INFLECTIONS OF ADJECTIVES.


153 .Adjectives have two inflections,--number and comparison.


NUMBER.--_This_, _That_.


[Sidenote: _History of_ this--these _and_ that--those.]

154. The only adjectives having a plural form are _this_ and _that_
(plural _these_, _those_).

_This_ is the old demonstrative; _that_ being borrowed from the forms
of the definite article, which was fully inflected in Old English. The
article _that_ was used with neuter nouns.

In Middle English the plural of _this_ was _this_ or _thise_, which
changed its spelling to the modern form _these_.

[Sidenote: Those _borrowed from_ this.]

But _this_ had also another plural, _thās_ (modern _those_). The old
plural of _that_ was _tha_ (Middle English _tho_ or _thow_):
consequently _tho_ (plural of _that_) and _those_ (plural of _this_)
became confused, and it was forgotten that _those_ was really the