The principles of Latin grammar; comprising the ... - Essan.org

48 ADJECTIVES § 19Singular.Plural.Rostrum, the beak of a bird, the Rostra, a pulpit in the Roman forum,sharp part of the prow of a ship. from which orators used to addressthe people.Sal, salt.Sales, witticisms.Note 4.—All the nouns in the preceding list, except castrum and comitium,ate sometimes found in the singular, in the sense in which they more commonlyoccur in the plural.§ 19. THE ADJECTIVE.97.—An Adjective is a word used to qualifya substantive ; as, vir bo^l t s, a good man ; decemnaves, ten ships.A norm is qualified by an adjective when the object namedis thereby described, limited, or distinguished from other thingsof the same name.1. The accidents of the adjective are gender, number, andcase, and, of most adjectives, also comparison,2. Adjectives, in Latin, indicate the gender, number, andcase, by the termination ; as, bon-us, bon-a, bon-um, (98.)3. Participles have the form and declension of adjectives,while, in time and signification, they belong to the verb.4. Some adjectives denote each gender by a different terminationin the nominative, and consequently have three terminations.Some have one form common' to the masculineand feminine, and are adjectives of two terminations ; andsome are adjectives of one termination, which is common toall genders.5. Adjectives are either of the first and second declensions,or of the third only.6. Adjectives of three terminations (except thirteen), are ofthe first and second declensions ;but those of one or two terminations,are of the third.Exc. Thirteen adjectives in er, of three terminations, areof the third declension. (See 99-5,)