Chapter XLV: Limiting Adjectives

=163.= Limiting adjectives are those which merely point out an object without telling any quality of it. The most useful limiting adjectives are _this_, _that_, and their plural forms _these_ and _those_. These four words are often called =demonstrative adjectives=.

Some limiting adjectives tell number or amount, but in a somewhat indefinite way, as _all_, _some_, _several_, _few_, _much_, _little_, _more_, _most_.

Some tell number definitely, as _one_, _two_, _six hundred_, _three million_, _first_, _second_, _fiftieth_.

Number words, like _one_, _two_, _three_, _four_, _five_, etc., are often called =numeral adjectives=.

=164.= The limiting adjective _enough_ may precede or follow the noun it modifies. We may say _enough butter_ or _butter enough_; _enough time_ or _time enough_.

The limiting adjective _else_ always follows the noun or pronoun that it modifies. We say _who else_, _nobody else_, _everybody else_, _nothing else_.

=165.= When the interrogative pronouns _which_ and _what_ are used to modify a noun, as in _which picture?_ _what city?_ they cease to be pronouns, and become limiting adjectives. Since they are used to ask questions, we call them =interrogative adjectives=.

NOTE.—_Which_ and _what_, when used as adjectives, are
sometimes called =pronominal adjectives=.

=166.= Three very common words, _a_, _an_, and _the_, are classed with limiting adjectives. They are called =articles.= _The_ is a =definite article=; _an_ and _a_ are the =indefinite article=. _A_ is really the same word as _an_, but when it is used before a word beginning with a consonant sound, as _bicycle_, the _n_ is dropped for the sake of a more pleasing sound.

=167.= We use _the_ when we wish to specify a particular object, and _an_ or _a_ when we do not care to be specific. What is the difference between these sentences?

The man on horseback came to the turn in the road.

A man on horseback came to a turn in the road.

=168.= We use _the_ before a singular noun to designate a whole class of objects; as, “The oak is a sturdy tree,” “The cow is a domestic animal.”

=169.= We repeat the article when we wish to denote more than one person or thing. What is the difference between these pairs of sentences?

(_a_) The secretary and treasurer came late.
(_b_) The secretary and the treasurer came together.

(_a_) I saw a red and green signal.
(_b_) I saw a red and a green signal.

=170.= We use _an_ or _a_ after the adjectives _many_ and _such_ instead of before them; as, _many_ a man, _such_ a storm.

=171.= The sentence, “I have _few_ books,” means I have few compared with many; but the sentence, “I have _a few_ books,” means I have a few compared with none. What is the difference in meaning between these sentences?

I have little time for sewing.

I have a little time for sewing.

=Summary.=—=Limiting adjectives= are those which merely point out.

Limiting adjectives that denote a definite number are called =numerals=.

_Which_ and _what_ may be used as =interrogative adjectives=.

The =articles= are _the_, _an_, and _a_.

_The_ is a =definite article=. _An_ and _a_ are =indefinite articles=.

=Exercise 1.=—Select all the limiting adjectives, including articles, and tell what they modify. Give reasons for the articles used.

1. What business brings you here?

2. In that same village, and in one of these very houses, there
lived, many years since, a simple, good-natured fellow of the
name of Rip Van Winkle.

3. Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed,
every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical hues
and shapes of these mountains.

4. Which fan did your mother carry when she was a young lady in
Maine?

5. Lobo had only five followers during the latter part of his
reign.

6. What excuse shall I make to Dame Van Winkle?

7. The dog managed so that each fresh rush should be toward the
settlement.

8. No wild animal dies of old age.

9. Which part in the play of _Julius Cæsar_ did Edwin Booth
take?

10. When this dog of marvelous wind saw that the wolf was dead,
he gave him no second glance.

11. After much pains on my behalf and many pains on his, Bingo
learned to go at the word in quest of our old yellow cow.

12.

I only ask a hut of stone,
A very plain brown stone will do,
That I may call my own;
And close at hand is such a one
In yonder street that fronts the sun.

13. No other living thing can go so slow as a boy sent on an
errand.

14. What courage can withstand the ever-during and
all-besetting terrors of a woman’s tongue?

=Exercise 2.=—Classify the words _which_ and _what_ in the following sentences as interrogative pronouns or interrogative adjectives. Where they are pronouns, tell their case. Where they are adjectives, tell what they modify.

1. What have you in your basket?

2. What manner of man is this?

3. Which of these pictures did you paint?

4. Which is it, a toadstool or a mushroom?

5. Which city has the larger population?

6. Which boy threw the stone?

7. What stone did he throw?

8. What did the man come for?

9. What do you want?

10. Which will you take?