ers_,--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."--_B