That is a work of Milton's' [i.e. one of Milton's works]. He was a friend of Cæsar's' [i.e. one of Cæsar's friends. The governing noun is often omitted]. 'The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman. [This is the correct English title of a well-known book written by WILLIAM LANGLAND, who lived in the latter half of the fourteenth century. This title was too long to serve well as the ready name of a book. Accordingly it was changed, and the book was called first The Vision of Piers the Plowman, then briefly Piers Plowman's Vision. Consequently, Englishmen, as well as Frenchmen, have erroneously described the said 'Piers' as a rustic author who wrote The Vision. They might as truly say that a wandering author, whose name was Pilgrim,' wrote the allegory called the ' * Pilgrim's Progress.'] John Jackson his book.' [This use of

his, instead of 's, is an error, founded, however, on many apparent examples easily found in E.II. literature. It was once supposed that the 's in the king's crown' was a contraction of his in the king his crown;' but this notion does not accord with well-known facts in the history of our own language -to say nothing of cognate tongues. The inflexion 's is a contraction of the inflexion es belonging to the possessive case of the strong declension in E.I.] Have we not seen, at pleasure's lordly call, The smiling, long-frequented village fall?'-GOLDSMITH. ['The possessive inflexion 's should especially be used when the governed noun is the name of a person;' but this rule is not exclusive.] For thou art Freedom's now and Fame's.'HALLECK. 'One of the best means of securing one's self from infection.'DE FOE. His discourse was broken off by his man's telling him that he had called a coach.'-ADDISON. Rejoicings upon the New Year's Coming of Age.-C. LAMB. The Thirty Years' War.-G. This world's first creation.' -HOOKER. 'He had need be afraid of others' memory.'-BACON. 'He will sooner be at his journey's end.'-LOCKE. A nasal solo of at least three bars' duration.'-W. IRVING. The spider's web is cable to man's tie on earthly bliss.'-YOUNG. "That article appeared in "Chambers's Journal." Did you read the review in last week's "Athenæum"?'-G. 'We were then shown Edward the Confessor's tomb... It was my fortune to sit next to a neighbour of Sir Roger's.'-ADDISON. 'Napoleon evinced the greatest satisfaction at the result of this day's operations.'-ALISON. 'As in Byron's day, there were thousands to whom the world was a blank.'ROGERS. In this edition Shakespeare's plays and poems are contained in five volumes.' *The baker and chemist's shops were destroyed' [.e. the baker's shop and the chemist's]. The sage's and the poet's theme.' [Correct, if we are here speaking of two men.] *St. John's the Evangelist's Day.' [John.]

4. How much more elder art thou than thy looks!'-SHAKESPEARE. [Old.] And yet I show you a more excellent way.'-Bible. [Modern.] In greater or lesser degrees of complexity.'-BURKE. Along with Shakespeare's intense humour, and his equally intense, piercing insight into the darkest, deepest depths of human nature, there is still a spirit of universal kindness pervading his works.'-HARE. 'A prouder or a more conceited writer never lived.'-G. *The most straitest sect.'-Bible. [Such double comparatives and superlatives as most clennest (cleanest), more unhappyer, and most unkindest are often found in O.E., and were not condemned in SHAKESPEARE'S time. In M.E. these double forms are not allowed.] *The loneliest place.' 'The most unmeasured abuse.' 'He suffered the extremest pain.'-G. [In these and many similar instances the error is not formal, but logical. There are some adjectives that, with respect to their meanings, must exclude comparison. Ex.:-square, extreme, perfect, boundless, absolute, and infinite. But such words as chiefest and perfectest are found in good authors.] 'He made the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.'-Bible. [The double comparative form lesser is established by usage.] 'Of these two pictures the smaller is the better.'—G. [The comparative is correctly used in speaking of two things; but the superlative is sometimes employed by GOLDSMITH. The first two of the speeches here quoted he ascribes to 'Tony,' but the third belongs to 'Mrs. Primrose.'] Your own notes are the wildest of the two. We'll see which is the strongest, you or I. My eldest can cut paper, and my youngest has a very pretty manner.'-GOLDSMITH. [Here the speaker refers only to two.] The veriest accident may determine what part shall be preserved.'

...

...

-LORD JEFFREY. [The form very often serves as an adjective, but veriest is not often seen. n.] The honourablest part of talk is to give the occasion.' -BACON. 'Hast thou looked on the potter's wheel-one of the venerablest, objects?... And fancy the most assiduous potter but without his wheel.' -CARLYLE. [A strict and modern rule asserts that dissylables must generally be compared by means of the adverbs more and most; but such words as pleasanter, pleasantest, handsomest, and solidest are found in good writers. In general the stricter rules laid down for the uses of er and est are not well obeyed. Of these rules the two following may be noticed :1. The suffixes er and est may be appended to monosyllables, and to dissyllables ending in le or y preceded by a consonant. 2. In words of two or more syllables the suffixes er and est should not be appended to any of the following endings :—ain, al, ate, ed, ent, id, ing, ful, less, ous, and some. This extensive rule is not founded on facts.] *Of all the other qualities of style clearness is the most important. [Omit the word other.] He is the ablest and most conscientious man on that side.'-G. 'Homer was the greater genius; Virgil the better artist.'—POPE. *They have read the three first books of the Anabasis.' [Say, the first three.]

5. All Europe was looking anxiously towards the Low Countries.'— MACAULAY. All the candles were lighted.'-FIELDING. Four happy days bring in another moon.'-SHAKESPEARE. 'Now, another person would be vexed at this.'-SHERIDAN. 'If any man will sue thee.. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are both small and great beasts.' -Bible. Both minister and magistrate are compelled to choose.'JUNIUS. 'A certain man planted a vineyard.'-Bible. 'Each lonely scene shall thee restore.'--COLLINS. Black rocks. lift on either hand their countless peaks.'-J. MONTGOMERY. 'Have I not cares enow? '—BYRON. [enow is an old form of enough, which, as a noun, may denote either the singular or the plural, and serves sometimes as a and sometimes as x. The notion that enow should serve as the plural of enough is an error.] Every tree is refreshed by the rain.' [In O.E. every might serve as sv, but it serves now as av.] He passed a few days in luxurious repose.'MACAULAY. [few few, if any; a few = some, not many.] 'Of making many books there is no end.'-Bible. Many a flower is born to blush unseen.'-GRAY. 'The many favours you have received should be remembered.'-G. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy.'-SHAKESPEARE. [more is not historically the comparative of many, but may have reference either to number or to quantity. In etymology more is historically the comparative form of much.] "Whence should we have so much bread?... We have taken no bread. The barbarous people showed us no little kindness.'-Bible. • Other joys are but toys,'-WALTON. I see no other way.' [The plural form others SV.] Several reasons might here be noticed.'-G. "To every several man.' SHAKESPEARE. [In O.E., as in some legal phrases, several may belong to a noun in the singular.] Some people talk as if what debts were not paid were lost; but it's no such thing. Such men are the men you

=

want, if they'll only carry the laws far enough to do some good.'-MRS. KIRKLAND. [In O.E., as in M.E., the uses of some are versatile; as sv, the word may in O.E. refer to one or to several persons, and in M.E. it may refer to an indefinite part. As av, the word some may still belong to a singular or to a plural noun. In the phrases some sixty yards,' 'some dozen Romans,' etc., the adverbial some = about.] I hate the very sound of them.'-BURKE, The entertainer provides what fare he pleases.'