Adjectives
p align="left">This book includes a good introductory chapter on forests.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 | | |
Some of it was absolute rubbish. He made me feel like a complete idiot. 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 | | |
He was about six feet tall. The water was several metres deep. The baby is nine months old. Note that you do not say `two pounds heavy', you say `two pounds in weight'. 7. A few adjectives are used alone after a noun. |
|designate |elect |galore |incarnate | | | |
She was now the president elect. There are empty houses galore. 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 | | |
For example, `the concerned mother' means a mother who is worried, but `the mother concerned' means the mother who has been mentioned. It's one of those incredibly involved stories. The people involved are all doctors. I'm worried about the present situation. Of the 18 people present, I knew only one. Her parents were trying to act in a responsible manner. We do not know the person responsible for his death. 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. He is a naughty little boy. She was wearing a beautiful pink suit. 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. He put on a nice clean shirt. It was a horrible dirty room. 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. These are the highest monthly figures on record. 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. He receives a large weekly cash payment. 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. The room was large but square. The house was old, damp and smelly. We felt hot, tired and thirsty. Adjectives with prepositions. 1. When we use an adjective after a link verb, we can often use the adjective on its own or followed by a prepositional phrase. e.g. He was afraid. He was afraid of his enemies. 2. Some adjectives cannot be used alone after a link verb. If they are followed by a prepositional phrase, it must have a particular preposition: |
aware of unaware of fond of | | accustomed to unaccustomed to used to | | |
e.g. I've always been terribly fond of you. He is unaccustomed to the heat. 3. Some adjectives can be used alone, or followed by a particular preposition. used alone, or with `of ' to specify the cause of a feeling |
afraid critical jealous suspicious ashamed envious proud terrified convinced frightened scared tired | | |
They may feel jealous of your success. I was terrified of her. used alone, or with `of ' to specify the person who has a quality |
brave good polite thoughtful careless intelligent sensible unkind clever kind silly unreasonable generous nice stupid wrong | | |
That was clever of you! I turned the job down, which was stupid of me. used alone or with `to', usually referring to: |
similarity: close equal identical related similar marriage: married engaged loyalty: dedicated devoted loya rank: junior senior | | |
e.g.My problems are very similar to yours. He was dedicated to his job. used alone, or followed by 'with' to specify the cause of a feeling |
bored displeased impatient pleased content dissatisfied impressed satisfied | | |
e.g. I could never be bored with football. He was pleased with her. used alone or with `at', usually referring to: |
strong reactions: amazed astonished shocked surprised ability: bad excellent good hopeless useless | | |
e.g. He was shocked at the hatred they had shown. She had always been good at languages. used alone, or with `for' to specify the person or thing that quality relates to |
common essential possible unusual difficult important unnecessary usual easy necessary | | |
e.g. It's difficult for young people on their own. It was unusual for them to go away at the weekend. 4. Some adjectives can be used alone, or used with different prepositions. used alone, with an impersonal subject and `of ' and the subject of the action, or with a personal subject and `to' and the object of the action |
cruel good nasty rude friendly kind nice unfriendly generous mean polite unkind | | |
e.g. It was rude of him to leave so suddenly. She was rude to him for no reason. o used alone, with `about' to specify a thing or `with' to specify a person |
angry delighted fed up happy annoyed disappointed furious upset | | |
e.g. She was still angry about the result. They're getting pretty fed up with him. Adjectives with `to'-infinitive or `that'-clauses 1. After link verbs, we often use adjectives that describe how someone feels about an action or situation. With some adjectives, we can add a `to'-infinitive clause or a `that'-clause to say what the action or situation is. |
afraid disappointed happy sad anxious frightened pleased surprised ashamed glad proud unhappy | | |
