English rule of monosyllabic adjectives. Comparative adjectives in English. Examples of the comparative degree of adjectives formed from disyllabic and more adjectives

COMPARATIVE DEGREES OF ADJECTS

In English, as in Russian, adjectives (qualitative) form two degrees of comparison: comparative and superlative. The positive degree of adjectives is their basic form, which does not express the degree of comparison.

Just like in Russian, adjectives form degrees of comparison either analytically - with the help of additional words more – more and most – most, most(complex forms); or synthetically - by changing the adjective itself with the help of suffixes –er and –est(simple forms (. And just like in Russian, the analytical form of the comparative degree can be formed from any adjective, and the synthetic form can be formed from some adjectives, but not from others.

The vast majority of monosyllabic adjectives form degrees of comparison using simple (synthetic) forms:

Comparative –er, which is pronounced [q], and before words that begin with a vowel sound -.

excellent degree is formed with the suffix -est which is pronounced.

At the same time, the following rules :

1 In monosyllabic adjectives ending in one consonant with a preceding short vowel, the final consonant doubles(to keep the syllable closed):

big big- big ger["bIgq]-big gest["bIgIst]

thin thin- thin ner["TInq] - thin nest["TInIst]

2 If the adjective ends in y with a preceding consonant, then y changes to i :

bus y["bIzI] busy- bus ier["bIzIq] - bus iest["bIzIst]

happy y["hxpI] happy- happy ier["hxpIq] - happ iest["hxpIst]

Note: But if before y stands for a vowel, then y remains unchanged:

gre y grey-gre yer["greIq]-gre yest["greIIst]

3 final vowel e (not minee ) before suffixes -er, -est omitted:

whit e white- whit er- whit est["waItIst]

However, even here not everything is so clear-cut. For some adjectives, both synthetic and analytical forms are equally common, for example:

Before adjectives in excellent degree is put definite article the, since it is usually an attribute to the noun behind it (gives it the qualities of exclusivity). The article is also preserved in cases where the noun is not mentioned, but only implied.

Each person or object has distinctive characteristics, properties, signs. And in order to tell the interlocutor about them, you need to be able to use the appropriate adjectives correctly. Today we will study this grammatical category, and also learn its laws of composition and use. In addition, they will help us quickly understand and remember the rules about simple and polysyllabic adjectives in English examples , given in the final section.

grammatical meaning

The role of English adjectives is no different from the role of Russians - to characterize people and describe objects, emphasizing their qualities, signs, properties. Despite the fact that in conjunction with this part of speech there is always a noun, it does not change either the number, or the gender, or the case.

• I see a gray bird-Iseegray bird.
• Gray birds are sitting on the branch of the treegray birdssittingon thebranchtree.
• I gave some bread to the gray bird-Igavea littleof breadthisgray bird.

The only case of changing the form of adjectives in an English sentence is when they are used to compare objects and express superiority.

Comparison Forms

Before mastering the methods of comparison, it is necessary to understand that the composition of adjectives is very important for English grammar. They are of three types: simple, complex and compound.

Compound adjectives are a combination of two words and are written with a hyphen (sometimes together). These combinations consist of adjectives and other parts of speech: numerals, nouns, participles, etc.

• A one-eyed young man lives in this flat A young one-eyed boy lives in this apartment.
• Mother bought a dark blue suit for my brotherMotherboughtmybrotherdark-bluecostume.
• He didn't want to take a low-paid job-He didn't want to take a low paying job.

The composite form is rarely used. One-syllable and two-syllable adjectives, and words with a large number of syllables are much more common. For the first two groups, comparative forms are formed by changing the stem, and the last category requires additional words. Therefore, we will separately analyze polysyllabic adjectives in English, giving examples of the compilation of their comparative degrees. For now, let's focus on the first group.

Other English topics: "I love you" in English and other phrases to express feelings

Definitions consisting of one syllable, as well as adjectives of two syllables with the endings le, er, ow, y, form degrees of comparison in a suffixal way. For the comparative degree, this is the suffix -er, and for the superlative - est. Since only one person or object can surpass everyone, the article the is placed before such adjectives.

• Ihaddonemytaskby3o'clockbecauseitwas easy I completed my task by three o'clock, because it was light.
• YouhaddoneyourtaskfasterthanIdidbecauseyourtaskwas easier - You completed your task faster than I did, because your task was easier.
• Hehaddonehistaskearlierthanothersdidbecausehistaskwas the easiest He completed his task before anyone else, because his task was the easiest.

When changing the degree, monosyllabic adjectives are characterized by the implementation of several nuances related to spelling. When a definition ends in one consonant, preceded by a short vowel, it is doubled in the comparative construction. Here we note that the final unreadable vowel e is never doubled.

