b. When grande has reference to size or extent or primacy, it usually follows the noun which it qualifies:

Un lago grande, a large lake. El premio grande, the first (great) prize.

51. Cualquiera, whatever, often loses the final a immediately before a noun.

Cualquier libro, whatever book, any book whatever.

52. Ciento, a hundred, one hundred, drops to when immediately preceding its noun, but not if some other number intervenes :

Cien bastones, a hundred walk- Ciento y ocho caballos, a hundred ing-sticks. and eight horses.

53. Santo, saint, loses to when it stands before the names of the saints or sacred personages:

THE POSITION OF THE ADJECTIVE

54. The attribute adjective, in ordinary language, usually follows the noun which it qualifies; but this may be varied for the sake of rhetorical effect:

La lengua española, the Spanish Un negocio importante, an imlanguage. portant business.

55. As there will be considerable uncertainty in the mind of the student, it should be observed that the following classes of adjectives usually follow the nouns which they qualify, except when placed otherwise for rhetorical effect:

a. Participles and participial adjectives in ado, ido, ante, ente, iente, yente.

b. Proper adjectives or those derived from political or scientific

names.

c. Adjectives ending in al, dor, tor.

d. Augmentative and diminutive adjectives.

e. When two or more adjectives qualify the same subject, especially when such adjectives are in the singular.

f. And in general, all long adjectives, unless there be good reason to place them before their nouns, Illustrations:

Las cosechas abundantes, the Una mujer paciente, a patient abundant harvests.

woman.

El idioma griego, the Greek lan- El partido unionista, the Unionguage. ist party.

La estación central, the central El muchacho preguntón, the in

station.

Las tropas segunda, sexta y oc

tava, the second, sixth, and

eighth troops.

quisitive boy.

56. A few very common adjectives usually precede their nouns: Mucha inteligencia, much intelli- Demasiado dinero, much money. gence.

57. Some adjectives have different meanings according to their position with relation to their nouns: Un gran caballo, a great horse.

Una buena noche, a good night.

Un caballo grande, a large horse.
Noche buena, Christmas eve.

THE COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

58. There are three degrees of comparison: Positive, Comparative, and Superlative.

THE COMPARATIVE

59. Comparison is effected by the use of más, more, or menos, less, with the positive, to form the comparative:

Blanco, más blanco.

White, whiter.

60. Almost all parts of speech may be placed in relations of comparison by using certain adverbs and adjectives as correlatives. These are:

Tan como, as (so)—as.

Tanto-cuanto, as (so) much—

as (so).

Tanto-como, as (so) much—as (80).

Más—que (de), more—than.

Menos-que (de), less-than, Cuanto más tanto más, the

More than a hundred horses.

Más de cien caballos.

Menos nieve que hielo.

Menos de veinte libras.

pierde.

Less snow than ice.

Less than twenty pounds.

Cuanto más trabaja tanto más The more he works, the more he

loses.

Cuanto menos dinero gana tanto The less money he gains, the less menos ahorra. he saves.

61. In poetry cual is sometimes substituted for como in the phrase tan-como, in which case tan is usually suppressed, and the noun which follows loses its article:

Manso cual cordero.

Meek as a lamb.

62. Relations of comparison may be made negative by the use of no, not; sin, without; tampoco, nor—either, before the verb:

No es menos rico que noble.
Sin decir él una sola palabra.
Tampoco vive mejor que V.

He is not less rich than noble.
Without his saying a single word.
Nor does he live better than you.

63. The formula de lo que, than what, replaces the comparative adverb que, when the second member of the comparison contains a verb:

Es más sano de lo que parece.

It is more wholesome than it ap

pears.

64. De takes the place of que in the formula más que, before numerals, if the sentence is affirmative; but if the sentence is negative, que is preserved:

Tiene más de ocho sombreros.

No me dió más que tres plumas.

He has more than eight hats.

He gave me no more than three pens.

65. Más and menos may be qualified by the following adverbs:

67. There are two superlatives: the relative and absolute.

68. The superlative relative is formed by the use of the definite article, and the adverb más with the positive of adjectives:

Blanco; el, la, or lo, más blanco. White; the whitest.

Good, better, the best.

Or by the use of the definite article with an organic comparative: Bueno, mejor, el, la, or lo mejor. Malo, peor, el, la, or lo peor. Grande, mayor, el, la, or lo mayor. Pequeño, menor, el, la, or lo Chico,

menor.

Bad, worse, the worst.
Large, larger, the largest.
Little, less, the least.

69. In addition to the superlative relative there is a superlative absolute which is variously formed.

70. By associating with the positive of adjectives the adverbs muy, bien, very; harto, bastante, considerably, quite; sumamente, exccedingly; excesivamente, excessively :

Muy fiel, very faithful.

Sumamente bondadoso, extremely kind.

71. By adding the termination ísimo to the adjective to form the superlative degree in conformity with the following rules:

a. Rejecting the final vowel or diphthong before adding the termination:

Grande, grandísimo, large, very Frio, friísimo, cold, very cold. large.

b. Substituting for the final consonants c, g, and z, respectively qu, gu, and c:

Blanco, blanquísimo, white, very Largo, larguísimo, long, very white.

Feliz, felicísimo, happy, very

happy.

c. Change the final ble to bil:

long.

Noble, nobilísimo, noble, very Adorable, adorabilísimo, ador

noble.

able, very adorable,

d. By restoring the variable diphthongs ie, ue to their primitive simple vowels, e, o :

Diestro, destrísimo, dexterous, Bueno, bonísimo, good, very good. very dexterous.

Cierto, certísimo, certain, very Nuevo, novísimo, new, very new; certain.

excepting viejo, viejísimo, old, very old.

e. By attaching ísimo to the unchanged positive, if the adjective ends in any consonant except z:

Hábil, habilísimo, capable, very Literal, literalísimo, literal, very capable.

literal.

73. Certain adjectives have a superlative absolute in érrimo : Áspero, aspérrimo, rough, very Salubre, salubérrimo, healthful,

Mísero, misérrimo, miserable, Libre, libérrimo, free, very free. very miserable.

Pobre, paupérrimo, poor, very

poor.

74. Four adjectives have, in addition to their regular forms, very irregular superlatives absolute :

1 Amigo, áspero, frío, pío, piadoso, pobre have also regular forms for the superlative absolute: amiguísimo, asperísimo, friísimo, piadosisimo, pobrísimo,