II. Material to be read for the seminar. Adjectives are the third major class of words in English after nouns and verbs

Adjectives are the third major class of words in English after nouns and verbs. Adjectives express the categorical semantics of property of a substance. It means that each adjective used in the text presupposes relation to some noun the property of whose referent it denotes, such as its material (e.g. wooden, woolen), colour (e.g. red, blue, green), dimensions (e.g. large, small, huge), position in space (e.g. upper, inner), psychological state (e.g. glad, content, angry, furious), nationality (e.g. English, Spanish, Russian) and other characteristics both permanent and temporary. It follows from this that, unlike nouns, adjectives do not possess a full nominative value. Indeed, words like small, polite, nice cannot effect any self-dependent nominations; as units of informative sequences they exist only in collocations showing what is small, who is polite, what is nice. The semantically bound character of the adjective is emphasized in English by the use of the substitute word one in the absence of the notional head-noun of the phrase. E.g.: I don’t want a yellow balloon, let me have the green one over there. On the other hand, if the adjective is placed in a nominative self-dependent position, this leads to its substantiation. E.g.: Outside it was a beautiful day, and the sun tinged the snow with red. Cf.: The sun tinged the snow with the red colour.

According to their meaning and grammatical characteristics adjectives are divided into two classes: relative and qualitative. Relative adjectives express such properties of a substance as are determined by the direct relation of the substance to some other substance. E.g.: wood – a wooden chair; mathematics – mathematical precision; history – a historical event; colour – coloured postcards; surgery – surgical treatment.

The nature of this “relationships” in adjectives is best revealed by definitional correlations. Cf.: a wooden chair – a chair made of wood, a historical event – an event referring to a certain period of history; surgical treatment – treatment consisting in the implementation of surgery, etc. Relative adjectives also describe properties of substances through relation to places (e.g. Russia – Russian; India – Indian; Europe – European; South – Southern) and to time (e.g. week – weekly; day – daily; month – monthly; year – yearly). Relative adjectives do not form degrees of comparison. They have certain typical suffixes such as: -en, -an, -ist, -ic, -ical, -ish (e.g. woolen, American, capitalist, poetic, medical, British, Irish). In English the number of relative adjectives is limited.

Qualitative adjectives, as different from relative ones, denote various qualities of substances directly, such as shape, colour, size, physical and mental qualities, qualities of general estimation (e.g. low, green, white, small, cold, strong, brave, generous, kind, difficult, easy, romantic). These qualities, as M.Y. Blokh points out, admit of a quantitative estimation, i.e. of establishing their correlative quantitative measure. The measure of a quality can be estimated as high or low, adequate or inadequate, sufficient or insufficient, optimal or excessive. Cf.: An awkward situation – a very awkward situation; a difficult task – too difficult a task; an enthusiastic reception – rather an enthusiastic reception; a hearty welcome – not a very hearty welcome [1, p. 205]. The ability of an adjective to form degrees of comparison is usually taken as a formal sign of its qualitative character, in opposition to a relative adjective which is understood as incapable of forming degrees of comparison by definition. Cf.: a clever boy – a cleverer boy; a short way – a shorter way; a hearty welcome – the heartiest of welcomes.

Morphological structure of English adjectives. According to their morphemic composition adjectives are divided into three classes: simple, derived and compound. Simple adjectives are root words which have neither suffixes nor prefixes in their morphological structure (e.g. hot, fat, big, cold, long, short, warm). Derived adjectives are adjectives which are formed by means of adding derivational suffixes to free or bound stems (e.g. understandable, eatable, elemental, forgetful, wonderful, wolfish, milky, bushy, famous, capable, viable). Compound adjectives are adjectives which consist of two stems: e.g. good-natured, kind-hearted, peace-loving, well-known, heart-breaking, broad-shouldered, ear-splitting, full-scale.

Grammatical category of the English adjective. Adjectives in English do not change for number or case. The only grammatical category they have is the degrees of comparison. The category of the degrees of comparison of adjectives is the system of opposemes (like cold – colder – coldest) showing quantitative distinctions of qualities. It shows whether the adjective denotes the property of some substance absolutely or relatively as a higher or the highest amount of the property in comparison with that of some (or all) other substances. Accordingly we can distinguish between the positive (thin, good, interesting), comparative (thinner, better, more interesting), and superlative (thinnest, best, most interesting) degrees. The positive degree is the plain stem of an adjective (e.g. heavy, quick, fine, bright crazy, smart). The positive degree does not convey the idea of comparison. Its meaning is absolute. It is, as it were, the initial stage, the norm of some quality. The comparative and superlative degrees are built up either synthetically (by affixation or suppletivity) or analytically, which in the main depends on the phonetic structure of the stem, not on its meaning. If the stem is monosyllabic or disyllabic with the stress on the second syllable or ending in -er, -y, -le, -ow, the comparative and superlative degrees are usually built up synthetically by adding the suffixes -er and -est respectively. E.g. smart – smarter – smartest; new – newer – newest; long – longer – longest. In all other cases the comparative and superlative degrees are formed analytically with the help of the word-morphemes more and most. E.g. important – more important – most important; cheerful – more cheerful – most cheerful; effective – more effective – most effective.

The analytical forms of comparison perform a double function. On the one hand, they are used with evaluative adjectives that cannot normally take the synthetical forms of comparison. In this respect, the analytical comparison forms are in categorical complementary distribution with the synthetical comparison forms. On the other hand, the analytical forms of comparison, as different from the synthetical forms, are used to express emphasis, thus complementing the synthetical forms in the sphere of this important stylistic connotation. Cf.: The audience became more and more noisy, and soon the speaker’s words were drowned in the general hum of voices.

