The adjectives an, a, and the, also called articles, are used as follows:

A book, an apple, means any book or any apple, and not a particular book or apple.

An or a is called the indefinite article because it "indicates any one of the things for which the noun stands. A boy, a top, a horse, a bird, a pen, a house.

A is used before words beginning with a consonant sound.

An hour, an instant, an order, an urgent request, an evening, an honest man.

An is used before words beginning with a vowel sound.

NOTE. The article an or a, meaning one, may be classed as an adjective of quantity.

NOTE. - In such expressions as to go a hunting, a is not an article, but a preposition.

Study these sentences:

1. The man bought a black and white horse.

2. The man bought a black and a white horse.

It is said of the man in the first sentence that he bought one horse of two colors; in the second that he bought two horses, one black and the other white.

It will be seen that when two or more words refer to the same person or thing, the indefinite article should be used before the first only; but when the words refer to different persons or things, the article should be repeated before each.

1. There stands the boy of whom you were speaking.

2. I met the Macdonalds last evening.

3. The French, the Spanish, the Ohio, the army.

The is called the definite article because it is used to point out objects definitely.

1. The architect and builder called at my house.

2. The architect and the builder called at my house.

In the first sentence the architect and builder are the same person. In the second sentence the architect is one person and the builder a different person.

A study of these sentences shows that when two or more words refer to the same person or thing the definite article should be used before the first only; but when the words refer to different persons or things, the article should be repeated before each.

1. The first and the second boy in the line.

2. The first and second boys in the line.

When two or more adjectives do not describe the same thing, the definite article is repeated before each, if the noun is in the singular; but it is used with the first only if the noun is in the plural.

In such expressions as, "The more you study, the more you learn," the is not an article, but an adverb.

XLIII. COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES.

Chalk is white, milk is whiter, snow is the whitest. It will be noticed in the above statements that the whiteness of chalk, milk, and snow are compared; that the

milk has a greater degree of whiteness than the chalk, and that the snow has the greatest degree of whiteness.

Here the adjectives white, whiter, and whitest vary in form to express different degrees of the quality of white

ness.

These three degrees are the positive, white; the comparative, whiter; and the superlative, whitest.

Tell the three degrees of comparison in the adjectives in the following sentences:

1. My apple is large, Jane's is larger, and Mary's is the largest.

2. The sky in France is blue, ours is bluer, and Italy's is the bluest of all.

3. This book is pretty, yours is prettier, but my mother's is the prettiest.

Comparison of adjectives is their use to express quality in different degrees.

The positive degree of an adjective is its form to express a quality without indicating the degree of the quality.

1. He is a wiser man than his friend.

2. He is less prosperous than his neighbor.

3. That is a sharper knife than mine.

The comparative degree of an adjective is its form to express a higher or a lower degree of a quality than is expressed by the positive.

1. He is the wisest man in the country.

2. This is the sharpest knife in the room. 3. You have the largest apple.

4. You should not be the least studious boy in the class.

The superlative degree of an adjective is its form to express the highest or lowest degree of a quality.

There are three degrees of comparison, the positive, the comparative and the superlative.

We see that to express qualities above the positive degree the forms of the adjectives are changed in several ways:

Small, smaller, smallest; dry, drier, driest; slow, slower, slowest.

1. Adjectives of one syllable generally add er to form the comparative, and est to form the superlative.

Able, abler, ablest; happy, happier, happiest; polite, politer, politest.

2. Adjectives of two syllables that end in le or y, or that are accented on the second syllable, annex er to form the comparative, and est to form the superlative.

Loyal, more loyal, most loyal; important, more important, most important.

3. Most other adjectives of two syllables and adjectives of more than two syllables prefix more to form the comparative, and most to form the superlative.

XLV. IRREGULAR COMPARISON.

Some adjectives are compared irregularly. The following list contains most of those thus compared: