Adjectives

Adjectives

Adjectives.

Adjectives are the third major class of words in English, after nouns

and verbs. Adjectives are words expressing properties of objects (e.g.

large, blue, simple, clever, economic, progressive, productive, etc) and,

hence, qualifying nouns.

Adjectives in English do not change for number or case. The only

grammatical category they have is the degrees of comparison. They are also

characterized by functions in the sentence.

Degrees of Comparison.

There are three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative and

superlative. The positive form is the plain stem of an adjective (e.g.

heavy, slow, straight, etc) . The comparative states that one thing has

more of the quality named by the adjective than some other thing (e.g.

Henry is taller than John). The superlative states that the thing has the

greatest degree of the quality among the things being considered (e.g.

Henry is the tallest boy in the class)

Most one-syllable adjectives, and most two-syllable adjectives ending in

-y, -ow, -er, or consonant +-le , with loud stress on the first syllable

and weak stress on the second, form their comparative and superlative by

the addition of the suffixes -er and -est.

|Positive |Comparative |Superlative |

|clever |cleverer |cleverest |

|narrow |narrower |narrowest |

|pretty |prettier |prettiest |

|simple |simpler |simplest |

Adjectives derived by prefixes from those that use -er/-est also use

these suffixes, even though the addition of prefixes makes them longer that

two syllables: unhappy - unhappier -unhappiest

All adjectives other than those enumerated above form their comparative

by using the intensifier more and their superlative by using the

intensifier the most.

|Positive |Comparative |Superlative |

|interesting |more interesting |the most interesting |

|generous |more generous |the most generous |

|personal |more personal |the most personal |

In a very few cases, English permits a choice between the two devices:

commoner / more common, commonest / the most common. Ordinary, when one

form is prescribed by the rules, the other is forbidden.

A few adjectives have irregular forms for the degrees of comparison.

They are:

good - better - the best

bad - worse - the worst

far - farther - the farthest (for distance)

- further - the furthest (for time and distance)

near - nearer - the nearest (for distance)

- next (for order)

late - later - the latest (for time)

- last (for order)

old - older - the oldest (for age)

- elder - the eldest (for seniority rather the age; used only

attributively)

There are some adjectives that, on account of their meaning, do not

admit of comparison at all, e.g. perfect, unique, full, empty, square,

round, wooden, daily, upper, major, outer, whole, only and some others.

There are sentence patterns in which comparison is expressed:

a) comparison of equality (as … as)

e.g. The boy was as shy as a monkey.

After his bathe, the inspector was as fresh as a fish.

When he had left Paris, it was as cold as in winter there.

b) comparison of inequality (not so ... as, not as ... as)

e.g. His skin was not so bronzed as a Tahiti native’s.

The sun is not so hot today as I thought it would be.

You are not as nice as people think.

c) comparison of superiority (... –er than, ... –est of (in, ever)

e.g. He looked younger than his years, much younger than Sheila or me.

To my mind the most interesting thing in art is the personality of

the artist.

My mother was the proudest of women, and she was vain, but in the end

she had an eye for truth.

It’s the biggest risk I’ve ever had to take.

d) comparison of inferiority ( less ... than)

e.g. John is less musical than his sister.

He had the consolation of noting that his friend was less sluggish

than before.

e) comparison of parallel increase or decrease (the ... the, ...-er as)

e.g. The longer I think of his proposal the less I like it.

The sooner this is done, the better.

He became more cautious as he grew older.

There are set phrases which contain the comparative or the superlative

degree of an adjective:

a) a change for the better (for the worst) – перемена к лучшему ( к

худшему)

e.g. There seem to be a change for