What is the grammatical content of the comparative and superlative degrees? The comparative degree is used when there are two objects, actions or phenomena compared or contrasted to show that one of them has a greater degree of quality than the other. E.g. Peter is taller and stronger than Nick. This exercise is more difficult than that one which I did yesterday.

The grammatical content of the superlative degree is that of degree of a property surpassing all other objects mentioned or implied by the context or situation. E.g. “Gone with the Wind” is the most interesting and the most exciting film I have ever seen.

Thus, the category of adjectival comparison expresses the quantitative characteristic of the quality of a nounal referent, i.e. it gives a relative evaluation of the quantity of a quality. The purely relative nature of the categorical semantics of comparison is reflected in its name.

Most qualitative adjectives build up degrees of comparison, but some do not.

1. Adjectives that are themselves grading marks of evaluation – they express a higher or the highest degree of a quality (e.g. upper, prior, former, senior, superior, optimal, proximal, supreme, extreme).

2. Adjectives having the suffix -ish which indicates the degree of a quality (e.g. reddish, bluish, whitish, greenish).

3. Adjectives denoting qualities which are not compatible with the idea of comparison (e.g. deaf, dead, lame).

Naturally, all the adjectives which have no comparative and superlative opposites are outside the category of comparison, but they are united by the lexico-grammatical meaning of the positive degree which does not convey the idea of comparison.

Substantivized adjectives in English. The substantivization of adjectives is a kind of conversion. Adjectives when substantivized, lose all or part of the characteristics of the adjectives and acquire all or part of the characteristics of the noun. Modern English adjectives may be either wholly or partially substantivized. By wholly substantivized adjectives we mean adjectives wholly converted into nouns, that is, they acquire all the characteristics of nouns: they have plural and possessive case inflexions and may be associated with the definite and indefinite articles (e.g. a relative, the relative, five relatives, my relative’s arrival). Partially substantivized adjectives are adjectives only partly converted into nouns. Such adjectives take the definite article, but are neither inflected for the plural nor can be used in the possessive case (e.g. the future, the old, the young, the impossible, the useful, the necessary).

Partially substantivized adjectives are:

1. All the persons possessing the quality mentioned by the adjective as a group, but not separate individuals (e.g. the living / the dead, the young / the old, the poor / the rich, the foolish / the clever, the healthy / the sick).

2. Adjectives which denote abstract notions (e.g. the beautiful, the marvelous, the inevitable, the unusual, the unknown, the important, the useful, the dark). They are singular in meaning and take a singular verb. E.g. The good in him overweighs thebad. She did not regard Eliza’s behaviour as particularly out of the ordinary.

3. Adjectives which denote nationality ending in -sh, -ch: the English, the Irish, the French, the Scotch. If separate members of the nation are meant, the nouns man (men), woman (women) or people are added (e.g. an Englishman, an Irishman, a Frenchwoman, Irish people).

4. Substantivized adjectives which denote languages (Spanish, French, Italian, English, Polish). Such adjectives are used without articles.

Wholly substantivized adjectives are:

1. Adjectives which denote social rank or position, military ranks, party, creed or race (e.g. nobles, equals, superiors, commercials, privates, contemporaries, liberals, Christians, blacks, whites, etc.).

When such words denote an individual person, they are used in the singular with the indefinite article (an equal, a commercial, a contemporary, a private, a white, a Christian).

2. Adjectives denoting nationalities (e.g. a Russian – Russians; a German – Germans; an American – Americans; an Italian – Italians; a Greek – Greeks).

3. Names of colours also belong to wholly substantivized adjectives. When used in a general sense, as M.A. Ganshina and N.M. Vasilevskaya point out, they are treated as uncountables; when denoting shades of colours, they are treated as countables and may be used with the indefinite article and in the plural [2, p. 90]. E. g.: He watched the white clouds so bright against the intense blue (Galsworthy). The first tints of the flowers had deepened… Pink became a royal red. Blue rose into purple. Yellow flamed into orange (Norris). The trees in the garden were turning yellows and browns (Dickens).

4. Some substantivized participles II which are used in the singular and plural, but have one form for both numbers [2, p. 90]. For example: I appear for theaccused (Gordon). “… the deceased’s finger-prints ought to be on it somewhere” (Gordon). Margaret and her husband looked – as if they had been the accused (Gaskell).

Adjectives in English perform different syntactic functions. The adjective is used:

1. As attribute: She touched the white ruffles of the roses. Their fresh scent and cool, soft leaves reminded her of the morning-time and sunshine (Lawrence). Her face was close to the windowpane, and he was struck by its mournful look.

2. As predicative: He was conscious of a faint rustling behind him (Galsworthy). The weather was so fine for the time of the year, that she often had great enjoyment out of the doors (Austen). It was quite dark when he rose to go out to the hotel where he had his evening meal (Gordon).

3. As part of a double predicate: Here and there windows glowed yellow in the misty darkness (Gordon). Her answer came quick and sharp (Twain).

4. As objective predicative: She held her coat tight against her body because the wind was very cold. We thought him very intelligent. She wore her hair long. The cat licked the saucer dry.

5. As subjective predicative: The door was closed tight. Her hair was dyed blonde. The vegetables were served raw, the way he liked.

Поиск по сайту: