[Sidenote:  List III.]

167.  The adjectives in List III. are like the comparative forms in List II. in having no adjective positives.  They have no superlatives, and have no comparative force, being merely descriptive.

     Her bows were deep in the water, but her after deck was still
     dry.—­KINGSLEY.

     Her, by the by, in after years I vainly endeavored to
     trace.—­DE QUINCEY.

     The upper and the under side of the medal of Jove.—­EMERSON.

     Have you ever considered what a deep under meaning there lies
     in our custom of strewing flowers?—­RUSKIN.

     Perhaps he rose out of some nether region.—­HAWTHORNE.

Over is rarely used separately as an adjective.

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.