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Topic 14 – Expression of quality. Degree and comparison

1 GRAMMATICAL DELIMITATION OF ADJECTIVES

Definition: Word that qualifies a noun, adds to its meaning but limits its application.

2 FORM

Adjectives have the same form for singular and plural, masculine and feminine. There are exceptions like this/that and these/those.

Some can have the inflectional endings –er and –est for the comparative and superlative, others make the comparative and the superlative by means of more and most.

Present participles (swimming) and past participles (finished) are verbal adjectives.

3 FUNCTION

ATTRIBUTIVE FUNCTION: They precede or, more rarely, they follow the noun they qualify.

Prepositive: a large house

Postpositive: a house larger than mine

PREDICATIVE FUNCTION: They predicate with the verb to be or other predicative verbs (seem, look, become, get…).

Subject complement: he is happy.

Object complement: he made me happy.

SUBSTANTIVAL USE

Adjectives can function as nouns: The English love tea. I love the new.

FUNCTIONING AS RELATIVE CLAUSES

The boy, tired, went to bed.

The man waiting for the bus is my uncle.

4 CONTENT

They can be descriptive, denoting a quality (a political ambition), or limiting, denoting a category, (a political meeting).

5 CLASSIFICATION

TRADITIONAL CLASSIFICATION

Thomson and Martinet give a clear classification of adjectives:

Demonstratives, distributive, quantitative, possessive, interrogative, of quality.

FROM A MORPHOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEw

Formed from substantives:

childish troublesome dangerous natural moody friendly beautiful ciareless

formed from verbs:

pleasant talkative admirable interesting bored

formed by adding prefixes:

intolerant, impolite, unsociable, unreliable, illegal, irregular, disappointed, misarranged, amoral

ACCORDING TO THE SYNTACTIC FUNCTION THEY CAN PERFORM

Both attributive and predicative:

The day was sunny, a sunny day.

Attributive:

Joint efforts, an utter fool

Predicative:

He was alone.

FROM A SEMANTIC POINT OF VIEw

Stative: they don´t imply change, they can´t be used with progressive aspect nor the imperative.

Tall.

Dynamic: they refer to transitory condition.

Careful.

Gradable / non-gradable.

Gradable: or descriptive. They can be modified by adverbs, can be compared.

Non-gradable / limitive. They can´t…

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

There are three degrees of comparison in English: positive, comparative, and superlative.

FORM

The suffixes er and est are used with:

Monosyllables

Two syllable adjectives ending in:

A vocalic sound narrow clever

Syllabic l simple

Y silly

Having the stress on the last syllable. Politer

We use the adverbs more and most with all longer words

With a few two syllable adjectives both forms are possible: common, clever

SPELLING NOTES

Adjectives ending in a single vowel followed by a single consonant, double the final consonant fatter

Adjectives ending in mute e add r, st. brave

Two syllable adjectives ending in y: the y becomes I

IRREGULAR COMPARISON

Good, bad old little many much far

PHONETIC CHANGES

An r regains its consonant value rarer

Syllabic l becomes non syllabic simple

The sound g appears after n longer

COMPARING STRUCTURES

Gradual increase and

Two changes happen together the… the…

OTHER COMPARING STRUCTURES

AS LIKE (two elements are similar)

LIKE and ALIKE They are alike. What is your sister like?

SO THAT, SUCH THAT

COMPARISON WITH NOUNS More of a

THE POSITION OF ADJECTIVES

Three possible positions. Attributive adjectives can precede or follow the noun they qualify. Predicative complements follow the verb be, seem, look, etc.

Attributive adjectives usually precede the noun. They follow the noun in the following cases:

With nouns denoting measure. A road 50 feet wide.

Followed by a prepositional phrase: a man greedy for money. Red with anger.

With some latin expressions. God almighty, lord spiritual.

With compounds of body, one, thing, where. Somebody tall

In apposition to proper names William the conqueror.

When they express an action or an occurrence. The car stolen yesterday.

RELATIVE POSITION OF TwO OR MORE ATTRIBUTIVE ADJECTIVES

Temperature, shape and size, age, colour, origin, material NOUN.

DIFFERENT MEANING ACCORDING TO POSITION

Apparent contradiction (seeming) / it is not apparent (evident)

Due consideration (proper) / the money due (payable)

Ill luck (bad) / he is ill (sick)

Present king (existing now) / the people present (being there)

OTHER WORDS FUNCTIONING AS ADJECTIVES

PARTICIPLES

INFINITIVES the days to come

ADVERBS The then president.

NOUNS ´stone ´walls: even stress, and or, the silver one, singular with plural concepts.

ADJECTIVAL CLAUSES

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