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    Adjectives: Function, Use, and Degrees of Comparison

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    Ma Crimeldy Portunova-Gapor
    This document discusses the function and use of adjectives in language. It notes that adjectives modify nouns and pronouns, describing and clarifying their meaning. Adjectives can be attributive or predicative. They answer questions about nouns like "which" and "what kind." Adjectives have degrees of comparison - positive, comparative, superlative - to indicate level. The document provides examples of regular and irregular adjective forms and their comparisons. It cautions writers to use adjectives sparingly and thoughtfully to avoid weakening prose.

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    Adjectives: Function, Use, and Degrees of Comparison

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    Ma Crimeldy Portunova-Gapor
    41 views8 pages
    This document discusses the function and use of adjectives in language. It notes that adjectives modify nouns and pronouns, describing and clarifying their meaning. Adjectives can be attributive or predicative. They answer questions about nouns like "which" and "what kind." Adjectives have degrees of comparison - positive, comparative, superlative - to indicate level. The document provides examples of regular and irregular adjective forms and their comparisons. It cautions writers to use adjectives sparingly and thoughtfully to avoid weakening prose.

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    This document discusses the function and use of adjectives in language. It notes that adjectives modify nouns and pronouns, describing and clarifying their meaning. Adjectives can be attributive or predicative. They answer questions about nouns like "which" and "what kind." Adjectives have degrees of comparison - positive, comparative, superlative - to indicate level. The document provides examples of regular and irregular adjective forms and their comparisons. It cautions writers to use adjectives sparingly and thoughtfully to avoid weakening prose.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    41 views8 pages

    Adjectives: Function, Use, and Degrees of Comparison

    Uploaded by

    Ma Crimeldy Portunova-Gapor
    This document discusses the function and use of adjectives in language. It notes that adjectives modify nouns and pronouns, describing and clarifying their meaning. Adjectives can be attributive or predicative. They answer questions about nouns like "which" and "what kind." Adjectives have degrees of comparison - positive, comparative, superlative - to indicate level. The document provides examples of regular and irregular adjective forms and their comparisons. It cautions writers to use adjectives sparingly and thoughtfully to avoid weakening prose.

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    of 8

    ADJECTIVES: FUNCTION, USE, AND

    DEGREES OF COMPARISON

    ADJECTIVES
    • Modify nouns and pronouns

    • Clarify
    • Describe
    • Delimit
    • Expand
    • Qualify
    ATTRIBUTIVE
    ADJECTIVES
    • Can be placed before or after
    the word they modify

    The part-time teacher


    The happy goblin

    Proof positive
    The body corporate

    PREDICATIVE
    ADJECTIVES
    • Come after linking verbs (to be,
    to become, to seem, to appear).
    • Function as a complement that
    qualifies the subject of the
    sentence.

    The goblins seemed happy.


    The teacher was part time.
    FUNCTION OF ADJECTIVES
    Adjectives answer questions such as:
    • Which?
    New challenges arose.
    • What kind of?
    Insurmountable challenges arose.

    FUNCTION OF
    ADJECTIVES
    A perfect storm

    It’s nothing important.

    Some like it hot.

    Who was absent?


    PARTICIPLES
    AND
    INFINITIVES
    • Can function as adjectives

    The delighted children and the


    smirking gruffalo could not decide
    which ice-cream flavours to
    choose.

    DEGREES OF
    COMPARISON
    • Adjectives can be ‘marked’ to
    indicate degree.
    • Degrees are ‘positive’,
    ‘comparative’, or ‘superlative’.
    DEGREES OF
    COMPARISON
    • Positive
    She is bright.

    • Comparative
    She is brighter than he is.

    • Superlative
    She is the brightest student.

    REGULAR DEGREES OF COMPARISON


    Positive Comparative Superlative

    Happy Happier Happiest


    Cold Colder Coldest
    Hard Harder Hardest
    Thankful More thankful Most thankful
    Intelligent More intelligent Most intelligent
    Little (size) Littler Littlest
    Far (place) Farther Farthest
    Late (time) Later Latest
    IRREGULAR DEGREES OF COMPARISON
    Positive Comparative Superlative

    Good Better Best


    Bad Worse Worst
    Much/many/more More Most
    Little (size) Less Least
    Far (time or place) Further Furthest

    ABSOLUTE
    ADJECTIVES
    • Can be neither compared nor
    intensified.
    • Eternal, fatal, impossible,
    maximum, minimum, perfect,
    unique, entire, infinite.
    USING
    ADJECTIVES
    Adjectives:
    • are frequently over-used in
    writing.
    • can leave less to the reader’s
    imagination.
    • can impose opinion, but don’t
    necessarily clarify meaning.

    ON ADJECTIVES
    I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief
    sentences. That is the way to write English—it is the modern way
    and the best way. Stick to it; don’t let fluff and flowers and verbosity
    creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean
    utterly, but kill most of them—then the rest will be valuable. They
    weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they
    are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit,
    once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other
    vice.
    Mark Twain, 1880
    USING
    ADJECTIVES
    • Avoid clichés—‘snow-capped
    mountains’, ‘fathomless
    depths’, ‘crystal waters’, etc.
    • Let nouns and verbs speak for
    themselves.
    • Use adjectives thoughtfully and
    deliberately, not automatically.

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