Лекция №5 The Adjective
.rtfLecture # 5. The Adjective
1. General characteristics.
2. The degree of comparison of adjectives.
3. Substantivisation of adjectives.
I. General characteristics.
Meaning: denotes properties.
Form: Some adjectives have degrees of comparison, other adjectives are unchangeable.
Function: used in the sentence in the functions of a predicative or an attribute. They combine with nouns, verbs and adverbs.
E.g. The book is very interesting. This matter is very important.
According to the lexical meaning and the grammatical character adjectives are usually divided into two subclasses: qualitative and relative adjectives.
Qualitative adjectives denote properties directly.
1) They denote colour, size and quality.
2) They have degrees of comparison: E.g. big-bigger-the biggest; beautiful-more beautiful-the most beautiful.
3) They have corresponding adverbs derived from them by means of the suffix -ly.
E.g. warmly, beautifully.
4. They may have the functions both of an attribute and of a predicative.
E.g. He was a clever boy. The boy was clever.
5. Qualitative adjectives combine with adverbs:
E.g. The boy was very clever. The book was extremely interesting.
The properties of relative adjectives are quite different. Relative adjectives denote properties of things indirectly. They denote properties through relations
- to materials: e.g. wooden, silver;
- to place: European, African, Eastern:
-of time: daily, weekly;
-to some action (preparatory –подготовительный, defensive-оборонительный);
Relative adjectives as a rule have no corresponding adverbs formed from them by means of the suffix –ly. We cannot say woodenly.
Relative pronouns have degrees of comparison. These adjectives have only one function in the sentence – an attribute (silver watch). They are not used in the function of a predicative. But when relative adjectives are used figuratively, they get the properties of qualificative adjectives.
E.g. I have never seen such a wooden expression of a face. Her face never had a more wooden expression.
Leaden - свинцовый. The sky is quite leaden (=looks like lead).
Some linguists distinguish one more (the third class of adjectives). They refer to subclass such words as alive, afire (в огне), abloom (в цвету). They call such adjectives predicative adjectives because the words like afire are used only in the function of a predicative. Other linguists call these words “statives”, because they are different from other parts of speech from the point of view of their meaning, form and function. They denote a passing state, unchangeable (form), used in the function of the predicative in the sentence. In dictionaries (even in native ones) the words like alive are characterized as predicative adjectives (p.a) or adjectives predicative (a.p.).
There is also a point of view that within the adjective we find on the first level the opposition between the adjectives proper and stative adjectives, and within the proper adjectives we find the opposition between qualitative adjectives and relative adjectives.
Adjectives are subdivided into
/ \
Adjectives proper Stative adjectives
/ \ alive, abloom, afire
Qualitative relative
Good, fine silver
II. The degree of comparison of adjectives
The degree of comparison is the form which expresses the comparison of one object (or objects) with another in respect to a certain property. The category of degrees of comparison is found only in qualitative adjectives. There are three degrees of comparison: (1) the positive; (2) the comparative; (3) the superlative.
The degrees of comparison are formed in three different ways:
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one-syllable and two-syllable adjectives form their degrees of comparison by means of overt morphemes: -er, -est. They form their degrees synthetically.
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Other adjectives form their degrees of comparison analytically by means of the words more and most.
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A few adjectives form the degrees of comparisons by means of the suppletive morpheme: e.g. good – better - the best; bad –worse - the worst.
There are adjectives which have two forms of comparison: e.g. Old – older –the oldest / elder – the eldest; far –farther-the farthest/ further-the furthest.
The forms elder-eldest are used while speaking about the family; further-furthest are used to express that something will follow.
In some cases Old English forms of comparative and superlative degrees have become in Modern English separate words:
e. g. They have two sons, Peter and Nick. The former is ten years old and the latter is already a student.
The adjective latter was originally the comparative degree of an Old English adjective late, and the adjective last was originally the superlative degree of the same adjective.
The adjective in the superlative degree is always used with the definite article (the quickest, the most important). So it has become an integral part of the superlative degree.
Sometimes we have such examples as a most interesting/important i.e. the phrase most+adjective is used with the indefinite article. In this case the adjective expresses a very high degree of a property without implying any comparison. In the sentence “It’s a most interesting book” the word most doesn’t form the superlative degree. It is used to show a high degree of a quality possessed by the noun and it is equivalent to the word extremely, exceedingly.
Let’s compare: It’s the most interesting book I have ever read. Это самая интересная книга, которую я когда-либо читал.
It is a most interesting book.Это весьма (очень) интересная книга.
In the first sentence the word most is not a part of the sentence. It helps to form the Superlative degree of the adjective interesting. In the second sentence the word most is an adverb, it is a part of the sentence, it has the function of an adverbial modifier of degree.
III. Substantivisation of adjectives
Adjectives can be substantivised i.e. they can become nouns. If the adjective is substantivised, it loses all the characteristics of adjectives and gets all the characteristics of nouns: it has the category of number, combines with articles and adjectives and it has the same functions as the noun in the sentence: e.g. relative – relatives. The Possessive case is – relative’s. A relative, the relative, my relative.
There are also partly substantivised adjectives. These are adjectives which have only some of the characteristics of the noun: e.g. the rich. Like a noun it combines with the article and the preposition, has the functions of the subject and the object, but unlike the noun it doesn’t form the plural and it is not used in the possessive case. It stands somewhere between the adjective and the noun in English.
There are the following groups of substantivised adjectives:
1. Substantivised adjectives which denote all the persons possessing the quality named by the adjectives not as the separate individuals but as a whole group: the rich, the wounded, the unemployed, the blind.
These words combine with the verbs in the plural. If a separate individual is meant, this adjective must be followed by a noun: e.g. The wounded were taken care of. But: The wounded soldier was taken care of.
2. Partly substantivised adjectives which denote abstract notion: e.g. the impossible –невозможное, the inevitable –неизбежное.
Some substantivised adjectives are often used in set expressions:
e. g. on the whole, in the main.
3. Substantivised adjectives denoting languages: e.g. English, German.
They combine with the verbs in the singular and may be used with a determiner.
4. Substantivised adjectives denoting social ranks and position (blacks, whites), party (Conservatives, Liberals), nationality (Indians, Europeans).
These words may be used with the verb both in the singular and in the plural and may have the singular and the plural form.
5. Substantivised adjectives denoting colour (yellows, greens).
The first two groups of substantivised adjectives are usually considered as partly substantivised adjectives, because they do not possess all the qualities of the noun.
(Some of them are singularia tantum, others are pluralia tantum).