Caution For Analyzing Or Parsing - Remarks On Irregular Adjectives - Parts Of Speech-ESL/Learn English Grammar

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CAUTION FOR ANALYZING OR PARSING


[Sidenote: _Think what each adjective belongs to._]


168. Some care must be taken to decide what word is modified by an

adjective. In a series of adjectives in the same sentence, all may

belong to the same noun, or each may modify a different word or group

of words.


For example, in this sentence, "The young pastor's voice was

tremulously sweet, rich, deep, and broken," it is clear that all four

adjectives after _was_ modify the noun _voice_. But in this sentence,

"She showed her usual prudence and her usual incomparable decision,"

_decision_ is modified by the adjective _incomparable_; _usual_

modifies _incomparable decision_, not _decision_ alone; and the

pronoun _her_ limits _usual incomparable decision_.


Adjectives modifying the same noun are said to be of the _same rank_;

those modifying different words or word groups are said to be

adjectives of _different rank_. This distinction is valuable in a

study of punctuation.


Exercise


In the following quotations, tell what each adjective modifies:--


1. Whenever that look appeared in her wild, bright, deeply black

eyes, it invested them with a strange remoteness and

intangibility.--HAWTHORNE.


2. It may still be argued, that in the present divided state of

Christendom a college which is positively Christian must be

controlled by some religious denomination.--NOAH PORTER.


3. Every quaking leaf and fluttering shadow sent the blood

backward to her heart.--MRS. STOWE.


4. This, our new government, is the first in the history of the

world based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral

truth.--A.H. STEPHENS


5. May we not, therefore, look with confidence to the ultimate

universal acknowledgment of the truths upon which our system

rests?--_Id._


6. A few improper jests and a volley of good, round, solid,

satisfactory, and heaven-defying oaths.--HAWTHORNE.


7. It is well known that the announcement at any private rural

entertainment that there is to be ice cream produces an immediate

and profound impression.--HOLMES.






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