Теоретическая грамматика современного английского языка : учебное пособие
жүктеу/скачать 0,64 Mb. Pdf көрінісі
|
Theoretical Grammar
- Бұл бет үшін навигация:
- 9. adjective
| Working bibliography
Прибыток И. И. теоретическая грамматика английского языка / и. и. прибыток. М., 2008. с. 35–46.
A Course in Theoretical English Grammar / M. Y. Blokh. Moscow, 2004. P. 61–72.
The Structure of Modern English / B. A. Ilyish. Leningrad, 1971. P. 41–48.
It is common knowledge that adjectives are words expressing properties of objects. They are divided into qualitative and relative adjectives. But there is not much to be said about the English adjective from the morphological point of view; it has neither number, nor case, nor gender distinctions. To recognize adjectives in a text one should take into account their semantic and syntactic features. Derivative suffixes may also be helpful. Among these are the suffixes - al , -
ial
( national ,
), -
(
), -
(
), -
(
), -
( ghostlike ). They are used to derive adjectives from nouns. There are two suffixes, -
(
) and -
(
), to derive adjectives from verbal stems. On the whole, the number of adjectives which are recognized by their suffixes is insignificant as compared with the mass of English adjectives. Degrees of Comparison.
The only morphological problem concerning English adjectives is the category of degrees of comparison. Most practical grammars only focus on the ways of forming degrees of comparison: 1) the synthetical pattern (with the suffixes -
, -
est );
2) the analytical pattern ( more + Adj.; the most + Adj.); 3) the suppletive formations (e. g.
;
). Theoretical interpretation of degrees of comparison is not so easy. The first question which arises here is about the number of them. How many degrees of comparison does the adjective have? If we take the 34 three forms, e. g. large (positive), larger (comparative), the largest
(superlative), shall we say that they are all degrees of comparison? Or shall we say that only the latter two are degrees of comparison, whereas the first does not express any idea of comparison? Both views hold. It is well known now that not every adjective has degrees of comparison. Since degrees of comparison express a difference of degree in the same property, only those of adjectives admit of degrees of comparison which denote properties capable of appearing in different degrees. For example, the adjective
has no degrees of comparison. This refers to most relative adjectives and some qualitative, such as
blind ,
,
. A more complex problem is the grammatical status of such formations as more difficult ,
They are referred to as the analytical forms of degrees of comparison. In that case the words more and
most
would be auxiliary words devoid of their lexical meaning. In fact, they preserve their meaning in the word combinations under discussion and they should be treated as components of free phrases. But, on the other hand, qualitative adjective like
,
,
express properties which may be presented in different degrees and, therefore, they are bound to have degrees of comparison. B. A. Ilyish says that considerations of meaning tend towards recognizing the formations of the type more difficult as analytical forms of degrees of comparison, whereas strictly grammatical considerations lead to the contrary view. The traditional interpretation of these formations as analytical forms prevails in linguistic literature. Substantivization of Adjectives . Adjectives can, under certain circumstances, be substantivized, i. e. become nouns. This phenomenon can be found in many languages (e. g., in Russian: ученый совет — ученый ). Substantivized English adjectives acquire the characteristic feature of nouns: 1) ability to form a plural; 2) ability to have a possessive case form; 3) ability to be modified by an adjective; 4) ability to have both definite and indefinite article; 5) the functions of subject and object in a sentence. If we take, for example, the word relative, we can find that it possesses all these features:
,
address ,
etc.
35 Such words as native ,
,
are fully substantivized. But there are cases of a different kind:
,
rich ,
,
, etc. They do not form a plural in - s ; they
have no possessive form; they cannot be used in the singular meaning and with the indefinite article. Such adjectives are said to be partially substantivized.
жүктеу/скачать 0,64 Mb. Достарыңызбен бөлісу:
|