adjectives
DESCRIPTION
Course Title Grammar (2) Course Code& Number Eng 142 Credit hours 2X2= 4 hrs Pre-requisite Eng 141 Instructor Dr. Shadia Yousef BanjarTRANSCRIPT
IntroductionSome morphologic sentence elements are commonly grouped into:
. The Noun Cluster
. The Verb Cluster
The noun cluster divides into two categories
Principal Secondary
Nouns
Numerals
Pronouns
Adjectives
Articles
ADJECTIVES "Adjective" is the sentence element used to
qualify/determine a noun or a noun-equivalent construction.
• It is used to clarify nouns.• It can be one word or a group of words.• It can also be used with certain verbs (such as the verb
"to be"). • It is used to clarify the subject that is doing the action.• It is used to describe color, material, shape, size,
amount, price, quality, origin, personality, weight, temperature, age, direction, etc.
CATEGORIES OF ADJECTIVES
Qualifyingqualifying adjectives are
(generally) employed as:
First of all, adjectives are:
Possessive
Demonstrative
Relative
Interrogative
Indefinite
Predicative Adjectives
Attributes
Determining The group of determining adjectives
is a bit more complex; it includes:
POSITIONING QUALIFYING ADJECTIVES WITHIN THE SENTENCE
STRUCTURE Position Examples
Before or after the noun they qualifySyntactically, they are Attributes
The new house welcomes us.
The house aflame was a terrible loss.
After particular verbsSyntactically, these are Predicative AdjectivesNote: although they are position near the verb, these adjectives still qualify the noun, only.
The man was alive.
In this case "alive" refers to the noun "man" although it is positioned near the copulative verb "was" .
COMPARING ADJECTIVES
Only Qualifying adjectives may be compared.
The comparison is performed for:A. InferiorityB. EqualityC. Superiority
The points A and C above take three "Degrees of Comparison", as follows:
POSITIVE SUPERLATIVE COMPARATIVE
POSITIVE
no comparison is performed
Example: The tall man went into the restaurant.The word tall is an adjective. It describes the noun, man.
It is very common to use adjectives with nouns.Adjectives are used to describe the noun.
COMPARATIVE
simple comparison
What are comparative adjectives?Comparative adjectives are used to clarify the difference between 2 objects/nouns.Comparative adjectives are used to compare 2 nouns.To state that one noun has more of something then the 2nd noun.
Examples:The black dog is older than the white dog.My house is bigger than my sister's house.The yellow hat is more expensive than the green hat.
SUPERLATIVE
Relative Absolute
qualities related to others qualities of all
Examples: The summer is the hottest time of the year. Your family is the nicest that I have ever met.
A - Comparison with -er/-est
How to Use Comparative Adjectives and Superlative Adjectives
We use -er/-est with the following adjectives:1- adjectives with one syllable
cleancleanercleanest
newnewernewest
cheapcheapercheapest
2- adjectives with two syllables and the following endings:
2 a- adjectives with two syllables, ending in -y
dirtydirtierdirtiest
easyeasiereasiest
happyhappierhappiest
prettyprettierprettiest
2 b- adjectives with two syllables, ending in –er
clevercleverercleverest
2 c- adjectives with two syllables, ending in -le
simplesimplersimplest
2 d- adjectives with two syllables, ending in -ow
narrownarrowernarrowest
B - Comparison with more/less – most/least
"more/less- most/least"is used for words that :•have 2 syllables, if the word doesn't end in -y.
* have 3 or more syllables
•difficult- more/less difficult•honest – more/less honest•modern – more/less modern
•expensive – more/less expensive•comfortable - more /less comfortable
•difficult- most/least difficult•honest – most/least honest•modern – most/least modern
•expensive – most/least expensive•comfortable – most/least comfortable
C -Irregular adjectives
goodbetterbest
badworseworst
muchmoremostuncountable nouns
manymoremostcountable nouns
littlelessleast
littlesmallersmallest
D - Special adjectivesSome adjectives have two possible forms of comparison.
commoncommoner / more commoncommonest / most common
likelylikelier / more likelylikeliest / most likely
pleasantpleasanter / more pleasantpleasantest / most pleasant
politepoliter / more politepolitest / most polite
simplesimpler / more simplesimplest / most simple
stupidstupider / more stupidstupidest / most stupid
subtlesubtler / more subtlesubtlest
suresurer / more suresurest / most sure
Difference in meaning with adjectives:
far
fartherfarthestdistance
furtherfurthestdistance ortime
late
laterlatest
latterx
xlast
oldolderoldestpeople and things
eldereldestpeople (family)
nearnearernearestdistance
xnextorder
Eng 142 / grammar (2)Prepared and presented by:Samah EidReferences :http://www.englisch-hilfen.dehttp://www.corollarytheorems.com/Grammarhttp://www.english-the-easy-way.com/Adjectives/Adjectives_Page.htmThe instructor : Dr. Shadia Banjar