Adjectives (прилагательные)

                                    Preface for word

    In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's referent. Some examples can be seen in the box to the right. Collectively, adjectives form one of the traditional English eight parts of speech, though linguists today distinguish adjectives from words such as determiners that also used to be considered adjectives.

Not all languages have adjectives, but most, including English, do. (English adjectives include big, old, and tired, among many others.) Those that do not, typically use words of another part of speech, often verbs, to serve the same semantic function; for example, such a language might have a verb that means "to be big", and would use a construction analogous to "big-being house" to express what English expresses as "big house". Even in languages that do have adjectives, one language's adjective might not be another's; for example, while English uses "to be hungry" (hungry being an adjective), French uses "avoir faim" (literally "to have hunger"), and where Hebrew uses the adjective "זקוק" (zaqūq, roughly "in need of"), English uses the verb "to need".

In most languages with adjectives, they form an open class of words; that is, it is relatively common for new adjectives to be formed via such processes as derivation.

                                       Theoretical part

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

    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)

b) none the less – тем не менее

c) so much the better ( the worst) – тем лучше (хуже)

d) to be the worst for –  делать что-то хуже,  еще больше

e) no (none the) worse for – хуже не станет (не стало)  от ...

f) if the worst comes to the worst – в худшем случае

g) to go from bad to worse – становиться все хуже и хуже

h) as best -  в  полную меру старания, как только можно

i) at (the) best -  в лучшем случае

                            Substantivization of Adjectives.

    Sometimes adjectives become substantivized. In this case  they  have  the

functions of nouns in the sentence and are always preceded by  the  definite

article. Substantivized adjectives may have two meanings:

1) They may indicate a class of persons in a general sense (e.g. the poor  =

   poor people, the dead = dead people, etc.) Such adjectives are plural  in

   meaning and take a plural verb.

e.g. The old receive pensions.

If we wish to denote a single person we must add a noun.

e.g. The old man receives a pension.

If we wish to refer to a particular  group  of  persons  (not  the  whole

class), it is aslo necessary to add a noun.

e.g. The young are usually intolerant.

    Some adjectives denoting nationalities (e.g. English, French, Dutch)  are

used in the same way.

e.g. The English are great lovers of tea.

2) Substantivized adjectives may also  indicate  an  abstract  notion.  Then

   they are singular in meaning and take a singular verb.

e.g. The good in him overweighs the bad. 

               Syntactic Functions of Adjectives.

Adjectives may serve in the sentence as:

1) an attribute

e.g. Do you see the small green boat, which has such an odd shape?

    Adjectives used as  attributes  usually  immediately  precede  the  noun.

Normally there is  no  pause  between  the  adjective  and  the  noun.  Such

attributes are called close attributes.

However,  an  adjective  placed  in  pre-position  to  the  noun  may  be

separated from it by a pause. Then it becomes a loose attribute.

e.g. Clever and tactful, George listened to my story with deep concern.

Yet loose attributes are more often found in post-position to the noun.

e.g. My father, happy and tired, kissed me good-night.

2) a predicative

3) part of a compound verbal predicate

4) an objective predicative

5) a subjective predicative

    It should be noted that most adjectives can be  used  both  attributively

and predicatively, but some, among them those beginning  with  a-,  can  be

used only  as  predicatives  (e.g.  afraid,  asleep,  along,  alive,  awake,

ashamed and also content, sorry, well, ill, due, etc.)

    A few adjectives can be used  only  as  attributes  (e.g.  outer,  major,

minor, only, whole, former, latter  and some others)

               Position of Adjectives.

1  Most adjectives can be used in a noun group, after determiners and

numbers if there are any, in front of the noun.

e.g. He had a beautiful smile.

2  Most adjectives can also be used after a link verb such as ‘be’,

‘become’, or ‘feel’.

e.g. I'm cold.

3. Some adjectives are normally used only after a link verb. 

afraid  asleep   due  ready unable 

alive   aware    glad sorry well   

alone   content  ill  sure         

4. Some adjectives are normally used only in front of a noun. 

eastern                existing         neighbouring    

northern   atomic      indoor           occasional      

southern   countless   introductory     outdoor         

western    digital     maximum         

5. When we use an adjective to emphasize a strong feeling or opinion, it

always comes in front of a noun. 

absolute   outright   pure  true 

complete   perfect    real  utter

entire     positive   total    

6. Some adjectives that describe size or age can come after a noun group

consisting of a number or determiner and a noun that indicates the unit of

measurement.

deep long tall  wide

high old  thick     

7. A few adjectives are used alone after a noun.

designate   elect galore  incarnate  

8. A few adjectives have a different meaning depending on whether they come

in front of or after a noun.

concerned   involved   present  proper  responsible   

                        Order of Adjectives.

1. We often want to add more information to a noun than  you  can  with  one

adjective, so we need to use two or more adjectives. In theory, we  can  use

the  adjectives  in  any  order,  depending  on  the  quality  you  want  to

emphasize. In practice, however, there is a normal order.

   When we use two or more adjectives in front of a noun, we usually put  an

adjective that expresses our opinion in front  of  an  adjective  that  just

describes something.

e.g. You live in a nice big house.

2. When we use more than one adjective to express our opinion, an  adjective

with a more general meaning such  as  ‘good’,  ‘bad’,  ‘nice’,  or  ‘lovely’

usually comes before an adjective with  a  more  specific  meaning  such  as

‘comfortable’, ‘clean’, or ‘dirty’.

e.g. I sat in a lovely comfortable armchair in the corner.

3. We can use adjectives to describe various qualities of people or  things.

For example, we might want to indicate  their  size,  their  shape,  or  the

country they come from.

Descriptive adjectives belong to six main  types,  but  we  are  unlikely

ever to use all six types in the same noun  group.  If  we   did,  we  would

normally put them in the following order:

size shape age colour  nationality    material  

This means that if we want to use an ‘age’ adjective and a  ‘nationality’

adjective, we put the ‘age’ adjective first.

   We met some young Chinese girls.

Similarly,  a  ‘shape’  adjective  normally  comes  before  a   ‘colour’

adjective.

e.g. He had round black eyes.

Other combinations  of  adjectives  follow  the  same  order.  Note  that

‘material’ means any substance, not only cloth.

e.g. There was a large round wooden table in the room.

        The man was carrying a small black plastic bag.

4. We usually put comparative and superlative adjectives in front  of  other

adjectives.

e.g. Some of the better English actors have gone to live in Hollywood.

5. When we use a noun in front of another  noun,  we  never  put  adjectives

between them. We put any adjectives in front of the first noun.

e.g. He works in the French film industry.

6. When we use two adjectives as the complement of a link  verb,  we  use  a

conjunction such as ‘and’ to link them. With three or  more  adjectives,  we

link the last two with a conjunction, and put commas after the others.

e.g. The day was hot and dusty.

                          Adjectives with prepositions.