Курсовая работа: Adjectives

Курсовая работа: Adjectives

Contents

  Introduction___________________________________2

Part 1

1.1Adjectives. ________________________________3

1.2Degrees of Comparison ______________________3

1.3Substantivization of Adjectives.  _______________6

1.4Syntactic Functions of Adjectives.______________7

Part 2

2.1Position of Adjectives________________________7

2.2Order of Adjectives. _________________________9

2.3Adjectives with prepositions. _________________11

2.4Adjectives with ‘to’-infinitive or ‘that’-clauses ___13

Conclusion__________________________________17

Appendix ___________________________________19

Bibliography ________________________________20

Introduction

We have chosen this theme because we like adjectives from our early school age. It was interesting for us to investigate adjectives and to find something new that we didn’t know before. First of all we found out the basical definitions of adjectives to describe it as part of speech. We used many theoretical books to do our course work, such as: « Modern English language» (Theoretical course grammar) V.N. Zhigadlo, I.P. Ivanova, L.L. Iofik.  Moscow, 1956 y., Baker, Mark. 2005. Lexical Categories - Verbs, nouns and adjectives. Cambridge University Press, etc. Then we looked through the “Warren, Beatrice. (1984). Classifying adjectives. Gothenburg studies in English” to know their theories and thoughts about adjectives as a part of speech. Here what we found about it:

  In grammar, an adjective is a part of speech that modifies a noun or a pronoun, usually by describing it or making its meaning more specific. Adjectives exist in most languages. The most widely recognized adjectives in English are words such as big, old, and tired that actually describe people, places, or things. These words can themselves be modified with adverbs, as in the phrase very big.The articles a, an, and the and possessive nouns, such as Mary's, are classified as adjectives by some grammarians; however, such classification may be specific to one particular language. Other grammarians call such noun modifiers determiners. Similarly, possessive adjectives, such as his or her, are sometimes called determinative possessive pronouns, and demonstrative adjectives, such as this or that, are called determinative demonstratives.In some languages, participles are used as adjectives. Examples of participles used as adjectives are lingering in the phrase lingering headache and broken in the phrase broken toys. Nouns that modify other nouns are sometimes called modifying nouns, nouns used adjectivally, or just part of a compound noun (like the word ice in ice cream).

Adjectives.

According to the theories of Dixon, R. M. W. (1977). “Where have all the adjectives gone?” Studies in Language, 1, 19-80 :

Adjectives are the third major class of words  in  English,  after  nouns

and verbs. Adjectives are  words  expressing  properties  of  objects  (e.g.

large, blue, simple, clever, economic, progressive,  productive,  etc)  and,

hence, qualifying  nouns.Adjectives in English  do  not  change  for  number  or  case.  The  only grammatical category they have is the degrees of comparison. They  are  also characterized by functions in the sentence.

Degrees of Comparison.

There  are  three  degrees  of  comparison:  positive,  comparative  and

superlative. The positive form is the  plain  stem  of  an  adjective  (e.g.

heavy, slow, straight, etc) . The comparative  states  that  one  thing  has

more of the quality named by the  adjective  than  some  other  thing  (e.g.Henry is taller than John). The superlative states that the  thing  has  the greatest degree of the quality  among  the  things  being  considered  (e.g. Henry is the tallest boy in the class) Most one-syllable adjectives, and most two-syllable adjectives ending  in -y, -ow, -er, or consonant +-le , with loud stress  on  the  first  syllable and weak stress on the second, form their  comparative  and  superlative  by the addition of the suffixes -er and -est.

  Adjectives derived by prefixes from  those  that  use  -er/-est  also  use

these suffixes, even though the addition of prefixes makes them longer  that two syllables: unhappy - unhappier –unhappiest.

   All adjectives other than those enumerated above form  their  comparative by  using  the  intensifier  more  and  their  superlative  by   using   the intensifier the most.

  In a very few cases, English permits a choice  between  the  two  devices:

commoner / more common, commonest / the  most  common.  Ordinary,  when  one form is prescribed by the rules, the other is forbidden. A few adjectives have irregular forms  for  the  degrees  of  comparison.

They are:

   good - better - the best

   bad - worse - the worst

   far - farther - the farthest (for distance)

     - further - the furthest (for time and distance)

   near - nearer - the nearest (for distance)

            - next (for order)

   late - later - the latest (for time)

            - last (for order)

   old - older - the oldest (for age)

            - elder - the eldest (for seniority rather the age;  used  only

              attributively)

   There are some adjectives that, on  account  of  their  meaning,  do  not

admit of comparison at all,  e.g.  perfect,  unique,  full,  empty,  square,

round, wooden, daily, upper, major, outer, whole, only and some others.

    There are sentence patterns in which comparison is expressed:

a) comparison of equality (as … as)

e.g. The boy was as shy as a monkey.

       After his bathe, the inspector was as fresh as a fish.

       When he had left Paris, it was as cold as in winter there.

b) comparison of inequality (not so ... as, not as ... as)

e.g. His skin was not so bronzed as a Tahiti native’s.

      The sun is not so hot today as I thought it would be.

      You are not as nice as people think.

c) comparison of superiority (... –er than, ... –est of (in, ever)

e.g. He looked younger than his years, much younger than Sheila or me.

      To my mind the most interesting thing in art  is  the  personality  of

the artist. My mother was the proudest of women, and she was vain, but in the  end she had an eye for truth. It’s the biggest risk I’ve ever had to take.

d) comparison of inferiority ( less ... than)

e.g. John is less musical than his sister.

