Part 102 (1/2)
OBS 1--The article is a kind of _index_, usually pointing to soeneral, if not a universal, principle, that no one noun admits of more than one article Hence, two or ns of two or more nouns; and hence too, by a very convenient ellipsis, an article before an adjective is often rave [_people_] rebuke _the_ gay [_people_], and _the_ gay [_people_] rave” [_people_]--_Maturin's Serlory”--_Prov_, iii, 35
”_The_ vile [_person_] will talk villainy”--_Coleridge's Lay Sermons_, p
105: see _Isaiah_, xxxii, 6 ”The testi wise _the_ simple” [_ones_]--_Psal_, xix, 7 ”_The_ Old [_Testament_] and the New Testament are alike authentic”--”_The_ anietable world are adapted to each other”--”_An_ epic [_poem_] and a dramatic poem are the same in substance”--_Ld Kaated like _the_ active” [_verb_]--_Murray's Gram_, p 99 ”Each section is supposed to contain _a_ heavy [_portion_]
and a light portion; _the_ heavy [_portion_] being the accented syllable, and _the_ light [_portion_] _the_ unaccented” [_syllable_]--_Rush, on the Voice_, p 364
OBS 2--Our language does not, like the French, _require a repetition_ of the article before every noun in a series; because the sanification of several nouns, provided they all stand in the salish: ”The understanding and language have a strict connexion”--_Murray's Gram_, i, p 356 The sense of the former noun only was meant to be lie and the understanding_ have a strict connexion,” or, ”The understanding _has_ a strict connexion _with language_” In some instances, one article _seems_ to limit the sense of several nouns that are not all in the sareater or smaller obstruction to _the speaker's_ or _writer's aim_”--_Campbell's Rhet_, p 200 That is--”to _the_ aim of _the_ speaker or _the_ writer” It is, in fact, the possessive, that limits the other nouns; for, ”_a man's foes_” means, ”_the_ foes of _a_ man;” and, ”_ noun cannot have an article immediately before it Yet the omission of articles, when it occurs, is not properly _by ellipsis_, as sorammarians declare it to be; for there never can be a proper ellipsis of an article, when there is not also an ellipsis of its noun Ellipsis supposes the omitted words to be necessary to the construction, when they are not so to the sense; and this, it would seen be in any wise necessary, it ought to be used; and if not needed in any respect, it cannot be said to be _understood_ The definite article being generally required before adjectives that are used by ellipsis as nouns, we in this case repeat it before every ter their fellows, as _the_ kind, _the_ aht”--_Dr Chalay, shall they partake The heav'n that thou alone canst make?”--_Cowper_
OBS 3--The article precedes its noun, and is never, by itself, placed after it; as, ”Passion is _the_ drunkenness of _the_ mind”--_Southey_
When an _adjective_ likewise precedes the noun, the article is usually placed before the adjective, that its power of limitation may extend over that also; as, ”_A concise_ writer cohts into _the fewest_ possible words”--_Blair's Rhet_, p 176
”_The private_ path, _the secret_ acts of _
OBS 4--The relative position of the article and the adjective is seldolish to say, ”_both the men_,”
or, ”_the two men_;” but we can by no ain, the two phrases, ”_half a dollar_,” and ”_a half dollar_,” though both good, are by no means equivalent Of the pronominal adjectives, some exclude the article; some precede it; and some follow it, like other adjectives The word _same_ is seldoer definitive before it; as, ”On _the saentlemen” After the adjective _both_, the definite article _enerally _unnecessary_, and this is a sufficient reason for o sentences will fully exerammarian, _both the parts_ of this rule”--_Murray's Gram_, i, p 192 Say, ”_both parts_” The adjective _few_ may be used either with or without an article, but not with the same import: as, ”_The feere present, were in the secret;” i e, All then present knew the thing ”_Few_ that were present, were in the secret;” ie, Not”When I say, 'There were _few_ men with him,' I speak diminutively, and mean to represent them as inconsiderable; whereas, when I say, 'There were _a few_ men with him,' I evidently intend to make the y, Articles, Obs 28
OBS 5--The pronominal adjectives which exclude the article, are _any, each, either, every, much, neither, no_, or _none, some, this, that, these, those_ The pronominal adjectives which precede the article, are _all, both, many, such_, and _what_; as, ”_All the_ world,”--”_Both the_ judges,”--”_Many a_[336] mile,”--”_Such a_ chasm,”--”_What a_ freak” In likeis limited by the adverb _too, so, as_, or _how_, is put before the article; as, ”_Too great a_ study of strength, is found to betray writers into a harsh manner”--_Blair's Rhet_, p 179 ”Like _many an_ other poor wretch, I now suffer _all the_ ill consequences of _so foolish an_ indulgence” ”_Such a_ gift is _too shtland's Gram_, p 95 ”Here flows _as clear a_ stream as any in Greece _How beautiful a_ prospect is here!”--_Bicknell's Gram_, Part ii, p 52 The pronominal adjectives which follow the article, are _few, former, first, latter, last, little, one, other_, and _saht lean either to _the one [style]_ or to _the other_, and yet be beautiful”--_Blair's Rhet_, p 179 _Many_, like _few_, sometimes follows the article; as, ”_The many_ favours which we have received”--”In conversation, for _many a man_, they say, _a many men_”--_Johnson's Dict_ In this order of the words, _a_ seems aard and needless; as,
”Told of _a many_ thousand warlike French”--_Shak_
