- •Lecture 5 topic: the adjective. The adverb. Points for discussion:
- •What does the Adjective denote as part of speech?
- •What may prove the semantically bound character of the adjective?
- •Is the adjective always dependent on the nouns?
- •Which grammatical categories can the adjective have in the English language?
- •Which syntactical functions can this part of speech have in a sentence
- •4.1.1. General characteristics of the adjective as a part of speech
- •4.1.2. Adjectival classifications: the main approaches to the problem.
- •Some points to clarify:
- •Where lies the fallacy of semantical classifications 2 and 3?
- •Where lies the fallacy of structural classifications?
- •What principals are the adjectival classifications based on?
- •4.2. The problem of the degree of comparison. The syntactical and analytical forms. The problems of the category.
- •The main forms of the degrees of comparison
- •Some points to clarify:
- •Do syntactical and analytical forms of the degrees of comparison correspond to each other?
- •How many degrees of comparison are distinguished?
- •Which principals are the models of comparison based on?
- •Some points to clarify:
- •5.3. Statives as grammatical notion. The problem of statives.
- •5.4. The main adjectival oppositions.
- •What does the Adverb denote as part of speech?
- •Is the adjective always dependent on the verbs?
- •Which grammatical categories can the adjective have in the English language?
- •Which syntactical functions can this part of speech have in a sentence
- •5.6.1. General characteristics of the adverb as a part of speech
- •5.6.2. Adverbial classifications: the main approaches to the problem
The main forms of the degrees of comparison
FORMS |
PURELY COMPARATIVE |
ELATIVE |
Syntactical |
-Er; -est |
Bad-worse-the worst Good-better –the best, etc
|
Analytical |
More /the most (direct comparison)
less / the least (reverse comparison) |
A most, most |
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Some points to clarify:
What are the main grounds for existing the analytical forms of degrees of comparison? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Do syntactical and analytical forms of the degrees of comparison correspond to each other?
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How many degrees of comparison are distinguished?
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Which principals are the models of comparison based on?
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The problems connecting with the degrees of comparison
№ |
PHENOMENON |
PROBLEM |
ARGUMENTS CONTRA |
1. |
the basic form of the adjective (positive degree) |
It doesn’t include any index of comparison. The degrees oа comparison should be reduced to two forms comparative and superlative. |
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2. |
«more/ the most + adjectives» |
are more free combinations than the degrees of comparison because
1) they have lexical meanings; 2) they have opposite word-combinations (less, the least+adj) which also (in this case!) can be seen as the degree of comparison . What will contradict the syntactical forms having no reducing meanings.
3) the most-combination, unlike the synthetic superlative, can take the indefinite article(a most ) expressing not the superlative, but the elative meaning (a lexical intensifier) If take this as analytical form, any combination adv+adj should be seen as analytical form as well. And the latters can be seen but free combinations. (e.g. a most important point, a very important point, an extremely important point.
4) combination more and more +adj where doubled more is used to increase the expressiveness of the phrase
5) they have syntactical significance: keeping the adverbial relations with the adjective e.g. more attractive (how?)
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