The Adjective

THE ADJECTIVE
The adjective is a word expressing a quality of a substance.

Classification of adjectives. According to their meaning and grammatical characteristics adjectives fall under two
classes: qualitative adjectives and relative adjectives.
Qualitative adjectives denote qualities of a substance directly, not through its relation to another substance, as
size, shape, colour, physical and mental qualities, qualities of general estimation: little, large, high, soft, hard, warm,
white, blue, pink, strong, bold, beautiful, important, necessary, etc.
Relative adjectives denote qualities of a substance through their relation to materials (silken, woollen, wooden),
to place (Italian, Asian), to time (monthly, weekly), to some action (preparatory, rotatory).
Grammatical characteristics of qualitative adjectives.
1. Most qualitative adjectives have degrees of comparison:
Big bigger (the) biggest
interesting more interesting (the) most interesting
Some qualitative adjectives such as greenish, darkish, incurable, unsuitable, chief, principal, have no
degrees of comparison.
2. They have certain typical suffixes, such as -ful, -less, -ous, -ent, -able, -y, -ish: careful, careless, dangerous,
convenient, comfortable, silvery, watery, whitish, shortish.
3. From most of them adverbs can be formed by the suffix -ly:
e.g. graceful — gracefully gay —gaily
4. Most qualitative adjectives can be used as attributes and predicatives.
e.g. The young man was introduced, and they sat down at the table. (Aldington) (attribute)
But you’re nearly as old as I am! (Aldington) (predicative)
Grammatical characteristics of relative adjectives.
1. Relative adjectives have no degrees of comparison.
2. They do not form adverbs with the suffix -ly.
3. They have certain typical suffixes, such as -en, -an, -ist, -ic, -ical: wooden, Italian, socialist, synthetic, analytical.
4. Relative adjectives are chiefly used as attributes.
e.g. She had noticed a pretty wooden chain upon Gretel’s neck. (Dodge) (attribute)
The morning was windy and sharp. (Saxton) (predicative)
It must be pointed out that no hard and fast line of demarcation exists between relative and qualitative adjectives.
Compare: silken thread (relative adjective), but silken hair (qualitative adjective).
Morphological composition of the adjective. Adjectives are divided into simple, derivative and compound.
1. Simple adjectives are adjectives which have neither prefixes nor suffixes: e. g. good, red, black.
2. Derivative adjectives are adjectives which have derivative elements, suffixes or prefixes or both: beautiful, foolish,
hopeless, unkind, unimportant.
Adjective-forming suffixes are:
-less: friendless, harmless, hopeless; -like: childlike; -ish: childish, foolish; -ed (-d): beaded, blue-eyed
-ful: careful -ible: responsible -able: reliable; -ant: important; -ent: dependent; -en: woolen; -ous: dangerous;
-some: troublesome
Adjective-forming prefixes are: un-: unhappy; pre-: prewar; in-: incorrect
3. Compound adjectives are adjectives built from two or more stems.
The main types of compound adjectives are as follows:
(a) noun-stem + adjective-stem: snow-white.
(b) noun-stem + participle-stem: life-giving, smoke-dried.
(c) adjective-stem + adjective-stem: deaf-mute.
(d) adjective-stem + noun-stem+suffix -ed: cold-hearted.
(e) noun-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: lynx-eyed.
(f) numeral-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: four-wheeled.
(g) adverb-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: over-peopled.
Substantivized adjectives. Substantivized adjectives have acquired some or all of the characteristics of the noun,
but their adjectival origin is still generally felt.
Substantivized adjectives are divided into wholly substantivized and partially substantivized adjectives.
Wholly substantivized adjectives have all the characteristics of nouns, namely the plural form, the genitive case;
they are associated with articles, i. e. they have become nouns: a native, the natives, a native’s hut.
Some wholly substantivized adjectives have only the plural form: eatables, valuables, ancients, greens.
Partially substantivized adjectives acquire only some of the characteristics of the noun; they are used with the
definite article. Partially substantivized adjectives denote a whole class: the rich, the poor, the unemployed. They may
also denote abstract notions: the good, the evil, the beautiful, the singular, the plural.
Substantivized adjectives denoting nationalities fall under wholly and partially substantivized adjectives.
Wholly substantivized adjectives are: a Russian — Russians, a German— Germans.
Partially substantivized adjectives are: the English, the French, the Chinese.
Degrees of Comparison
The comparative degree denotes a higher degree of a quality.
e.g. She is taller than her sister.
My box is smaller than hers.
The superlative degree denotes the highest degree of a quality.
e.g. She is the tallest of the three sisters.
Her box is the smallest of all our boxes.
(The noun modified by an adjective in the superlative degree has the definite article because the superlative degree
of the adjective always implies limitation.)
Adjectives form their degrees of comparison in the following way:
a) by the inflexion -er, -est (synthetical way);
b) by placing more and most before the adjective (analytical way).
Monosyllabic adjectives usually form their comparatives and superlatives in the first way, and polysyllabic
adjectives in the second way.
The following polysyllabic adjectives, however, generally form their comparative and superlative degrees
inflexionally:
1. Adjectives of two syllables which end in -y, -ow, -er, -le.
happy happier (the) happiest
narrow narrower (the) narrowest
clever cleverer (the) cleverest
simple simpler (the) simplest
2. Adjectives of two syllables which have the stress on the last syllable:
complete completer (the) completest
concise conciser (the) concisest
Some adjectives have irregular forms of degrees of comparison, e. g.:
good better (the) best
bad worse (the) worst
many, much more (the) most
little less (the) least
far farther (the) farthest
further (the) furthest
old older (the) oldest
elder (the) eldest
Spelling rules.
1. If the adjective ends in a consonant preceded by a stressed short vowel the consonant is doubled before -er, -est.
sad sadder (the) saddest
big bigger (the) biggest
2. If the adjective ends in -y preceded by a consonant, y is changed into i before -er and -est.
busy busier (the) busiest
happy happier (the) happiest
3. If the adjective ends in -e the e is dropped before -er and -est.
brave braver (the) bravest
fine finer (the) finest
The adjective has the following syntactical characteristics: In a sentence the adjective may be used as an attribute
or as a predicative.
e.g. A little fat chap thrust out his underlip and the tall fellow frowned. (M ANSFIELD ) (Attributes)
The air was motionless... (Mansfield) (predicative)
Fill in the table with the examples illustrating the spelling rules:
DEGREES OF COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES
Positive Comparative Superlative
1-syllable
adjectives
2-syllable
adjectives
polysyllabic
adjectives
adjectives
having irregular
forms of degrees
of comparison

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THE ADJECTIVE

The adjective is a word expressing a quality of a substance.

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