An English Grammar Part 96

[Sidenote: Three first, _etc._]

These are the _three first_ needs of civilized life.--RUSKIN.

He has already finished the _three first_ sticks of it.--ADDISON.

In my _two last_ you had so much of Lismahago that I suppose you are glad he is gone.--SMOLLETT.

I have not numbered the lines except of the _four first_ books.

--COWPER.

The _seven first_ centuries were filled with a succession of triumphs.--GIBBON.

ARTICLES.

[Sidenote: _Definite article_.]

433. The definite article is repeated before each of two modifiers of the same noun, when the purpose is to call attention to the noun expressed and the one understood. In such a case two or more separate objects are usually indicated by the separation of the modifiers.

Examples of this construction are,--

[Sidenote: _With a singular noun_.]

The merit of _the Barb_, _the Spanish_, and _the English_ breed is derived from a mixture of Arabian blood.--GIBBON.

_The righteous_ man is distinguished from _the unrighteous_ by his desire and hope of justice.--RUSKIN.

He seemed deficient in sympathy for concrete human things either on _the sunny_ or _the stormy_ side.--CARLYLE.

It is difficult to imagine a greater contrast than that between _the first_ and _the second_ part of the volume.--_The Nation_, No. 1508.

[Sidenote: _With a plural noun_.]

There was also a fundamental difference of opinion as to whether the earliest cleavage was between _the Northern_ and _the Southern_ languages.--TAYLOR, _Origin of the Aryans_.

434. The same repet.i.tion of the article is sometimes found before nouns alone, to distinguish clearly, or to emphasize the meaning; as,--

In every line of _the Philip_ and _the Saul_, the greatest poems, I think, of the eighteenth century.--MACAULAY.

He is master of the two-fold Logos, _the thought_ and _the word_, distinct, but inseparable from each other.--NEWMAN.

_The flowers_, and _the presents_, and _the trunks and bonnet boxes_ ... having been arranged, the hour of parting came.--THACKERAY.

[Sidenote: The _not repeated. One object and several modifiers, with a singular noun_.]

435. Frequently, however, the article is not repeated before each of two or more adjectives, as in Sec. 433, but is used with one only; as,--

Or fanciest thou _the red and yellow_ Clothes-screen yonder is but of To-day, without a Yesterday or a To-morrow?--CARLYLE.

_The lofty_, _melodious_, _and flexible_ language.--SCOTT.

_The fairest and most loving_ wife in Greece.--TENNYSON.

[Sidenote: _Meaning same as in Sec. 433, with a plural noun_.]

Neither can there be a much greater resemblance between _the ancient and modern_ general views of the town.--HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS.

At Talavera _the English and French_ troops for a moment suspended their conflict.--MACAULAY.

The Crusades brought to the rising commonwealths of _the Adriatic and Tyrrhene_ seas a large increase of wealth.--_Id._

Here the youth of both s.e.xes, of _the higher and middling_ orders, were placed at a very tender age.--PRESCOTT.

[Sidenote: _Indefinite article_.]

436. The indefinite article is used, like the definite article, to limit two or more modified nouns, only one of which is expressed. The article is repeated for the purpose of separating or emphasizing the modified nouns. Examples of this use are,--

We shall live _a better_ and _a higher_ and _a n.o.bler_ life.--BEECHER.

The difference between the products of _a well-disciplined_ and those of _an uncultivated_ understanding is often and admirably exhibited by our great dramatist.--S.T. COLERIDGE.

Let us suppose that the pillars succeed each other, _a round_ and _a square_ one alternately.--BURKE.

As if the difference between _an accurate_ and _an inaccurate_ statement was not worth the trouble of looking into the most common book of reference.--MACAULAY.

To every room there was _an open_ and _a secret_ pa.s.sage.--JOHNSON.

Notice that in the above sentences (except the first) the noun expressed is in contrast with the modified noun omitted.

[Sidenote: _One article with several adjectives._]

437. Usually the article is not repeated when the several adjectives unite in describing one and the same noun. In the sentences of Secs.

433 and 436, one noun is expressed; yet the same word understood with the other adjectives has a different meaning (except in the first sentence of Sec. 436). But in the following sentences, as in the first three of Sec. 435, the adjectives a.s.sist each other in describing the same noun. It is easy to see the difference between the expressions "_a red-and-white_ geranium," and "_a red and a white_ geranium."

Examples of several adjectives describing the same object:--

To inspire us with _a free and quiet_ mind.--B. JONSON.

Here and there _a desolate and uninhabited_ house.--d.i.c.kENS.

James was declared _a mortal and b.l.o.o.d.y_ enemy.--MACAULAY.

So wert thou born into a tuneful strain, _An early, rich, and inexhausted_ vein.

--DRYDEN.

[Sidenote: _For rhetorical effect._]