• It was hot yesterday -YesterdayIt washot.
• The weather is getting hotter and hotter-Weatherbecomesallhotterandhotter.

Words ending in -y with a preceding consonant change that letter to i.

• My sister is lazy – Mysisterlazy.
• He is the laziest pupil in his classHemostlazystudentinhisclass.

Note that in this group there are special cases that are studied separately.

Polysyllabic adjectives in English construction examples

For definitions that include three or more syllables, no changes occur with the word itself. In compiling comparative degrees, they are helped by special additional designations: more/less(more/less) and themost/theleast(most/least).

original form	Comparison	Superiority
comfortable room comfort room	more comfortable room the room is more comfortable	the most comfortable room most comfortable room
beautiful butterfly beautiful butterfly	more beautiful butterfly butterfly is more beautiful	the most beautiful butterfly the most beautiful butterfly
expensive present expensive gift	less expensive present less expensive gift	the least expensive present not an expensive gift

This method often forms comparison forms of adjectives in -ed and -ing, which many equate to participles.

• He was more surprised than his brotherHewasstrongersurprisedhowhisbrother.
• It was the most interesting day of my tripitwasmostinterestingdayfrommytravels.

Often, two-syllable adjectives also use this method, especially if they end in –ful, -less, -ous.

• Your husband is more careful than myYourhusbandmorecaringhowmy.
• It is the most useless thing in the worlditthe mostuselessthinginthe world.
• Palahniuk is more famous Writer than FreiPalahniukmorefamouswriter,howFry.

To words always used for education degrees of comparison additional structures also include: frequent, careless, contemporary, normal, certain, foolish, correct and etc.

Some representatives of adjectives can even use both methods of constructing comparisons.

These types of words are common, clever, simple, gentle, stupid, narrow, cruel, pleasant, friendly.

(good, yellow, interesting).

Adjectives in English do not change either by gender, or by numbers, or by cases. Adjectives in English can only change in degrees of comparison.

Adjectives are simple and derivative. Simple adjectives have neither prefixes nor suffixes. Derived adjectives have suffixes or prefixes, or both at the same time.

Adjectives form, as in Russian, two degrees of comparison: comparative and superlative. The basic form of the adjective does not express comparison and is called the positive degree.

Adjective

An adjective is a part of speech that is used to denote a feature of an object.

• a clever boy (smart boy)
• an English book (English book)
• good butter (good butter)
• a cold winter (cold winter)

An adjective in English has three forms of degrees of comparison:

• positive (positive degree)
• comparative (comparative degree)
• superlative (superlative degree).

Degrees of adjectives

Formation of degrees of comparison of adjectives (Degrees of comparison of adjectives)

The basic form of the adjective is the positive degree. The forms of comparative and superlative degrees are usually formed from the form of a positive degree in one of two ways:

The first way to form degrees of comparison of adjectives. If the form of an adjective in a positive degree consists of one syllable, the form of its comparative degree is formed using the suffix -eg, and the superlative form - using the suffix -est, which are added to the base of the form of a positive degree.

The second way of forming degrees of comparison of adjectives. From adjectives whose positive form consists of three or more syllables, the comparative degree is formed using the word more, and the superlative degree - using the word most, which are placed before the positive form of the adjective.

From two-syllable adjectives, comparative and superlative forms are also formed using the words more and most.

Sometimes there are forms of two-syllable adjectives formed with the suffixes -er and -est. Most often these are adjectives, the positive form of which ends in -y, -er, -ow.

From some adjectives, the forms of degrees of comparison are formed especially, and these adjectives must be memorized immediately in all forms.

The adjective old forms degrees of comparison in two ways. In most cases, the suffix -eg or -est is added to the base form of the positive degree.

However, in those cases when they talk about members of the same family - “elder brother”, “the oldest of the brothers”, they use the form elder (senior) or eldest (the eldest).

For the correct spelling of the forms of degrees of comparison of adjectives, you need to know that when the suffixes -er and -est are added, the final letters of the adjective in the form of a positive degree change as follows:

• y changes to i after a consonant and does not change after a vowel: dry dry (dry) - drier - driest But: gay (cheerful) - gayer - gayest
• e omitted: nice (good) - nicer - nicest
• the consonant doubles in monosyllabic adjectives after a short vowel: big (big) - bigger - biggest

The use of the adjective

The adjective is usually used in a sentence as a definition to a noun and stands before the word being defined. An adjective can also be a nominal member of a compound nominal predicate (predicate) and in this case stand after the linking verb to be.
Not is a clever boy. He is a smart boy. (Clever is the definition.) .Not clever. He is smart. (Clever is a nominal member of a compound nominal predicate.)

