THE ADJECTIVE

THE ADJECTIVE

It - modifies a noun/ noun equivalent, indicating its qualities:

big, great, interesting, young, old

- has stem building morphemes:

-ful, -less, -ish,--ous, -ive, -ic,

un-, in-, pre-;

careful, endless, foolish, courageous, inventive, historic,

unimportant, indefinite, prewar,

- has no inflections for case, number, gender. The only inflections are for the synthetic comparison

short shorter the shortest

is associated with the following parts of speech:

a) noun/noun equivalent:

a beautiful girl, an heir apparent

b) link verbs : to be clever, to grow older

c) adverbs: extremely difficult, very interesting

- is an attribute or a predicative:

a silent man; The man was silent.

Classification of adjectives

A) According to their morphological structure:

I.          Adjectives on the morphemic level

simple adjectives :short, big, clever, old,

derived adjectives: beautiful, dangerous

compound adjectives: snow-white

II.       Adjectives on the derivational level

simple adjectives: black, great, big, young

derived adjectives: unhappy, beautiful

compound adjectives: duty-bound

B) According to their meaning :

I. Qualitative or descriptive (indicate various qualities): small, large, warm, strong,  interesting, beautiful

II. Relative or limiting (express qualities through their relation to some other objects):

1) material: woolen, wooden, earthen

2) place/country: English, Romanian, Italian

3) time :monthly, weekly

Degrees of Comparison

- they are formed in two ways:

1) synthetically by adding the suffixes:

-er , -est strong, stronger, the strongest

2) analytically - by using the words more, the most

important, more important, the most important

Synthetical Comparison

a)        monosyllabic adjectives: big, short, dark, great

b)        disyllabic adjectives ending in :-y, -er,-ow,-le

happy, happier, the happiest

clever, cleverer, the cleverest

narrow, narrower, the narrowest

simple, simpler, the simplest

BUT proper, more proper, the most proper

eager, more eager, the most eager

c)        disyllabic adjectives with stress on the last syllable

complete, completer, the completest

polite, politer, the politest

BUT - foreign adjectives:

antique, bizarre, burlesque

- disyllabic adj. ending in two consonants:

abrupt, content, correct, exact

- adj.with the prefix a-

afraid,alive,alone

d)        trisyllabic adjectives built with a negative prefix:

unhappy, ignoble, impolite, insecure

Analytical Comparison

all the adjectives which are not included in these groups

Spelling Peculiarities

- they are required by the addition of the comparison degree suffixes ;

adj. ended in e get only r, -st

fine, finer , finest

single consonants are doubled after short stressed vowels

hot, hotter, the hottest

BUT it does not happen when the doubling does not

take place after an unstressed vowel:

tender, tenderer, the tenderest

final y is changed into i when preceded by a consonant:

happy, happier, the happiest

Irregular Degrees of Comparison

some adj. have different forms for comparative and superlative

good, better, the best

bad/ill, worse, the worst

many/much, more, the most

little, less, the least

some have double forms for comparative/superlative

far, farther, the farthest (it makes ref.to space)

further, the furthest (it makes ref.to time)

near, nearer, the nearest

the next( the following)

late, later, the latest( the most recent)

latter, the last (nothing comes after it)

old, older, the oldest

elder, the eldest

Use of the Comparative Degree

Comparative of Superiority

- it is expressed by the comparative degree followed by

the conjunction than

She was more frightened than hurt.

BUT adjectives of Latin origin:

superior, inferior, junior, senior etc.

have no other forms for comparative

He was three years junior than me.

Comparative of Equality:

-it is expressed by means of the positive degree placed

between the conjunctions as as

He is as tall as Peter. Peter is not so tall as Jim.

Comparative of Inferiority:

- it is formed by associating the positive degree of the adjective with less;

John is less handsome than his friend.

Emphasizing the Comparative

by repeating the adjective in the comparative degree

The days are longer and longer.

by using such words as :much better, far more intelligent, still worse, a great deal earlier

She is much better today than she was yesterday.

Superlative Degree

- it can be used both attributively and predicatively

- it is followed by a prepositional phrase or clause

She was the tallest of the four.

