A GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Topic: Adjectives
Group 3
1. Mai Đắc Lộc 0023411366
2. Bùi Anh Thư 0023410790
3. Trần Thị Anh Thư 0023410603
4. Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Thơ 0023410466
5. Phạm Thái Thúy Hiền 0023413617
6. Lê Hồng Ngọc 0023411188
I. Definition
The adjective is a part of speech expressing quality, quantity, size, colour,
characteristics,etc.
The main syntactical function of an adjective in the sentence is that of an
attribute, and it may also be used as a predicative or complement
Adjectives make our speech and writing more expressive and precise. The
role of adjective is especially great in fiction

II. Classification
1. Classification by meaning
a) Demonstrative adjectives: demonstrate things, objects, people and
phenomena.
Example:
- That book is interesting.
- Those pens are good.
b) Interrogative adjectives: form questions to distinguish things, objects,
people and phenomena.
Example:
- What book are you reading?
- Which pen is yours?
c) Possessive adjectives: expressing the possession.
Example:
- That is her book.
- I don’t know their names.
d) Quantitative adjectives: denoting the quantity or the number.
Example:
- She has many books.
- There is only a little water left.
 e) Qualitative adjectives: expressing the quality, color, size, etc. of things,
objects, people and phenomena.
Example:
- She is beautiful
- This is a good book.
- He has a dark blue suit.
2. Classification by grammatical characteristics
a) Short Adjectives: just one or two syllables. Adjectives with 2 syllables,
ending in "-y" are short adjectives. (Except the derived and the borrowed
adjectives)
Ex: hot, cold, white, blue, large, small, short, long, happy, easy, lazy, etc.
b) Long Adjectives: more than two syllables, including the derived and the
borrowing adjectives.
Ex: convenient, dangerous, interesting, expensive, beautiful, urgent,
careful, modern, emergent, etc.
c) Special adjectives: are the adjectives of which the degrees of comparison
are formed in special ways.
Ex: good - better - (the) best
bad - worse - (the) worst
little - less (the) least
many/much - more - (the) most

III. ADJECTIVE FORMATION

In the English language, many words are adjectives in their original forms.
They are called single adjectives. However, the adjectives can also be formed in
different ways.

1. The derived adjective: are the adjectives formed by adding affixes to

the root morphemes, they are either prefixes or suffixes.

- The following prefixes can be added to adjectives to form new adjectives:

dis-, il-, im-, in-, ir-, un-, anti-, etc.

Prefix + Adj → New Adj

( dis-, il-, im-, in-, ir-, un-, anti-, etc.)

Ex: dishonest, Illogical, Impossible, Inconvenient, Irregular, Unfair,

Anti-imperialist
 - The following suffixes can be added to nouns to form new adjective:

-full, -less, -ly, -y, -en, -el, -ic, -ish, - like.

* Suffix + Nouns → New Adj

Ex: careful, Homeless, Friendly, Windy, Golden, Atomic, Selfish,

Childlike

- The following suffixes can be added to verbs to form new adjective:

- able, - ible, -ive, -ing, -en (ed), etc.

* Suffix + Verbs → New Adj

Ex: drinkable, Compatible, Destructive, Boring, Broken, Interested.

2. The compound adjectives: are the adjectives formed by combining two

or more free morphemes together and are often written with hyphens:

* E.g: N + Adj: world famous, tax free, waterproof, trouble free.

N + Past participle: home - made, candle - lit, tongue tied.

Adj. + Adj: dark blue, light-brown.

Adj. + N: round-table, square-yard, cross – eye.

Adj. + N + ed: open-minded, warm-hearted, cold blooded.

Adj. + Present participle: good-looking, loose-fitting, smooth-talking, easy

going.

Adj. + Past participle: new-built, tight-lipped, ill-treated.

Adv. + Present participle: long-playing, far-seeing, hard- wearing.

N + Present participle: time-consuming, labour-saving, mouth watering.

Adv. + Past participle: well-done, fully-furnished.

Preposition + N: over-age, off - guard, off-hand.

IV. THE COMPARATIVE ADJECTIVE IN SENTENCE PATTERN

 In the English language, the gradable adjective are often used with degrees
of comparison. There are three degrees of comparison.

1. The positive degree of adjective is used to express the sameness or

similarity of 2 or more objects, things, people and penomena. This expressed by
the same structure for both the short adjective as well as the long adjectives:

As... Adj. ... As

Eg: My task is as easy as your.

He has as many books as I do.

English is as difficult as Vietnamese.

2. The comparative degree of adjective is used to express the

differences or the dissimilarity. The negative form of the above structure is
applied:

Not so ... Adj. ... As

Eg: The day was not so war, as she had hoped it would be.

His story is not so interesting as her story.

There is no other spot so peaceful as this.

