The Adjective

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

narrow-narrower-the narrowest

simple- simpler- the simplest

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

polite- politer-the politest

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 - more (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

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

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

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