Teaching the Adjective

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………….2

CHAPTER I

THE ADJECTIVE…………………………………………………………3

CHAPTER II

TECHNIQUES OF TEACHING THE ADJECTIVE………………………17

CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………….22

BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………..23 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

INTRODUCTION

     The adjective is one of the important parts of speech in modern English. The adjective is a part of speech that modifies a noun or a pronoun, usually by describing it or making its meaning more specific. The adjective expresses the categorial semantics of property of a substance. Unlike nouns, adjectives do not possess a full nominative value.

     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 are classified as adjectives by some grammarians; however, such classification may be specific to one particular language.

     The semantically bound character of the adjective is emphasized in English by the use of the prop-substitute one in the absence of the notional head-noun of the phrase. On the other hand, if the adjective is placed in a nominatively self-dependent position, this leads to its substantivization. There is not much to be said about the English adjective from the morphological point of view. As is well known, it has neither number, nor case, nor gender distinctions. Some adjectives have, however, degrees of comparison, which make part of the morphological system of a language.

     According to their structure adjectives may be compound and derived.

     The aim of the given term paper is the study of one of the most important and interesting parts of speech-the adjective.

     The term paper consists of introduction, two chapters, conclusion and bibliography.

     In the introduction the aim of the work is defined and the structure of the work is described.

     Chapter I gives general survey of the adjective as a part of speech. This chapter defines adjectives, studies the degrees of comparison of adjectives, investigates the position, order of adjectives and their syntactic function.

     Chapter II throws light upon the techniques of teaching adjectives. This chapter presents worksheets for teaching lessons about adjectives.

     Conclusion sums up the results of investigation.

     Bibliography comprises the list of literature used when carrying out the work. 
 

CHAPTER I

THE ADJECTIVE 

    Adjectives are the third major class of words in English, after nouns and verbs. Adjectives are words expressing properties of objects 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.

    An adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's referent. According to Blokh, the adjective expresses the categorial semantics of property of a substance а each adjective used in text presupposes relation to some noun¹. Unlike nouns, adjectives do not possess a full nominative value.

    Collectively, adjectives form one of the traditional English eight parts of speech, though linguists today distinguish adjectives from words such as determiners that also used to be considered adjectives

    Not all languages have adjectives, but most, including English, do. Those that do not, typically use words of another part of speech, often verbs, to serve the same semantic function; for example, such a language might have a verb that means "to be big", and would use a construction analogous to "big-being house" to express what English expresses as "big house". In most languages with adjectives, they form an open class of words; that is, it is relatively common for new adjectives to be formed via such processes as derivation. Adjective is a part of speech characterized by the following typical features:

1. The lexico-grammatical meaning of “attributes (of substantives)”. By attributes we mean different properties of substantives, such as their size, color, position in space, material, psychic state of persons, etc.
2. The morphological category of the degrees of comparison.
3. The characteristic combinability with nouns (a beautiful girl), link verbs (…is clever), adverbs, mostly those of degree (a very clever boy), the so-called “prop word” one (the grey one).
4. The stem-building affixes –ful, -less, -ish, -ous, -ive, -ic, un-, pre-, in-, etc.
5. Its functions of an attribute and a predicative complement.

    A given occurrence of an adjective can generally be classified into one of four kinds of uses:

• Attributive adjectives are part of the noun phrase headed by the noun they modify; for example, happy is an attributive adjective in "happy people". In some languages, attributive adjectives precede their nouns; in others, they follow their nouns; and in yet others, it depends on the adjective, or on the exact relationship of the adjective to the noun. In English, attributive adjectives usually precede their nouns in simple phrases, but often follow their nouns when the adjective is modified or qualified by a phrase acting as an adverb. For example: "I saw three happy kids", and "I saw three kids happy enough to jump up and down with glee.”
• Predicative adjectives are linked via a copula or other linking mechanism to the noun or pronoun they modify; for example, happy is a predicate adjective in "they are happy" and in "that made me happy.”
• Absolute adjectives do not belong to a larger construction (aside from a larger adjective phrase), and typically modify either the subject of a sentence or whatever noun or pronoun they are closest to; for example, happy is an absolute adjective in "The boy, happy with his lollipop, did not look where he was going.”
• Substantive adjectives act almost as nouns. One way this can happen is if a noun is elided and an attributive adjective is left behind. In the sentence, "I read two books to them; he preferred the sad book, but she preferred the happy", happy is a substantive adjective, short for "happy one" or "happy book". Another way this can happen is in phrases like "out with the old, in with the new", where "the old" means, "that which is old" or "all that is old", and similarly with "the new". In such cases, the adjective functions either as a mass noun or as a plural count noun, as in "The meek shall inherit the Earth", where "the meek" means "those who are meek" or "all who are meek.”

    With regard to the category of the degrees of comparison adjectives fall under 2 lexico-grammatical subclasses: comparables and non-comparables.² The nucleus of the latter is composed of derived adjectives like wooden, Crimean, mathematical, etc. These adjectives are called relative as distinct from all other adjectives called qualitative.