      He had the consolation of noting that his  friend  was  less  sluggish

than before.

e) comparison of parallel increase or decrease (the ... the, ...-er as)

e.g. The longer I think of his proposal the less I like it.

       The sooner this is done, the better.

       He became more cautious as he grew older.

   There are set phrases which contain the comparative  or  the  superlative

degree of an adjective:

a) a change for the better  (for  the  worst)  –  перемена  к  лучшему  (  к

худшему)

e.g. There seem to be a change for the better  in your uncle. He had a  very

hearty dinner yesterday.

b) none the less – тем не менее

e.g. It did not take him long to make up his mind. None the less she  showed

her scorn for his hesitation.

c) so much the better ( the worst) – тем лучше (хуже)

e.g. If he will help us, so much the better.

       If he doesn’t work, so much the worst for him.

d) to be the worst for – делать что-то хуже,  еще больше

e.g. He is rather the worst for drink.

e) no (none the) worse for – хуже не станет (не стало) от ...

e.g. You’ll be no worse for having her to help you.

       You are none the worse for the experience.

f) if the worst comes to the worst – в худшем случае

e.g. If the worst comes to the worst, I can  always  go  back  home   to  my parents.

g) to go from bad to worse – становиться все хуже и хуже

e.g. Thinks went from bad to worse in the family.

h) as best -  в полную меру старания, как только можно

e.g. He made a living as best he could.

i) at (the) best -  в лучшем случае

e.g. She cannot get away from her home for long. At (the) best she can  stay with us for two days.

Substantivization of Adjectives.

   Sometimes adjectives become substantivized. In this case  they  have  the functions of nouns in the sentence and are always preceded by  the  definite article. Substantivized adjectives may have two meanings:

1) They may indicate a class of persons in a general sense (e.g. the poor  =   poor people, the dead = dead people, etc.) Such adjectives are plural  in   meaning and take a plural verb.

e.g. The old receive pensions.

       The young are always romantic, aren’t they?

       The blind are taught trades in special schools.

   If we wish to denote a single person we must add a noun.

e.g. The old man receives a pension.

   If we wish to refer to a particular  group  of  persons  (not  the  whole

class), it is aslo necessary to add a noun.

e.g. The young are usually intolerant.

       The young men are fishing.

   Some adjectives denoting nationalities (e.g. English, French, Dutch)  are

used in the same way.

e.g. The English are great lovers of tea.

       There were a few English people among the tourists.

2) Substantivized adjectives may also  indicate  an  abstract  notion.  Then

   they are singular in meaning and take a singular verb.

e.g. The good in him overweighs the bad.

      My mother never lost her taste for extravagant.

Syntactic Functions of Adjectives.

   Adjectives may serve in the sentence as:

1) an attribute e.g. Do you see the small green boat, which has such an odd shape? The lights of the farm blazed out in the windy darkness.

   Adjectives used as  attributes  usually  immediately  precede  the  noun.

Normally there is  no  pause  between  the  adjective  and  the  noun.  Such attributes are called close attributes. However,  an  adjective  placed  in  pre-position  to  the  noun  may  be separated from it by a pause. Then it becomes a loose attribute. e.g. Clever and tactful, George listened to my story with deep concern.

   Yet loose attributes are more often found in post-position to the noun.

e.g. My father, happy and tired, kissed me good-night.

2) a predicative

e.g. Her smile was almost professional.

       He looked mature, sober and calm.

3) part of a compound verbal predicate

e.g. He stood silent, with his back turned to the window.

       She lay motionless, as if she were asleep.

4) an objective predicative

e.g. I thought him very intelligent.

       She wore her hair short.

5) a subjective predicative

e.g. The door was closed tight.

       Her hair was dyed blonde.

   It should be noted that most adjectives can be  used  both  attributively

and predicatively, but some, among them those  beginning  with  a-,  can  be used only  as  predicatives  (e.g.  afraid,  asleep,  along,  alive,  awake,

ashamed and also content, sorry, well, ill, due, etc.) A few adjectives can be used  only  as  attributes  (e.g.  outer,  major, minor, only, whole, former, latter  and some others).

Position of Adjectives.

  1  Most adjectives can be used in a noun group, after determiners and

numbers if there are any, in front of the noun.

e.g. He had a beautiful smile.

      She bought a loaf of white bread.

      There was no clear evidence.

2  Most adjectives can also be used after a link verb such as ‘be’,

‘become’, or ‘feel’.

e.g. I'm cold.

       I felt angry.

       Nobody seemed amused.

3. Some adjectives are normally used only after a link verb.

For example, we can say ‘She was glad’, but you do not talk about ‘a glad

woman’.

I wanted to be alone.

We were getting ready for bed.

I'm not quite sure.

He didn't know whether to feel glad or sorry.

4. Some adjectives are normally used only in front of a noun.

For example, we talk about ‘an atomic bomb’, but we do not say ‘The bomb was atomic’. He sent countless letters to the newspapers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

   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:

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

      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

      That was clever of you!

      I turned the job down, which was stupid of me.

used alone or with ‘to’, usually referring to:

      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

      e.g. I could never be bored with football.

             He was pleased with her.

used alone or with ‘at’, usually referring to:

      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

      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

      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

      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.

   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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.              

Conclusion

The 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 — André-Marie Ampère (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

Bibliography

1.« 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 Press

5.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). Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. ISBN 91-7346-133-4.