I remember the smallest details of her dress.

Emphasizing the Superlative

by means of the words very, by far,

These are my very earliest impressions.

by means of the words possible, imaginable

Those are the best methods possible.

Position and Order of Attributive Adjectives

it precedes the noun/noun equivalent

a good book

adj. denoting age, color, material, nationality

come next to the noun modified

He preferred the quiet little Belgian city to either

of its more noisy capitals.

if a noun is modified by adjs. among which there are those denoting age, color, material, nationality, size, form, their order is the following:

(1)determinative (2)various (3)age (4)size (5)form

(6) color (7)nationality (8)material (9)noun

a high-backed old green leather chair

a beautiful large white Turkish merino shawl

Exercises  

I. Supply the comparative or superlative form of the adjective:

I. He is (hardworking) student in the class. 2. She is looking for a (big) car than the one she has now. 3. Jamie is (good) cook I know. 4. He is much (familiar) with modern architecture than with modern music. 5. What is (late) news of him? 6. He was able to get (far) information at the police station. 7. 'The Tempest' is Shakespeare's (late) play. 8. Her (old) brother is five years (old) than my husband. 9. The (far) house from the village is Toms. 10. He had a word with a (little) personage in the police force. I. The weather in California is (hot) than the weather in Montana. 12. She earns much (little) money than her colleague does.13. My work is bad, but yours is (bad). 14. If you want to get to the market, take (near) turning to the left. 15. Although he is a famous man, he is (modest) than most people. _r

II. Fill in the blanks with the intensifies: much, far, a lot, a good deal, a great deal, for the comparative, and by far, possible, imaginable.

I. In the end he will pay a higher price for it. 2. Practicing sports is more interesting than watching TV. 3. This is the most serious problem facing families this winter. 4. You have found the best solution to my troubles. 5. We had the greatest difficulty getting here in time. 6. Richard is the most talented student in his group.

7. Our old secretary is more experienced than the new one.

8. I think your interviews are better than hers.

III. Supply the right preposition after each adjective:

1 Alice is very fond travelling. 2. He always tries to be polite his employees. 3. Be very careful what you say to the new head of department. 4. She has never been successful anything she has done. 5. We have all the equipment required our experiment. 6. She is quite different her husband. 7. He took a job because he no longer wanted to be dependent his parents. 8. The new teacher is rather impatient children. 9. Why do you feel inferior your schoolmates? 10. He told me he was very angry you. 11. What are you afraid ? 12. I'm proud your success.

IV. Choose the adjective which best completes each sentence:

1. (alone/lonely/solitary) Mr Wilder is a old man. She is in the house. The tourist stopped by the well to drink some water.

2. (afraid/frightened) The little girl gave the stranger a look. The were .. of what you might say. 3. (alive/living/live) Several witnesses to the accident are still . Frogs feed chiefly on insects. No creature can do that. 4. (asleep/sleeping) The sight of the children moved him deeply. He was when his parents returned from the meeting

V. Change the following into compound and derived adjectives:
Example: a girl with green eyes a green-eyed girl

a carpet made by hand  - a handmade carpet

a play having success - a successful play

a student who works hard; 2. a man who looks good; 3. a man with a simple mind

4. terms which can be accepted; 5. a story which breaks the heart; 6. a person who is giving help; 7. a driver who is not taking care; 8. a woman with a kind heart; 9. a day with much wind; 10. a tree which is a hundred years old; 11. a blouse with long sleeves; 12. a man who has courage; 13. a gown which is cut well; 14. a man with a red face; 15. a moon red like blood.

VI. Arrange the adjectives in brackets in the proper order: I. A (black, nice, little) puppy was lying on my door-step. 2. I've bought a new set of (aluminum, kitchen, multi-purpose) utensils.

3. You will practice on an (Steinway, expensive, white) piano.4. She greatly admired those (ivory, Chinese, delicate) figurines. 5. That (dark, college, tall) girl is a friend of my brother's. 6. When will you sell your (blue, old) car.7 I was given a (black, leather, small) bag on my birthday.