"Please
to pay to A. B. the amount of the _within_ bill." Whether properly used or
not, the words _above, after, beneath, over, under, and within_, are here
unquestionably made _adjectives_; yet every scholar knows, that they are
generally prepositions, though sometimes adverbs.

CLASSES.

Adjectives may be divided into six classes; namely, _common, proper,
numeral, pronominal, participial_, and _compound_.

I. A _common adjective_ is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting
quality or situation; as, _Good, bad, peaceful, warlike--eastern, western,
outer, inner_.

II. A _proper adjective_ is an adjective formed from a proper name; as,
_American, English, Platonic, Genoese_.

III. A _numeral adjective_ is an adjective that expresses a definite
number; as, _One, two, three, four, five, six_, &c.

IV. A _pronominal adjective_ is a definitive word which may either
accompany its noun, or represent it understood; as, "_All_ join to guard
what _each_ desires to gain."--_Pope_. That is, "_All men_ join to guard
what _each man_ desires to gain."

V. A _participial adjective_ is one that has the form of a participle, but
differs from it by rejecting the idea of time; as, "An _amusing_
story,"--"A _lying_ divination."

VI. A _compound adjective_ is one that consists of two or more words joined
together, either by the hyphen or solidly: as, _Nut-brown, laughter-loving,
four-footed; threefold, lordlike, lovesick_.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--This distribution of the adjectives is no less easy to be applied,
than necessary to a proper explanation in parsing. How many adjectives
there are in the language, it is difficult to say; none of our
dictionaries profess to exhibit all that are embraced in some of the
foregoing classes. Of the Common Adjectives, there are probably not fewer
than six thousand, exclusive of the common nouns which we refer to this
class when they are used adjectively. Walker's Rhyming Dictionary contains
five thousand or more, the greater part of which may be readily
distinguished by their peculiar endings. Of those which end in _ous_, as
_generous_, there are about 850. Of those in _y_ or _ly_, as _shaggy,
homely_, there are about 550. Of those in _ive_, as _deceptive_, there are
about 400. Of those in _al_, as _autumnal_, there are about 550. Of those
in _ical_, as _mechanical_, there are about 350. Of those in _able_, as
_valuable_, there are about 600. Of those in _ible_, as _credible_, there