763 
GRAM 
may fay, “This is a fweet apple, that a four apple.” 
"i'he words fmctl and four are adjectives. Since the ad¬ 
jective is the word exprelTing the quality of fome ob, 
ject, it can have no meaning by itLlf, and requires the 
prefence, or the implied prefence, of the fubftantive ; 
and hence that fingularity which attends tiiem in the 
Greek and Latin, of having the fame form given them 
witli fubllantive nouns; being declined, like th.em, by 
Cafes, and fubjected to tlte like diftinbtions of number 
and gencler. Aiid hence it has happened, that gramma¬ 
rians hat e iiiade them to belong to the fame part of 
fpeech, and divided the noun into fubllantive and ad¬ 
jective ; an arrangement founded more on attention to 
the external form of words titan te their nature and 
force. For adjectives, or terms of quality, liave not, 
by their nature, the lealt refemblauce to fubllantive 
nouns, as they never exprefs any thing wliich can polli- 
bly fubfilt by itfelf; which is the very elfence of the 
fubllantive noun. They are, indeed, more a-kin to 
verbs, which, like them, exprefs tite attribute of fome 
fubltance. 
It may, at firft view, appear fomewhat odd and fan- 
taflic, that adjcClives lliould, in the ancient languages, 
have alfumed fo much the form of fubftantives ; fince 
neither number, nor gender, nor cafes, nor relations, 
have any thing to do, in a proper I'enfe, with mere qua¬ 
lities, fuch as, good or great, foft or hard. And yet bo- 
71 US, and magnus, and tenor, liave their fingtilar and pilii- 
ral, their mafeuline and fen inine, their genitives and 
datives, like any of the names of fiibftances or perfons. 
But this can be accounted for, from the genius of thofe 
tongues. They avoided, as much as pollible, confider- 
ing qualities feparately or in the abltraCt. They made 
them a part or appendage of the fubltance which they 
ferved to diltinguiih ; tlicy made the adjeCtive depend 
on its fubllantive, and refemble it in termination, in 
number, and gender, in order that the two might coa- 
lelce the more intimately, and be joined in the form of 
expicllion as they were in the nature of things. The 
liberty of tranfpofition, too, which thofe languages in¬ 
dulged, required Inch a method as tliis to be followed. 
For, allowing the related words of a fentence to be 
placed at a diltance from each other, it required the re¬ 
lation of adjectives to their proper fubftantives to be 
pointed out, by fuch finilar circiimftances of form and 
teimination, as, according to the grammatical ftyle, 
ftiould fhow their concordance. Wlicn we fay, in Eng- 
iifli, the “Beautiful wife of a brave man,” the juxta- 
pofition of tlie vvords prevents all ambigtiity. But 
when we fay, in Latin, “ Formofa fords viri uxor it is 
only the agreement, in gender, immber, and cafe, of the 
adjectivewJiich is tlie firft word of the leiitence, 
with tlie lubitantive uxor, which is the laft word, that 
declares the meaning. 
“ 1 he lame word,” fays Mr. Tooke, in the Second 
Part of his Diverfions of Puiley, “ is not fometimes an 
adjective and fometimes a fubftantive. But it is true 
that fome languages have fuch defeCts, that, for want 
of an adjective diftinCiion to fome of their terms, they 
are forced to attribute the term iTelf without any adlie- 
rent intimation of its attribution. \v liich defect, viz. 
the want of an adjcBive termination, was, 1 fuppofe, ori¬ 
ginally tlie cafe w ith all terms in the rude ftate of all 
languages: and tills defect ftill continues molt in tlie 
moft imperfect and unimproved languages. The want 
of an adjoBive termination to the figns of ideas, is more 
eafily borne in languages where the added fignis clolely 
joined to tiie lign which it is intended to accompany. 
But, without an adjeBive termination, all tranlpolition 
would be excluded : and therefore the tranfpoled lan¬ 
guages are never lo deficient in this refpeCt as the 
otiiers. InEiighni, inltead of adjoBiving owx own iuh- 
ft.mtives, we liave bon owed, in immenfe numbers, ad- 
ligns from oilier languages; without borrowing 
itfic unadjcBived ligns of thole fame ideas; becuul'e our 
M A R. 
authors frequently found they had occafion for the for¬ 
mer, but not for the latter ; and, not iinderftanding 
the nature of language, or the nature of the very* be¬ 
nefit they were receiving ; they did not, as they might 
and ihoiild h ive done, improve tlteir own language by 
the fame contrivance within itfelf ; but borrowed from 
otlier languages abbreviations ready made to their hands. 
