Тема: «Субстантивированные прилагательные»

Morphological Characteristics

Morphological Composition

Syntactical Functions

1. 3 degrees of comparison:

positive, comparative, superlative:

big – bigger – the biggest;

beautiful – more beautiful – the most beautiful

1. simple (no prefixes or suffixes):

big, little, sad

2. derivative: suffixes or/and prefixes:

beautiful , unkind, unlawful

3. compound (built from 2 or more stems): snow-white, life-giving,

1. an attribute:

a black cat

2. predicative:

The night was black

Qualitative

Relative

• denote qualities of a substance directly as size, shape, colour, physical or mental qualities, qualities of general estimation:

little, large, soft, hard, etc.

grammatical characteristics:

• degrees of comparison: big - bigger - the biggest;

• some don't have them: greenish, darkish

• have typical suffixes:

-ful, - ous, - less, - ent, - able, - y, - ish:

careful, famous, careless, comfortable, greenish, silvery

• most form adverbs by the suffix -ly:

comfortable - comfortably

• can be used as attributes and predicatives

• denote qualities of a substance indirectly through their relation to material (silken, woolen), place (Italian, Asian), to time (weekly, monthly), to some action (preparatory, rotary).

grammatical characteristics:

• have no degrees of comparison

• have typical suffixes: -en, -an, -ist, - ic, - ical:

wooden, socialist, economic, economical, historic, historical, etc.

• don't form adverbs by the suffix - ly

• chiefly used as attributes and predicatives:

The morning was windy.

He was sitting in a big wooden chair.

Regular

Irregular

1. – er, -– est:

• 1-syllable adjectives: big - bigger - the biggest, small - smaller - the smallest

• 2-syllable adjectives ending in - y, - ow,- er, -le:

Early - earlier - the earliest; clever - cleverer - the cleverest

narrow-narrower-the narrowest; simple- simpler- the simplest

• 2-syllable words with the stress on the second syllable:

polite- politer-the politest;

complete - completer-the completest

• a few frequently used disyllabic adjectives:

common - commoner - the commonest

pleasant - pleasanter - the pleasantest

quiet - quieter - the quietest

2. – more, – the most

• 2-, 3- and more syllable adjectives:

Honest - more honest - the most honest

interesting - more interesting - the most interesting

• words ending in -ful or -less, e.g. helpful, useful; hopeless

• words ending in -ing or -ed, e.g. boring, willing; annoyed,

• many others, e.g. afraid, certain, correct, eager, exact, famous, foolish, frequent, modern, nervous, normal, recent

Spelling rules:

- busy-busier-the busiest; sad - sadder - the saddest; hot – hotter –the hottest (thin, red, big, fat, wet, mad)

but: rich- richer, fast –faster etc

good - better - the best bad/ill - worse - the worst

far - farther - the farthest ( distance only)

- further - the furthest (distance and “more”, “additional”)

(farther/ further bank of the river; но: further information)

much - more (uncount) – the most

- many (count) – the most

little - less - the least (opposites of more and most.)

Used with both long and short words. (less expensive, less tired)

*****

old - older - the oldest (people, building)

Tom looks older than he is

- elder – the eldest (about family members)

late – later - the latest

• latter - the last (for order)

Note: the latest (news, fashion, book, film, etc)

the last page (day of the month, thing to do, etc.)

the former and the latter ( spoken of 2 things, people):

e.g. Psychologists say there are 2 types of people: type A and type B. The former (первые) are more ambitious than the latter (последние) are passive.

*****

near - nearer - the nearest (distance) e.g. the nearest hotel

- nearer - the next (for order) e.g. We live in the next house