Theocratic Aid To Kingdom Publishers

Lesson 23

NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES

"Jehovah God formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them: and whatsoever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field." (Gen. 2:19,20, A.S.V.) Each name that Adam gave the animals is in the classification of words called nouns; therefore a noun is a name.

Any name is a noun. Lion is a noun or name. Adam, man, woman, child, book, Jerusalem, integrity, and blackness are

all names or nouns. Nouns are of three classes: common, proper, and abstract. A common noun names a class, such as man, woman, child, and book. It docs not distinguish, for example, one man from another, but the term is common to all. But the name Jerusalem or Adam is proper only to the particular places or individuals so named. Hence both of these names are proper nouns. The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized. An abstract noun is the name of an idea or quality, such as integrity and blackness.

All the nouns just mentioned refer to just one, and therefore are called singular nouns. If they refer to more than one, such as books, etc., they are called plural nouns. Most nouns form the plural by adding s if the singular does not end in ch, s, sh, x, or z; or es if the singular does end in ch, s, sh, x, or z. But as is true with most rules, there are exceptions. For example, man becomes men; child becomes children; and cherub becomes cherubim. Some nouns have the same form for singular or plural, such as sheep, deer, etc.

In addition to undergoing change to show number, nouns are modified in form to show gender and ease. Gender has reference to sex. Man is in the masculine gender; woman is in the feminine gender. But what about the word child? A child is either male or female, but the noun child does not indicate which. Such nouns are said to be of the common gender, that is, they can be applied to either sex. A book does not have any sex, and nouns of this class are said to be in the neuter gender.

Nouns may be in the nominative, objective, or possessive case. Case merely shows the relation of the object named to other words in the sentence. If the object named is the subject of the verb, that is, if it is the person or thing performing the action expressed by the verb, then it is in the nominative case. If it receives the action of the verb, is the person or thing acted upon and hence is the object of the verb's action, then it is said to be in the objective case. In English the noun retains the same form for both nominative

and objective case. If possession of some quality or object by the noun is to be shown, then one uses the noun in the possessive case, which is indicated by adding 's. If the noun ends in s or another sound that the addition of the apostrophes sound makes awkward to utter, then only the apostrophe (') is used. Thus, Jesus' example, the witnesses' commission, for conscience' sake. So much for the nouns.

There is a class of words that makes a tremendous difference in the written and spoken language. Without them speech would be colorless indeed. Note the following: 'In dream, behold, I stood upon brink of river: and, behold, there came up out of river kine; and they fed in reed-grass: and, behold, kine came up after them, such as I never saw in land of Egypt for badness: and kine did eat up kine: and when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still as at beginning.' The nouns are indefinite. The words lack life and color. Even sense is distorted. Adjectives are needed (indicated by italics): "In my dream, behold, I stood upon the brink of the river: and, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed and well-favored; and they fed in the reed-grass: and, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill-favored and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness: and the lean and ill-favored kine did eat up the first seven fat kine: and when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill-favored, as at the beginning." —Gen. 41:17-21, Am. Stan. Ver.

An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or pronoun. It defines or describes, and makes language more specific. Remove adjectives, and the power of description would vanish, and narration, exposition and argument would lack vigor and force. Adjectives not only describe, but also identify, and specify quantity or number. There are a variety of adjectives in the above quotation. Many people think of adjectives merely as describers and always stand-

ing before a noun; but the above shows the adjective may be before the noun, as "ill-favored kine"; immediately after the noun and set off by punctuation, as "kine, fat-fleshed and well-favored"; or after the verb and hence in the predicate, as "they were still ill-favored". It might be well to mention at this point that adverbs do for verbs, adjectives and other adverbs what adjectives do for nouns and pronouns, namely, give life and power and more specific meaning to them by modifying them. It is important to remember the parts of speech modified by adjectives and the parts of speech modified by adverbs, because it is a common mistake to mix them in their usage. But this will be discussed further in the lesson dealing with adverbs.

An error sometimes noted is the use of a pronoun instead of an adjective. For example, one may hear the expression, "Why do them witnesses of Jehovah go from house to house preaching the gospel?" Such usage tends to force the pronoun them to modify the noun witnesses, whereas pronouns do not modify nouns, but replace them. Adjectives are the part of speech that modifies nouns; and, understanding these principles concerning pronouns and adjectives, the one who uses good English will replace the pronoun with an adjective, and say, "Why do those witnesses of Jehovah go from house to house preaching the gospel?" Other illustrations could be given to show how incorrect speech habits are corrected by a knowledge of parts of speech and their uses. Though mastery of knowledge of parts of speech may not be easy, it is very essential to every person wishing to speak well. It is of practical use.

Another feature concerning adjectives to be noted, and in which frequent error occurs in everyday usage, is the changes they undergo to show comparison. Isaiah 57:15 reads: "Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place." The adjective high is here used to indicate that Jehovah is high and that his place of dwelling is high. It is a positive statement of fact. Isaiah 55:9 adds er to this

adjective, saying, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways." Here comparisons are made of two things; first, the height of the heavens is compared with the height of the earth; second, Jehovah's ways are compared in height with man's ways. There is a third form of the adjective high, which represents the greatest degree of this quality of height: "Beware of the scribes, which . . . love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues." (Luke 20:46) These three degrees of comparison of adjectives are known as positive (high), comparative (higher), and superlative (highest). The comparative involves two persons or things; superlative, more than two. Most adjectives express the two latter degrees by adding er and est respectively. Some, however, show them by the use of more and most (beautiful, more beautiful, and most beautiful), and others are irregular in form (good, better, and best).

These matters of parts of speech seem complex to many, but diligent study will clarify them in one's mind and practical application thereof will assure correct speech. It is only by knowing these classifications of words and the uses of the various classes that one will be able to speak grammatically. There are no short cuts.