2. Grading. Category of comparison

Most qualitative adjectives in English and Ukrainian are gradable. They can be seen on the scale of intensity: old, older, oldest; quite/very/extremely old. There are three degrees of comparison: positive, the comparative, and the superlative. Category of comparison is the only category which is common for Ukrainian and English and it refers to Qualitative adjectives only in Ukrainian and to both quantitative and qualitative in English: Most cheese is made of cow’s milk. Most Swiss people understand French. More university students are having to borrow money these days. She needs more time. Could I have some more pie?

The way of comparison may be synthetic and analytical. The employment of synthetic way is restricted mostly to base adjectives (young, younger, the youngest, big, bigger, the biggest, long, longer, the longest). This form of grading have also English adjectives in –able, -er, -ow, -y (narrow, happy, clever) and the two-syllable adjectives with the concluding stressed syllable (concise, complete, polite).

The analytical forms of grading are more often employed in English than in Ukrainian: (important, more/less important, the most/the least important; exciting, interesting). But: більш/меньш, найбільш/ найменьш придатний, економний, дозрілий.

In Ukrainian synthetic way of grading is more often used by means of suffixes –іш/-ш and prefixes най-/щонай-, якнай-: добрий, добріший, найдобріший/ якнайдобріший; сміливий, сміливійший, найсміливіший; молодий, молодший, щонаймолодший.

Ukrainian adjectives that form their comparative and superlative degrees undergo some transformation in their stems which is allomorphic for English Adjectives. Глибокий, глибший, найглибший; далекий, дальший, найдальший; дорогий, дорожчий, найдорожчий; близький, ближчий, найближчий; високий, вищий, найвищий; товстий, товщий, найтовщий.

	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
1. One-syllable adjectives	dark tall	darker taller	the darkest the tallest
2. Adjectives of two syllables a) Those ending in -ful, -able and -re usually take more/less and the most/the least. b) Those ending in -er, -y, -ow, or -ly usually add -er, -est	a) doubtful obscure b) clever pretty silly noisy	more/less doubtful more/less obscure cleverer prettier sillier noisier	the most/least doubtful the most/least obscure the cleverest the prettiest the silliest the noisiest
3. Adjectives of three or more syllables	Interested frightening	More/less interested More/less frightening	the most/least interested the most frightening

What invention is the most/the least important in the world’s history? It was the most distressing experience. As you get older you get more tolerant. Which car goes fastest? By estimation, we are not farther than two miles away from the village

Those Ukrainian adjectives which have emotional affixes (білісінький) should be translated into English descriptively: very/extremely white. Some groups of adjectives in both languages have no grading. They are:

1. Adjectives denoting constant feature of the noun referent: blind - сліпий, deaf - глухий, barefooted - босий, nude - голий;

2. Adjectives expressing similarity of colours (lilac - бузковий, lemon - лимонний, cream - кремовий, ruby – яскраво-червоний, chestnut темно-коричневий).

3. Adjectives denoting the colour of hair and eyes (dun - буланий, raven-black - вороний).

4. Adjectives expressing the intensive property with the help of suffixes (–ish: greenish, darkish, widish, girlish) as they mean weak degree of quality: reddish - червонуватий, yellowish – жовтуватий, злющий, здоровенний, супермодний.

Irregular comparisons:

Good better the best

Bad worse the worst

Far farther the farthest (of distance only),

the furthest (used more widely: ‘extent’)

Little less the least

Many/much more the most

Old older the oldest (of people and things)

Elder the eldest (of people only)

Jed needed no further explanation. Elder, eldest imply seniority rather than the age. They are chiefly used for comparison within a family: my elder brother, her eldest boy/girl. Her elder boy’s at school now, the other/s is/are still at home. But elder is not used with than, so older is necessary here: He is older than I am/me.

Comparative structures

• As is used in ‘comparison of equality’. With the positive form of the adjective, we use

1) as…as; the same…as… in the affirmative and

2) not as /not so… as in the negative:

These two concepts are as wide as the poles apart. The diamond is as big as the Ritz. Sue is not as/so old as she looks. The shop wasn’t so crowded as it usually is. I don’t know as/so many people as you do. It’s not warm but it isn’t so cold as yesterday. Let me know your decision as soon as possible. She wasn’t as clever as the others but she was the most beautiful. You can have as much of the milk as you like. She is as tall as her brother. My hands are as cold as ice. Your eyes are the same colour as mine.

• The …the…: The more we know, the more we forget. The more we forget, the less we know. So why study? The longer the time horizon from technology conception to product introduction, the more challenging it is to define and manage the balance. ‘Madame, the more I know you, the higher you rise in my estimation.’

• Half as … as/ twice as …as/ three times as …as: You’re not half as clever as he is. I’m not going out with a man who’s twice as old as me. It took three times as long as I had expected.

• The same as: The new coat looks the same as the old one.

• Traditional comparative expressions: as cold as ice; as hard as nails; as black as night; as good as new.

Substantivization of adjectives:

A native, a relative, a black/ white, a monthly/weekly, the orange, the Browns; диспетчерська, прийомна, слідчий, черговий, постовий, їздовий.

1. The + adjective is used to talk about certain well-known groups of people: the blind, the deaf, the dead, the handicapped, the jobless, the unemployed, the mentally ill, the old, the young, the poor, the rich. He’s collecting money for the blind. The unemployed are losing hope. After the accident the injured were taken to hospital. The government doesn’t care about the poor.

2. A few adjectives of nationality ending in –sh or -ch are used after article the without nouns: the Irish/Welsh/English/British/Spanish/Dutch/French. The Irish are very proud of their sense of humour.

Isomorphic is the process of adjectivation of some parts of speech (prince charming – чарівний принц, beaten track – битий шлях, the accurst enemy – клятий ворог, biting frost – пекучий мороз, folding chair – складаний стілець). In English some infinitives and adverbs can also become adjectivized which is allomorphic feature unknown in Ukrainian: the president elect – новообраний президент, clasp-knife – складаний ніж, the only chance – єдина можлива нагода, the well-to-do people – заможні люди, the then trainer – тодішній тренер.

Participles used as adjectives: Both present participle (-ing) and past participle (-ed) can also be used as adjectives.

Present participle adjectives are active and mean ‘having this effect’: interesting, amusing, horrifying, tiring.	Past participle adjectives are passive and mean ‘affected in this way’: interested, amused, horrified, tired.
The play was boring. The work was tiring. The scene was horrifying. An infuriating woman (She made us furious.)	The audience was bored. The workers were soon tired. The spectators were horrified. An infuriated woman (Something had made her furious.)

Note! Adjectives ending in –ed: pronunciation

A few adjectives ending in – ed have a special pronunciation: the last syllable is pronounced [id]:

Aged літній; в літах; старий, beloved, коханий, любимий, любий, blessed, благословений, crooked, зігнутий; кривий; викривлений, cursed проклятий, клятий, окаянний, dogged, упертий; дуже наполегливий, learned, учений, ерудований, naked, голий, оголений, ragged, нерівний, зазублений, rugged, нерівний, негладкий; шорсткий, шершавий, sacred, святий, священний, wicked, злий, недобрий; грішний, wretched, нещасний, жалюгідний one/three/four-legged ( having a leg or legs).