1. The adjective is a word expressing a quality of a substance.
2. The adjective has the following syntactical characteristics: in a sentence the adjective may be used as an attribute or as a predicative.
A little fat chap, tall fellow frowned. (ATTRIBUTES)
Laura was terribly nervous. (PREDICATIVE)
3. Morphological composition of the adjective.
Adjectives are divided into simple, derivative and compound.
1. Simple adjectives are adjectives which have neither prefixes nor suffixes: e. g. good, red, black.
2. Derivative adjectives are adjectives which have derivative elements, suffixes or prefixes or both: beautiful, foolish, hopeless, unkind, unimportant.
Adjective-forming suffixes are:
-less: friendless, harmless, hopeless
-like: childlike
-ish: childish, foolish
-ed (-d): beaded, blue-eyed
-able: manageable
-ful: beautiful
-ant: important
-ent: dependent
-en: woollen
-ous: dangerous
-some: troublesome
Adjective-forming prefixes are:
un-: unhappy
pre-: prewar
in-: incorrect
il-: illegal
im-: immoral
ir- irregular
dis-: dishonest
3. Compound adjectives are adjectives built from two or more stems.
The main types of compound adjectives are as follows:
(a) noun-stem + adjective-stem: snow-white.
(b) noun-stern + participle-stem: life-giving, smoke-dried.
(c) adjective-stem + adjective-stem: deaf-mute.
(d) adjective-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: cold-hearted.
(e) noun-stem + noun-stern + suffix -ed: lynx-eyed.
(f) numeral-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: four-wheeled.
(g) adverb-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: over-peopled.
4. Classification of adjectives.
According to their meaning and grammatical characteristics adjectives fall under two classes: (1) qualitative adjectives, (2) relative adjectives.
1. Qualitative adjectives denote qualities of a substance directly, not through its relation to another substance, as size, shape, colour, physical and mental qualities, qualities of general estimation: little, large, high, soft, hard, warm, white, blue, pink, strong, bold, beautiful, important, necessary, etc.
2. Relative adjectives denote qualities of a substance through their relation to materials (silken, woolen, wooden), to place (Italian, Asian), to time (monthly, weekly), to some action (preparatory, rotatory).
5. Grammatical characteristics of qualitative and relative adjectives.
1. Relative adjectives have no degrees of comparison. Most qualitative adjectives have degrees of comparison: the comparative degree and the superlative degree.
The comparative degree denotes a higher degree of a quality.
She is taller than her sister.
The superlative degree denotes the highest degree of a quality.
She is the tallest of the three sisters.
(The noun modified by an adjective in the superlative degree has the definite article.)
1. Adjectives that usually form their comparatives and superlatives by the inflexion -er, -est (synthetical way):
Monosyllabic adjectives:
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Tall taller the tallest
Adjectives of two syllables which end in -y, -ow, -er, -le.
happy happier (the) happiest
narrow narrower (the) narrowest
clever cleverer (the) cleverest
simple simpler (the) simplest
Adjectives of two syllables which have the stress on the last syllable:
Complete completer (the) completest
2. Polysyllabic adjectives generally form their comparative and superlative degrees by placing more and most before the adjective (analytical way).
Beautiful more beautiful the most beautiful
3. Some adjectives have irregular forms of degrees of comparison:
Good better the best
Bad worse the worst
Many, much more the most
Little less the least
Far father/further the farthest/the furthest
Old older/elder the oldest/the eldest
4. Spelling rules.
a. If the adjective ends in a consonant preceded by a stressed short vowel the consonant is doubled before -er, -est.
sad sadder (the) saddest
b. If the adjective ends in -y preceded by a consonant, is changed into i before -er and -est.
busy busier (the) busiest
c. If the adjective ends in -e the e is dropped before -er and -est:
brave braver (the) bravest
6. Substantivized adjectives.
Substantivized adjectives have acquired some or all of the characteristics of the noun, but their adjectival origin is still generally felt.
Wholly substantivized adjectives have all the characteristics of nouns, namely the plural form, the genitive case; they are associated with articles, i. e. they have become nouns: a native, the natives, eatables, valuables, ancients, greens.
Partially substantivized adjectives acquire only some of the characteristics of the noun; they are used with the definite article. Partially substantivized adjectives denote a whole class: the rich, the poor, the unemployed. They may also denote abstract notions: the good, the evil, the beautiful, the singular, the plural.
Substantivized adjectives denoting nationalities fall under wholly and partially substantivized adjectives.
Wholly substantivized adjectives are: a Russian Russians, a German Germans.
Partially substantivized adjectives are: the English, the French, the Chinese.
Theme II.1. Exercises.
Ex. 1 Give the comparative and superlative of the following adjectives:
polite, happy, honorable, shy, dry, free, recent, merry, uncomfortable, joyful, hot, thin, accurate, narrow, sweet, wicked, cosy, merciful, bad, fat, cheap, big, clumsy, far, miserable, simple, regular, expensive, low, deep, sad, significant, lazy, old, serious, tiny, clever, little, good, dark, beautiful, dear.
Ex. 2. Give the comparative and superlative of the following compound adjectives:
well-known, fine-looking, short-sighted, good-natured, wide-spread, kind-hearted, old- fashioned, light-minded, well-read, high-pitched, strong-willed, much-travelled, narrow- minded.
