An English Grammar Part 36

When G.o.d at first made man, Having _a gla.s.s_ of blessings standing by.

--HERBERT.

The roofs were turned into arches of ma.s.sy stone, joined by _a cement_ that grew harder by time.--JOHNSON.

[Sidenote: _Like the numeral adjective_ one.]

192. In some cases _an_ or _a_ has the full force of the numeral adjective _one_. It is shown in the following:--

To every room there was _an_ open and _a_ secret pa.s.sage.--JOHNSON.

In a short time these become a small tree, _an_ inverted pyramid resting on the apex of the other.--Th.o.r.eAU.

All men are at last of _a_ size.--EMERSON.

At the approach of spring the red squirrels got under my house, two at _a_ time.--Th.o.r.eAU.

[Sidenote: _Equivalent to the word_ each _or_ every.]

193. Often, also, the indefinite article has the force of _each_ or _every_, particularly to express measure or frequency.

It would be so much more pleasant to live at his ease than to work eight or ten hours _a day_.--BULWER

[Sidenote: _Compare to Sec. 184._]

Strong beer, such as we now buy for eighteenpence _a gallon_, was then a penny _a gallon_.--FROUDE

[Sidenote: _With_ such, many, what.]

194. _An_ or _a_ is added to the adjectives _such_, _many_, and _what_, and may be considered a part of these in modifying substantives.

How was I to pay _such a_ debt?--THACKERAY.

_Many a_ one you and I have had here below.--THACKERAY.

_What a_ world of merriment then melody foretells!--POE.

[Sidenote: _With_ not _and_ many.]

195 LIST III.

A few of comparative form but not comparative meaning:--

After Over Under Nether.

_Not_ and _never_ with _a_ or _an_ are numeral adjectives, instead of adverbs, which they are in general.

_Not a_ drum was heard, _not a_ funeral note.--WOLFE

My Lord Duke was as hot as a flame at this salute, but said _never a_ word.--THACKERAY.

NOTE.--All these have the function of adjectives; but in the last a.n.a.lysis of the expressions, _such_, _many_, _not_, etc., might be considered as adverbs modifying the article.

[Sidenote: _With_ few _or_ little.]

196. The adjectives _few_ and _little_ have the negative meaning of _not much_, _not many_, without the article; but when _a_ is put before them, they have the positive meaning of _some_. Notice the contrast in the following sentences:--

Of the country beyond the Mississippi _little_ more was known than of the heart of Africa.--MCMASTER

To both must I of necessity cling, supported always by the hope that when _a little_ time, _a few_ years, shall have tried me more fully in their esteem, I may be able to bring them together.--_Keats's Letters_.

_Few_ of the great characters of history have been so differently judged as Alexander.--SMITH, _History of Greece_

[Sidenote: _With adjectives, changed to nouns_.]

197. When _the_ is used before adjectives with no substantive following (Sec. 181 and note), these words are adjectives used as nouns, or pure nouns; but when _an_ or _a_ precedes such words, they are always nouns, having the regular use and inflections of nouns; for example,--

Such are the words _a brave_ should use.--COOPER.

In the great society of wits, John Gay deserves to be _a favorite_, and to have a good place.--THACKERAY

Only the name of one obscure epigrammatist has been embalmed for use in the verses of _a rival_.--PEARSON.

Exercise.--Bring up sentences with five uses of the indefinite article.

HOW TO Pa.r.s.e ARTICLES.

198. In parsing the article, tell--

(1) What word it limits.

(2) Which of the above uses it has.

Exercise.

Pa.r.s.e the articles in the following:--

1. It is like gathering a few pebbles off the ground, or bottling a little air in a phial, when the whole earth and the whole atmosphere are ours.

2. Aristeides landed on the island with a body of Hoplites, defeated the Persians and cut them to pieces to a man.

3. The wild fire that lit the eye of an Achilles can gleam no more.

4. But it is not merely the neighborhood of the cathedral that is mediaeval; the whole city is of a piece.