OBS 6--When the adjective is preceded by any other adverb than _too, so, as_, or _how_, the article is almost always placed before the adverb: as, ”One of _the_ most complete ly rough passage;”--”_A_ very important difference” The adverb _quite_, however, h perhaps with a difference of construction: as, ”This is _quite a_ different thing;”--or, ”This is _a quite different_ thing” ”Finding it _quite an_ other thing;”--or, ”Finding it _a quite other_ thing”--_Locke, on Ed_, p 153 Sometimes _two adverbs_ intervene between the article and the adjective; as, ”We had a _rather more_ explicit account of the Novii”--_Philol Museum_, i, 458 But when an other adverb follows _too, so, as_, or _how_, the three words should be placed either before the article or after the noun; as, ”Who stands there in _so purely poetical_ a light”--_Ib_, i, 449 Better, perhaps: ”_In a light so purely poetical_”
OBS 7--The definitives _this, that_, and soh they supersede the article _an_ or _a_, may be followed by the adjective _one_; for we say, ”_this one thing_,” but not, ”_this a thing_” Yet, in the following sentence, _this_ and _a_ being separated by other words, appear to relate to the sareat _a_ people?”--_1 Kings_, iii, 9 But we may suppose the noun _people_ to be understood after _this_ Again, the following exa, has an ellipsis of the word _use_ after the first _a_:
”For highest cordials all their virtue lose, By _a_ too frequent and too bold _a_ use”--_Pomfret_
OBS 8--When the adjective is placed _after_ the noun, the article generally retains its place before the noun, and is not repeated before the adjective: as, ”_A_ norant_ of astronomy;”--”_The_ primrose _pale_”
In _Greek_, when an adjective is placed after its noun, if the article is applied to the noun, it is repeated before the adjective; as, ”[Greek: Hae polis hae reat city” [337]
OBS 9--Articles, according to their own definition and nature, come _before_ their nouns; but the definite article and an adjective seem sometimes to be placed after the noun to which they both relate: as, ”Section _the Fourth_;”--”Henry _the Eighth_” Such examples, however, may possibly be supposed elliptical; as, ”Section, _the fourth division_ of the chapter;”--”Henry, _the eighth king_ of that nalish_, can never be placed after its noun, nor can two articles ever properly relate to one noun, in any particular construction of it Priestley observes, ”Some writers affect to _transpose_ these words, and place the numeral adjective first; [as,] '_The first Henry_' Hume's History, Vol i, p 497 This construction is conity_ in it”--_Rudiments of E Gram_, p
150 Dr Webster cites the word _Great_, in ”_Alexander the Great_” as a _naives it as an instance of ”_cognoht, the article may be said to relate to the epithet only, as it appears to do
For, if the word is taken substantively, there is certainly no ellipsis; neither is there any transposition in putting it last, but rather, as Priestley suggests, in putting it first
OBS 10--The definite article is often prefixed to _comparatives_ and _superlatives_; and its effect is, as Murray observes, (in the words of Lowth,) ”to ly, and to define it _the more_ precisely: as, '_The more_ I examine it, _the better_ I like it' 'I like this _the least_ of any'”--_Murray's Gram_, p 33; _Lowth's_, 14
”For neither if we eat, are we _the better_; neither if we eat not, are we _the worse_”--_1 Cor_, viii, 8 ”One is not _thebeef, as I do; nor _the less_ agreeable for preferring mutton”--_Kames, El of Crit_, Vol ii, p 365 ”They are not the men in the nation, _the most_ difficult to be replaced”--_Priestley's Gram_, p
148 In these instances, the article seems to be used _adverbially_, and to relate only to the _adjective_ or _adverb_ following it (See observation fourth, on the Etyrammarians have actually reckoned _the_ an adverb After the _adjective_, the noun ht perhaps be supplied; but when the word _the_ is added to an _adverb_, we must either call it an adverb, or make an exception to Rule 1st above: and if an exception is to be iven, cannot well be improved For even if a noun be understood, it may not appear that the article relates to it, rather than to the degree of the quality Thus: ”_The_ deeper the well, _the_ clearer the water” This Dr Ash supposes to mean, ”The deeper _well_ the well _is_, the clearer _water_ the water _is_”--_Ash's Gram_, p 107 But does the text specify a _particular_ ”deeper well” or ”clearer water?” I think not To what then does _the_ refer, but to the proportionate degree of _deeper_ and _clearer_?
OBS 11--The article the is soantly used, after an idioe, in lieu of a possessive pronoun; as, ”He looked him full in _the_ face; i e in _his_ face”--_Priestley's Grae of Baal”--_Rom_, xi, 4 That is, _their knees_
OBS 12--The article _an_ or _a_, because it iular nuular in form, is sometimes preceded by this article even when it conveys the idea of plurality and takes a plural verb: as, ”There _are_ a very great _nu in _ly_”--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p 63 ”A _plurality_ of them _are_ sometimes felt at the same instant”--_Kames, El
of Crit_, Vol i, p 114 In support of this construction, it would be easy to adduce a great multitude of examples from the most reputable writers; but still, as it seems not very consistent, to take any word plurally after restricting it to the singular, we ought rather to avoid this if we can, and prefer words that literally agree in nu in _ly_”--”_More than one_ of them _are_ sometimes felt at the same instant” The word _plurality_, like other collective nouns, is literally singular: as, ”To produce the latter, a _plurality_ of objects _is_ necessary”--_Kames, El of Crit_, Vol i, p
224
OBS 13--Respecting the form of the indefinite article, present practice differs a little from that of our ancient writers _An_ was for with _h_, and before several other words which are now pronounced in such a manner as to require _a_: thus, we read in the Bible, ”_An_ help,”--”_an_ house,”--”_an_ hundred,”--”_an_ one,”--”_an_ ewer,”--”_an_ usurer;” whereassay, ”_A_ help,”--”_a_ house,”--”_a_ hundred,”--”_a_ one,”--”_a_ ewer,”--”_a_ usurer”