major and
minor: as, The
elder’s
advice,—One of the
elders,—His
betters,—Our
superiors,—The
interior of the country,—A handsome
exterior,—Your
seniors,—My
juniors,—A
major in the army,—He
is yet a
minor. The word
other,
which has something of the nature of a comparative,
likewise takes the form of a noun, as before suggested;
and, in that form, the reader, if he will, may call
it a noun: as, “What do ye more than
others?”—
Bible.
“God in thus much is bounded, that the evil
hath he left unto
an other; and
that Dark
Other hath usurped the evil which Omnipotence laid
down.”—
Tupper’s Book of
Thoughts, p. 45. Some call it a pronoun.
But it seems to be pronominal, merely by ellipsis
of the noun after it; although, unlike a mere adjective,
it assumes the ending of the noun, to mark that ellipsis.
Perhaps therefore, the best explanation of it would
be this: “’
Others is a pronominal
adjective, having the form of a noun, and put for
other
men; in the third person, plural number, masculine
gender, and nominative case.” The gender
of this word varies, according to that of the contrasted
term; and the case, according to the relation it bears
to other words. In the following example, it
is neuter and objective: “The fibres of
this muscle act as those of
others.”—
Cheyne.
Here, “as
those of others,” means,
“as
the fibres of
other muscles.”
OBS. 16.—“Comparatives and superlatives
seem sometimes to part with their relative nature,
and only to retain their intensive, especially
those which are formed by the superlative adverb most;
as, ’A most learned man,’—’A
most brave man:’ i. e. not the bravest
or the most learned man that ever was, but a man possessing
bravery or learning in a very eminent degree.”—See
Alexander Murray’s Gram., p. 110.
This use of the terms of comparison is thought by
some not to be very grammatical.
OBS. 17.—Contractions of the superlative
termination est, as high’st for
highest, bigg’st for biggest, though sometimes
used by the poets, are always inelegant, and may justly
be considered grammatically improper. They occur
most frequently in doggerel verse, like that of Hudibras;
the author of which work, wrote, in his droll fashion,
not only the foregoing monosyllables, but learned’st
for most learned, activ’st for most
active, desperat’st for most desperate,
epidemical’st for most epidemical,
&c.
“And th’ activ’st
fancies share as loose alloys,
For want of equal weight to
counterpoise.”—Butler’s Poems.
“Who therefore finds
the artificial’st fools
Have not been chang’d
i th’ cradle, but the schools.”—Ib.,
p. 143.