persons. In the following couplet, the noun _places_ or
_things_ is understood after "_open_," and again after "_covert_," which
last word is sometimes misprinted "_coverts_:"

"Together let us beat this ample field,
Try what _the open_, what _the covert_, yield."--_Pope, on Man._

OBS. 6.--The adjective, in English, is generally placed immediately _before
its noun_; as, "_Vain_ man! is grandeur given to _gay_ attire?"--_Beattie_.
Those adjectives which relate to _pronouns_, most commonly follow them; as,
"They left _me weary_ on a grassy turf."--_Milton._ But to both these
general rules there are many exceptions; for the position of an adjective
may be varied by a variety of circumstances, not excepting the mere
convenience of emphasis: as, "And Jehu said, Unto _which_ of _all us_?"--_2
Kings_, ix, 5. In the following instances the adjective is placed _after
the word_ to which it relates:

1. When other words depend on the adjective, or stand before it to qualify
it; as, "A mind _conscious of right_,"--"A wall _three feet thick_,"--"A
body of troops _fifty thousand strong_."

2. When the quality results from an action, or receives its application
through a verb or participle; as, "Virtue renders _life happy_."--"He was
in Tirzah, drinking _himself drunk_ in the house of Arza."--_1 Kings_, xvi,
9. "All men agree to call _vinegar sour, honey sweet_, and _aloes
bitter_."--_Burke, on Taste_, p. 38. "God made _thee perfect_, not
_immutable_."--_Milton_.

3. When the quality excites admiration, and the adjective would thus be
more clearly distinctive; as, "Goodness _infinite_,"--"Wisdom
_unsearchable_."--_Murray_.

4. When a verb comes between the adjective and the noun; as, "Truth stands
_independent_ of all external things."--_Burgh_. "Honour is not _seemly_
for a fool."--_Solomon_.

5. When the adjective is formed by means of the prefix _a_; as, _afraid,
alert, alike, alive, alone, asleep, awake, aware, averse, ashamed, askew_.
To these may be added a few other words; as, _else, enough, extant,
extinct, fraught, pursuant_.

6. When the adjective has the nature, but not the form, of a participle;
as, "A queen _regnant_,"--"The prince _regent_,"--"The heir
_apparent_,"--"A lion, not _rampant_, but _couchant_ or _dormant_"--"For
the time then _present_."

OBS. 7.--In some instances, the adjective may
_either precede or follow_ its noun; and the writer may take his choice, in
respect to its position: as, 1.