    Most qualitative adjectives build up opposemes of comparison, but some do not:

• adjectives that in themselves express the highest degree of a quality: supreme, extreme.
• those having the suffix –ish which indicates the degree of quality: reddish, whitish
• those denoting qualities which are not compatible with the idea of comparison.: deaf, dead, lame, perpendicular.

    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.

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

e.g. 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. 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)

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

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)

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

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

e) no (none the) worse for

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

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

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

h) as best

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

i) at (the) best

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

Adjectives are classified into relative and qualitative adjectives.

    Relative adjectives express such properties of a substance as are determined by the direct relation of the substance to some other substance (e.g. wood – a wooden hut, history – a historical event).

    The nature of this relationship in adjectives is best revealed by definitional correlations: e.g. a wooden hut – a hut made of wood; a historical event – an event referring to a certain period of history.

    Qualitative adjectives, as different from relative ones, denote various qualities of substances which admit of a quantitative estimation, i.e. of establishing their correlative quantitative measure.  The measure of a quality can be estimated as high or low, adequate or inadequate, sufficient or insufficient, optimal or excessive (e.g. a difficult task – a very difficult task).

    Substances can possess such qualities as are incompatible with the idea of degrees of comparison а adjectives denoting these qualities, while belonging to the qualitative subclasses, are in the ordinary use incapable of forming degrees of comparison (e.g. extinct, immobile, deaf, final, fixed).³

    Many adjectives considered under the heading of relative still can form degrees of comparison, thereby, as it were, transforming the denoted relative property of a substance into such as can be graded quantitatively (e.g. a military design – of a less military design – of a more military design). The adjective functions may be grammatically divided into ‘evaluative’ and ‘specificative’. One and the same adjective, irrespective of its being relative or qualitative, can be used either in one or the other function.

    e.g. good is basically qualitative, but used as a grading term in teaching it acquires the specificative value (bad, satisfactory, good, excellent).

    English compound adjectives are constructed in a very similar way to the compound noun. Blackboard jungle, leftover ingredients, gunmetal sheen, and green monkey disease are only a few examples. Sometimes, the compound noun changes its form. Like salad dressings, which is open, when you put sweet there, it changes to 'sweet salad-dressing’.

    A compound adjective is a modifier of a noun. It consists of two or more morphemes of which the left-hand component limits or changes the modification of the right-hand one, as in "the dark-green dress", dark limits the green that modifies dress.

    There are some well-established permanent compound adjectives that have become solid over a longer period, especially in American usage: earsplitting, eyecatching, and downtown.

    However, in British usage, these, apart from downtown, are more likely written with a hyphen: ear-splitting, eye-catching.

    Other solid compound adjectives are for example:

    Numbers that are spelled out and have the suffix -fold added: "fifteenfold", "sixfold”.

    Points of the compass: northwest, northwester, northwesterly, northwestwards, but not North-West Frontier. In British usage, the hyphenated and open versions are not uncommon: north-western, north-westerly, north westerly, north-westwards.

    Hyphenated compound adjectives

    A compound adjective is hyphenated if the hyphen helps the reader differentiate a compound adjective from two adjacent adjectives that each independently modify the noun⁴.

    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.

    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 also 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:

    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: eastern, exciting, etc.

5. When we use an adjective to emphasize a strong feeling or opinion, it always comes in front of a noun.

e.g. absolute, outright, pure, true, complete, perfect, real, utter, entire, positive, total, etc.

          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.

e.g. Deep, long, tall, wide, high, old, thick, etc.

    He was about six feet tall.

    The water was several metres deep.

    The baby is nine months old.

7. A few adjectives are used alone after a noun.

e.g. designate, elect, galore, incarnate, etc.

    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.

    e.g.  concerned, involved, present, proper, responsible.

    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.

    Order of Adjectives.

    1. We often want to add more information to a noun than we 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 we 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 thecountry 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.

    e.g. 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.

    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:

    Aware of, unaware of, fond of, accustomed to, used to, etc.

    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.

    Afraid, critical, jealous, suspicious, ashamed, envious, proud, terrified, frightened, scared, tired, etc.

    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.

e.g. brave, good, polite, thoughtful, careless, intelligent, sensible, unkind, clever, kind, silly, nice, stupid, etc.

    That was clever of you!

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

• used alone or with `to', usually referring to:

similarity: close, equal, identical,

marriage: married, engaged

loyalty: dedicated, devoted, loyal

    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. bored, displeased, impatient, content, impressed, satisfied, etc.

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

    He was pleased with her.

• used alone or with `at', usually referring to:

strong reactions: amazed, astonished, shocked

ability: bad, excellent, good, hopeless, useless

    e.g. He was shocked at the hatred they had shown.

    She had always been good at languages.

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, such as cruel, good, nasty, rude, friendly, nice, mean, polite, unkind, etc.

    e.g. It was rude of him to leave so suddenly.

    She was rude to him for no reason.

• used alone, with `about' to specify a thing or `with' to specify a person.

e.g. angry, delighted, fed up, happy, annoyed, furious, upset, etc.

    e.g. She was still angry about the result.

    They're getting pretty fed up with him. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

     CHAPTER II