If the subject is the same in both clauses, we usually use a `to'- infinitive clause. If the subject is different, we must use a `that'- clause. e.g. I was happy to see them again. He was happy that they were coming to the party. We often use a `to'-infinitive clause when talking about future time in relation to the main clause. e.g. I am afraid to go home. He was anxious to leave before it got dark. We often use a `that'-clause when talking about present or past time in relation to the main clause. e.g. He was anxious that the passport was missing. They were afraid that I might have talked to the police. 2. We often use `sorry' with a `that'-clause. Note that `that' is often omitted. e.g. I'm very sorry that I can't join you. I'm sorry I'm so late. 3. Some adjectives are not usually used alone, but have a `to'-infinitive clause after them to say what action or situation the adjective relates to. |
able due likely unlikely apt inclined prepared unwilling bound liable ready willing | | |
e.g. They were unable to help her. They were not likely to forget it. I am willing to try. I'm prepared to say I was wrong. 4. When we want to express an opinion about someone or something, we often use an adjective followed by a `to'-infinitive clause. |
difficult easy impossible possible right wrong | | |
e.g. She had been easy to deceive. The windows will be almost impossible to open. Am I wrong to stay here? 5. With some adjectives, we use a `that'-clause to express an opinion about someone or something. |
awful extraordinary important sad bad funny interesting true essential good obvious | | |
e.g. I was sad that people had reacted in this way. . It is extraordinary that we should ever have met! 6. We can also use adjectives with `to'-infinitive clauses after `it' as the impersonal subject. We use the preposition `of ' or `for' to indicate the person or thing that the adjective relates to. e.g. It was easy to find the path. It was good of John to help me. It was difficult for her to find a job. Adjectives ending in `-ing' or `-ed' We use many `-ing' adjectives to describe the effect that something has on our feelings, or on the feelings of people in general. For example, if we talk about 'a surprising number', we mean that the number surprises us. |
alarming charming embarrassing surprising amazing confusing exciting terrifying annoying convincing frightening tiring astonishing depressing interesting welcoming boring disappointing shocking worrying | | |
e.g. He lives in a charming house just outside the town. She always has a warm welcoming smile. We use some `-ing' adjectives to describe something that continues over a period of time. |
ageing decreasing existing living booming dying increasing remaining | | |
e.g. Britain is an ageing society. Increasing prices are making food very expensive. Many `-ed' adjectives describe people's feelings. They have the same form as the past participle of a transitive verb and have a passive meaning. For example, `a frightened person' is a person who has been frightened by something. |
alarmed delighted frightened surprised amused depressed interested tired astonished disappointed satisfied troubled bored excited shocked worried | | |
e.g. She looks alarmed about something. A bored student complained to his teacher. She had big blue frightened eyes. Note that the past participles of irregular verbs do not end in `-ed', but can be used as adjectives. e.g. The bird had a broken wing. His coat was dirty and torn. 4. Like other adjectives, `-ing' and `-ed' adjectives can be: used in front of a noun They still show amazing loyalty to their parents. This is the most terrifying tale ever written. I was thanked by the satisfied customer. The worried authorities cancelled the match. used after link verbs It's amazing what they can do. The present situation is terrifying. He felt satisfied with all the work he had done. My husband was worried. modified by adverbials such as `quite`, `really`, and `very' The film was quite boring. There is nothing very surprising in this. She was quite astonished at his behaviour. He was a very disappointed young man. used in the comparative and superlative His argument was more convincing than mine. He became even more depressed after she died. This is one of the most boring books I've ever read. She was the most interested in going to the cinema. 5. A small number of `-ed` adjectives are normally only used after link verbs such as `be`, `become`, or `feel`. They are related to transitive verbs, and are often followed by a prepositional phrase, a `to`-infinitive clause, or a `that`-clause. |
convinced interested prepared tired delighted involved scared touched finished pleased thrilled worried | | |
