Sunday, January 21, 2018

Adjectives


Adjectives express a quality or attribute of a noun:

       a happy child      a surly person       toxic waste

       an old man         defective brakes    a greedy child

       a red flag           a dangerous road     a large hotel

Typical adjective endings include:

-ble   accessible, comfortable, possible, responsible, terrible

-ive   constructive, deceptive, defective, furtive, interactive

-ous  continuous, delicious, enormous, rigorous, serious

-y   funny, greedy, happy, rainy, tasty, weary

Most adjectives can occur before a noun, or after a linking verb :

       a violent storm                  ~the storm was violent

       a delicious meal                ~the meal is delicious

However, a small number of adjectives are restricted to just one position.The adjective afraid, for instance, can only appear after
 a linking verb:

      the children were afraid     ~the afraid children

Conversely, the adjective chief can only occur before a noun:

      the chief result                 ~the result is chief

In a small number of fixed expressions, an adjective appears immediately

         after the noun:

         the people responsible

        the Princess Royal

        the heir apparent

        the roadway proper

Adjectives can modify a small number of pronouns ( see 2.6). They always follow the pronoun:

         something terrible

         someone new

         nobody special

         nothing unusual

 Gradable adjectives

Most adjectives can take a modifying word, such as fairly, very or
extremely, before them:

    fairly cold      very cold             extremely cold

The modifying word locates the adjective on a relative scale of intensity.
In this example, the scale is from fairly cold to extremely cold. This characteristic of adjectives is called gradability.

The modifying words (fairly, very, extremely) are called intensifiers 

Comparative and superlative adjectives

The adjective cold has two other forms, colder (the comparative formand coldest (the superlative form). The form cold is called the base orm. Most adjectives have these three forms.
 Here are some more examples:

Base                 Comparative              Superlative 
form                  form                          form             

new                   newer                        newest            

old                    older                          oldest              

dark                  darker                        darkest            

big                    bigger                        biggest            

The comparative form is produced by adding an -er ending to the base
form. The superlative form is produced by adding an -est ending, again to the base:

       Base cold       + -er         = comparative colder 

       Base cold       + -est        = superlative coldest  

Some adjectives form the comparative and superlative using more and most respectively:

  Base                    Comparative              Superlative    
  form                     form                          form               

 recent                  more recent                most recent     

 important            more important          most important

In general, adjectives with one syllable in the base form take the -er and -est endings, while longer words use more and most:

  Base                 Comparative             Superlative           
  form                 form                          form                     

 warm                warmer                     warmest                 

 hopeful               more hopeful            most hopeful       

 beautiful             more beautiful          most beautiful     

 complicated        more complicated    most complicated

The adjectives good and bad have irregular comparative and superlative forms:

  Base                    Comparative            Superlative      
  form                    form                         form                

  good                    better                       best                  

  bad                      worse                      worst                

 Participial adjectives

Participial adjectives have the endings -ed or -ing that we normally associate with verbs :

         a complicated process       an amazing achievement

         a crazed expression           a boring book

         a disabled person              a confusing account

         an embarrassed smile       a fascinating photograph

         an experienced driver       a rewarding experience

         a talented singer                a staggering result

Most participial adjectives have a corresponding verb                    (to complicate, toamaze, etc, but some do not.
 For example, there is no verb to talent,
corresponding to a talented singer.

Like other adjectives, participial adjectives may be gradable:

        a very complicated process

        an extremely rewarding experience

They also have comparative and superlative forms:

       complicated       more complicated         most complicated

       rewarding          more rewarding             most rewarding