It should be noted here that the gradable adjectives used in comparison are
divided into 3 different kinds: The short adjective, the long adjective and the
special adjectives.

The short adjectives are those having one or two syllables (except the
borrowed adjective, such as: mordent, urgent... and the derived adjectives:
careful, bored, pleasant).

The long adjectives are those having more than two syllables, derived
adjectives and borrowed ones. The comparative degree structure are as follow:

Short adj. + er + Than

Eg: This room is larger than that one.

He is stronger than I(me)

 Not that many one – syllable adjectives end with a single consonant after a
single vowel. This consonant is doubled than before the ending: -er

Eg: big – bigger fat – fatter

thin – thinner sad – sadder

More/ less + long Adj. + Than

Example:

This book is more interesting than that one.

She was less pleasant than I thought.

In Spring, sparrows are more common than any other birds.

The special adjective have the following comparative forms:

Good – better many - more

Bad- worse much - more

Far – farther/ further little - less

Old – older/ elder late – later/ latter

+ Two comparatives joined by “And” can convey the ideas of general

increase or decrease:

Example:

Mary is getting taller and taller.

The problem is becoming more and more complicated.

Holiday flights are getting less and less expensive.

He became more and more impatient.

+ The instruction of “THE + comparative + THE” can be used to show

cause and effect: when one change is made, another follows:

Eg: The more money you make, the more you spend.
 The longer your composition is, the more mistakes it gets.

+ The construction “not + adj. + enough + to do” is also used to express

differences or dissimilarity.

Eg: The food is not hot enough to eat.

This product is not cheap enough to buy.

3. The superlative degree of adjective is used to express the inferiority

or the superiority comparison of one person or thing with more than one others
in the same group or class.

The definite article “THE” is usually used before a superlative in a phrase

or sentence. When superlatives are used as complements, “THE” is usually
omitted.

Eg: He is the oldest man in the village.

Wool and cotton blankets are generally cheapest here.

The superlative degree structure are as follow:

(THE) short adjective + EST

Eg: She is the cleverest student in her class.

It is the thickest book I have ever seen.

Note that many one syllable adjectives end with a single consonant after a
single vowel. This consonant is doubled before the ending “EST”.

Eg: big – (the) biggest

fat – (the) fattest

thin – (the) thinnest

sad – (the) saddest

(THE) most/least + long Adj.

Eg: John is the most exciting student of all.

 He had the most expensive car in the village.

He was the least famous among the leaders.

The special adjective has the following superlative forms:

Eg: good – (the) best

much,many – (the) most

bad – (the) worst

far – (the) farthest/ furthest

little – (the) least

old – (the) oldest/ eldest

late – (the) last/ latest

near – (the) nearest/ next

V. ADJECTIVE FUNCTIONS

1. Main function of adjectives in English:

- Adjectives have two main functions: as attributes and complements.

2. Adjectives as attributes:

- They come before noun phrases to describe the nouns.

- Example: an old house, a beautiful girl.

3. Adjectives as complements:

- They come after linking verbs or the verb "be" to modify the subject.

- Example: They are good-looking, She seems lovely.

4. Adjectives beginning with "A" are often used predicatively:

- Adjectives like afraid, asleep, alive...often describe health conditions or

feelings and are used after linking verbs.
 - Example: The child is asleep.

5. Substantivization of adjectives:

- Some adjectives can be converted into nouns:

- Wholly substantivized: They have plural forms, possessive cases, and

can be used with articles (e.g., a native, two natives).

- Partially substantivized: They are used with a definite article but do

not have plural forms or possessive cases (e.g., the rich, the poor).

VI. The order of adjectives in the sentence

In the English language, sometimes we use two or more adjectives together
to modify the noun.
⇒ Adjectives usually follow a certain order.
1. Quality. Ex: nice, beautiful, awful, good, bad, etc. They tell us what the
speaker thinks of something or somebody.
2. Size. Ex: big, small, tall, large etc. (how big?)
3. Age. Ex: old, young, new, etc. (how old?)
4. Shape. Ex: square, circle, round, etc.
5. Color. Ex: black, white, red, yellow, silver, etc. (what color?)
6. Material. Ex: silk, plastic, cotton, etc. (what is it made of?)
7. Origin. Ex: Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, etc. (where from?)
8. Participle. Ex: cleaning, cooking, etc. (what for?)
You can see that these adjectives belong to the group of qualitative
adjectives
In real life, there are usually 1-4 adjectives to modify the noun. There
aren’t too many adjectives like the example. We need to learn the order to
arrange them correctly.
 Notes:
The ordinal adjectives come before the cardinal adjectives.
Ex: the first two memorable days.
When there are two or more color adjectives, we use and:
Ex: a black and white dress a red, white and green flag
 This does not usually happen with other adjectives before a noun:
Ex: a long black dress (not a long and black dress)