Thus, wliile the fubftantives are Engiilh, as by, man, 
woman, mind, birth, life. See. the adjectives are of foreign 
origin, ui infantine, puerile, virile, human, female, feminine, 
mental, natal, vital. See. The adoption of fiich words as 
thele, was indeed a benefit and an improvement of our 
language ; which however would have been much bet- 
ter and more properly obtained by adjeBiving our own 
words. For, as the matter now Hands, wlien a poor fo¬ 
reigner has learned all the names of things in the Eng- 
lifti tongue, he nuift go to other languages for a multi¬ 
tude of the adjeBived names of the fame things. And 
even an unlearned native can never underftand the mean¬ 
ing of one quarter of that which is called his native 
tongue.” Hence the common remark, that we cannot uu- 
derlhind onr own language witliout firft learning Latin. 
Ot Veriss. —Of tlie whole clafs of words that are 
called attributive, and indeed of all the parts of fpeecli, 
the moft complex'by far is the verb. It is chiefly in 
this part of fpeech that the fubtile and profound meta- 
pbyfic of language appears ; and tlierefore, in examin¬ 
ing the nature and difierent variations of the verb, tltere 
might be room for ample difciilfion. But as fuch gram¬ 
matical dilcuillons, when purfued far, become intricate 
and oblcure, w e thall avoid dwelling any longer on this 
fubject than is abfolutely neccli'ary. The verb is fo 
Tar of tlie fame nature with the adjeCtive, that it ex- 
prelfes, like it, as M. Siret obferves, an attribute or 
property of fome perfon or thing. But it does more 
than this. For, in all verbs in every language, there 
are no lefs than three things implied at once ; the attri¬ 
bute of fome lubitantive, an affirmation concerning that 
attribute, and time. Thus, when we fay “the fun 
ftiines;” ftiining is the attribute aferibed to the fun; 
tire prefent time is marked ; and an affirmation is in¬ 
cluded, tliat this property of ffiining belongs at that 
time to the lun. The participle fiinitig is merely aa 
adjedtive, which denotes an attribute or property, and 
alio exprellcs time; but carries no affirmation. The 
infinitive mood, to fine, may be called the name of the 
verb; it carries neither time nor affirmation, but limply 
exprell’es tliat attribute, adtion, or ftate of things, w inch 
is to be the fubjedl of the other moods and tenfes. 
Hence the infinitive often carries the refcmblance of a 
fubftantive noun ; and, both in Engliffi and Latin, is 
fometimes conltruCted as fuch. As, Scire tuum nihil eft ; 
Duke et decorum eft pro patria mori. And, in Engliffi, in 
the lame manner ; “To write well is difficult; to I'peak 
eloquently is Itill more difficult.” But as through all 
the otlier tenfes and moods the affirmation runs, and is 
elfential to them ; “ The fun ftiines, was Ihining, llione, 
will lliine, would have ftione. See. the affirmation feems 
to be tiiat wliicli chiefly dillinguifties the verb from the 
other parts of Ipeecii, and give it its moft confpicuous 
power. Hence there can be no fentence or complete 
propolition, without a verb either exprelled or implie'd. 
For, wlienever we fpeak, we always mean to alfert tliat 
fomething is, or is not; and the word wliicli carries 
this aftertion or affirmation, is a verb. From this fort 
of eminence belonging to it, this pait of fpeech hath 
received its name, verb, from the Latin verbuni, or ‘ the 
word,’ by way of diltindtion. 
Verbs, therefore, from their importance and neceffity 
’ in fpeech, mull liave been coeval with men’s firft at- 
temjits towards the formation of language : though, in¬ 
deed, it mult have been t]ie work of long time to rear 
them up to that accurate and complex Itrudlure whicli 
they now poli'cls. It feems very probable, as Dr. Smith, 
hath fuggelled, that the radical verb, or the firft form 
I of 
