A Dictionary of Cont..

adjectives 12
and the -al endings and use the noun form
itself as a qualifier, as in oak table, wool shirt,
autumn leaves, coast line.
Phrases and even full clauses may sometimes
stand before a noun as if they were
simple adjectives, as in the man with the
l-turn-the-crank-of-the-universe air. For more
commonplace examples of this, see compound
words. See also clauses.
KINDS OF ADJECTNES
The function of an adjective depends to a
great extent upon its position in a sentence.
Adjectives are classified according to position
as (1) adherent (when they stand before the
noun they qualify), (2) appositive (when they
follow the noun), (3) predicate (when they
follow a verb), and (4) factitive or “objective
complement” (when they follow the object of
a verb with a special sense). Adjectives are said
to be either limiting or descriptive, but this too
depends upon their position in the sentence. See
position of adjectives.
Adjectives may be classified in many ways
according to meaning, but only a few of these
classifications have any bearing on the use of
the words. Adjectives that are made from
proper nouns are called proper adjectives and
are written with a capital letter. (See proper
nouns.) The two participles of a verb are
usually adjectives, as in falling rock and fallen
rock, and are called verbal adjectives. (See
participles.) Number words are usually adjectives.
These include the cardinal numbers, such
as two, twenty, and such related words as
dozen, few, many; and the ordinal numbers,
such as third, fifth. and such related words as
first, last, other. (See number terms.) A great
many pronouns may also be used as adjectives.
When used to qualify a noun, the words this,
that, fhwe, those, are called demonstrative
adjectives, and the possessive pronouns, my,
his, their, and so on, are called possessive
adjectives. The articles a, an, the, are also
adjectives. These last three groups together with
the indefinite pronominal adjectives, such as
some, any, each, every, and the genitive case
of nouns, such as father’s, are sometimes
classed together as definitives, because they
make the reference as definite or specific as
the facts allow. (See definitive adjectives.)
Some of these classifications are reflected in
the order that is followed when several adjectives
qualify the same noun.
ORDER IN A SERIES
A noun may be qualified by more than one
adjective. Izaak Walton wrote that he would
consider the lilies, and also those very many
other various little living creatures that are fed
by the goodness of the God of nature.
In piling up his adjectives in this way,
Walton had no choice about the order in
which he must use them. Words such as very,
which apply to only one word in the series,
are adverbs and always stand next to the word
they qualify. True adjectives may be joined
by and, as in strong and beautiful children, or
they may be set off from one another by
commas, as in strong, happy, beautiful children.
In either case, they are said to be
“leveled” and all of them have exactly the
same relation to the noun they qualify. Otherwise,
in a series of adjectives each word qualifies
or limits the meaning of all the words that
follow, up to and including the noun. That is,
the words which restrict the total meaning
most stand first and there is a gradual progression
through wider and wider meanings
until the noun is reached.
This is so much a part of the natural order
in an English sentence that it will ordinarily
take care of itself. One does not have to know
which kinds of adjectives come first and which
second in order to use them properly. But the
rules are relatively rigid and can be described
in detail.
With certain exceptions which will be mentioned
later, the definitive adjectives must
stand first. Two words of this kind never
qualify the same noun unless they are leveled.
Number terms come next, and frequently more
than one of them is used. For the order that
must be followed when several words of this
class qualify the same noun, see number terms.
These are followed by words implying a judgment,
such as beautiful, terrible, expensive,
true, diflerent. There may be several words of
this kind. If there are, they are always leveled
and it makes no difference what order they are
used in. Finally there are the purely descriptive
words. Here some variation is allowed, but as
a rule the order is size, shape, other characteristics.
The other characteristics are usually
listed with the most obvious first. Then comes
the noun, which may be additionally qualified
by a following phrase or clause.
No one is likely to use all the kinds of
adjectives there are in the same phrase. But
the ones that are used will have to follow this
order if the sentence is to lie flat. In the
Walton sentence quoted above, the word
various is likely to jump to the modem ear.
He meant by the word “of different kinds” or
“to be classified differently.” It is therefore
a judgment word and belongs where he placed
it. But if we hear it as meaning “several” it
belongs in place of “very many.” If we hear
it as “‘varied” or “having different appearances,”
it is a general descriptive word and
should follow little.
The orderly progression of adjectives just
described may be disturbed for any of three
reasons. (1) Certain words, such as dear little
children and nice old lady, are used together
so constantly that they may come to be felt as
a single idea and one may hesitate to break
into a compound of this sort. As a result, one
might say these curly-headed dear little children
or that little nice old lady. (2) The words
all, both, and the names of some fractions, may
stand before a definitive as if they were being
used with the word of, although the of actually
is not there, as in all the day, both the boys,
half the price. (3) Words used to mean “in a
high degree” are being used as adverbs. They