e.g. The Brazilians are pleased with the results. He was always prepared to account for his actions. She was scared that they would find her. ConclusionThe subject of our investigation was adjectives. What we have learnt about adjectives is that most English adjectives have comparative and superlative forms. These are generally constructed in one of two ways: either by suffixes (big, bigger, biggest) or by the use of the grammatical particles more and most. We have investigatedthat some adjectives have suppletive forms in their comparison, such as good, better, best. Comparative and superlative forms apply only to the base form of the adjective, so that duplicate forms like most biggest or worser are nonstandard (although lesser is sometimes permitted as a variant of less). A few adjectives have no comparative but a superlative with -most: uppermost, westernmost, etc. Also it has its own degrees, such as comparison, etc. Those such as male, female, extant and extinct which express "absolute" qualities do not admit comparisons: one animal cannot be more extinct than another. Similarly in a planktonic organism the adjective planktonic simply means plankton-type; there are no degrees or grades of planktonic. Other cases are more debatable. Grammatical prescriptivists frequently object to phrases such as more perfect on the grounds that something either is perfect or it is not. However, many speakers of English accept the phrase as meaning more nearly perfect. An adjective that causes particular controversy in this respect is unique. The formulations more unique and most unique are guaranteed to raise the hackles of purists. Which English adjectives are compared by -er/-est and which by more/most is a complex matter of English idiom. Generally, shorter adjectives (including most monosyllabic adjectives), Anglo-Saxon words, and shorter, fully domesticated French words (e.g. noble) use the suffixes -er/-est. Adjectives with two syllables vary. Some take either form, and the situation determines the usage. For example, one will see commoner and more common, depending on which sounds better in the context. Two-syllable adjectives that end in the sound [i], most often spelled with y, generally take -er/-est, e.g., pretty : prettier : prettiest. It was pleasant to investigate adjectives and we think that it is not the end of its investigation. We will continue this theme on our diploma work. Thank you for spending time on reading our course work! Appendix For my practical task I decided to find something extraordinary what we didn't learn at school and at university also. It is eponymous adjective! An eponymous adjective is an adjective which has been derived from the name of a person, real or fictional. Persons from whose name the adjectives have been derived are called eponyms. Following is a list of eponymous adjectives in English. · Aaronic -- Aaron (as in Aaronic Priesthood) · Abbasid -- Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (as in Abbasid Dynasty) · Abelian -- Niels Henrik Abel (as in Abelian group) · Abrahamic -- Abraham (as in Abrahamic religions) · Achillean -- Achilles, of Greek mythology · Adamic -- Adam (as in Adamic language); also Adamite (as in pre-Adamite race) · Addisonian -- Thomas Addison (as in Addisonian crisis) · Adlerian -- Alfred Adler (as in Classical Adlerian psychology) · Aegean -- Aegeus, of Greek mythology (as in Aegean Sea) · Aeolian -- Aeolus, of Greek mythology (as in Aeolian Islands) · Aeschylean -- Aeschylus · Aldine -- Aldus Manutius (as in Aldine Press) · Alexandrine -- Alexander the Great (as in Alexandrine verse); also Alexandrian (as in Alexandrian period) · Amperian -- Andre-Marie Ampere (as in Amperian loop) · Antonian -- St. Anthony the Great (as in Antonian monasticism); Antoninus Pius (as in Nervan-Antonian dynasty) · Antonine -- Antoninus Pius (as in Antonine Wall); Marcus Aurelius See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_eponymous_adjectives_in_English#See_also Bibliography1.« Modern English language» (Theoretical course grammar) V.N. Zhigadlo, I.P. Ivanova, L.L. Iofik. Moscow, 1956 y.2.“Morphology of the English language”А.I.Smirnitcky. Moscow, 1959 y.3.“Theoretical grammar of the English language” B.S. Khaimovich, B.I. Rogovskaya. Moscow, 1967 y. 4. Baker, Mark. 2005. Lexical Categories - Verbs, nouns and adjectives. Cambridge University Press5.Dixon, R. M. W. (1977). Where have all the adjectives gone? Studies in Language, 1, 19-80. 6.Dixon, R. M. W. (1994). Adjectives. In R. E. Asher (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of language and linguistics (pp. 29-35). Oxford: Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-08-035943-4. (Republished as Dixon 1999). 7.Dixon, R. M. W. (1999). Adjectives. In K. Brown & T. Miller (Eds.), Concise encyclopedia of grammatical categories (pp. 1-8). Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISBN 0-08-043164-X. 8.Warren, Beatrice. (1984). Classifying adjectives. Gothenburg studies in English (No. 56). Goteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. ISBN 91-7346-133-4.
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