Not all adjectives are used in these two functions. adjectives alive (alive), afraid (scared), asleep (sleeping), awake (awake), ill (sick) and some others are used only as a nominal member of a compound nominal predicate.

To indicate a lower or lowest degree of quality of one item compared to another, the adjective is usually preceded by the word less (less, less) or least (least of all).

Additional material.

Degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs.

in English, as well as in Russian, adjectives and adverbs have three degrees of comparison:

1. positive
2. comparative
3. excellent.

In English, there are two ways to construct degrees of comparison.

1. For short (one-syllable) words:

Notes:

with the superlative degree of the adjective, the definite article is often used; When constructing degrees of comparison of adjectives in writing:

1. the final consonant with the preceding short vowel is doubled: big (bigger ((the) biggest
2. if the final -y is preceded by a consonant, then -y becomes -i:
   easy (easier ((the) easiest; early (earlier ((the) earliest
3. when -er u -est is added, the final -e is omitted: (see large above). The spelling does not affect pronunciation.

2. For long (consisting of two or more syllables) words:

It doesn't make sense to lengthen the word even further, so another short word is added in front in English:

• beautiful
• more beautiful
• easily
• more easily
• most easily

To pass values least and least (least) the words less and least are used respectively:

• less beautiful
• least beautiful

Note:

Sometimes monosyllabic words form degrees of comparison with more / less or most / least, and vice versa, words consisting of more than one syllable have -er / -est at the end; it depends only on the sound - if some form is perceived by ear better than the other, it is put into a sentence: crisp - more crisp - (the) most crisp sounds better than crisp - crisper (the) crispest.

The forms of degrees of comparison of some adjectives and adverbs in English are not formed according to the rule:

Note: The word little can be either an adjective or an adverb; in this case it is used only as an adverb little; if you need to build degrees of comparison from the adjective small, use the word small (see above).

Note: elder / eldest forms are used more often when the speaker is talking about members of his family:

• My father is elder than my mother. My father is older than my mother.
• This is my eldest son. This is my eldest son.

In most other cases, the degrees of comparison of adjectives are formed according to method 1:

old old er old est

.

The word most with the indefinite article (a most) is not a degree of comparison, but it matters very much: a most beautiful girl is a very beautiful girl.

The word most can come before a plural noun or pronoun (often with the preposition of) and has the meaning many / most:

Most people like this. Many people like it. Most of them will not be able to come. Most of them won't be able to come.

The definite article is preserved before the superlative form even if there is no noun: Not is the best. He is the best.

To indicate the comparative degree of an adjective, the word than is used (than; at the same time, in order to avoid repeating the same noun, the word one is often put as a substitute for this noun or a possessive pronoun in the absolute form:

• My car is bigger than their one / theirs. My car is bigger than theirs.
• These cigars are stronger than those ones. These cigars are stronger than those.

In the second part of comparative constructions, pronouns can be used both in the objective case (colloquial variant) and the accusative case (literary variant, usually with an auxiliary verb):

• She reads more than him / he does. She reads more than he does.
• You are taller than me / I am. You are taller than me.
• Did not come earlier than them / they did. He came before they
• I know him better than her. I know him better than her.
• I know him better than she does. I know him better than she does.

When comparing the same quality, the combination as ... as (same (same) ... as (and) / so (same) ... as (and) is used: She is as beautiful as my mother.(She is as beautiful as my mother.

When comparing quality in a negative form, the combination not so ... as is more often used (not the same ... as: I am not so beautiful as her / she is.(I'm not as pretty as she is.

When comparing with a multiple effect, a combination of as ... as with numerals is used; the second as may be omitted if no other comparison object is mentioned in the situation:

• My sister is twice as beautiful (as yours).(My sister is twice as beautiful as (your).
• His car is about three times as big (as my car).(His car is three times bigger (mine).

The word half in such cases has a value half as much:

This liquid is half as strong (as that one).(This liquid is twice as weak (that one). I have half as much money (as you have).(I have half the money (than you).

Sometimes the comparison can be strengthened with the help of additional words, more often than others much (much) is used for this: much more / less beautiful much more / less beautiful;

The Russian version than..., the... is translated into English the + comparative degree of the adjective... the + comparative degree of the adjective:

• The faster you come the more you will get. The sooner you arrive, the more you get.
• The sooner you do it the better. The sooner you do this, the better.

the Adjective

Before memorizing a colossal number of adjectives, you need to figure out how adjectives are formed, what are degrees of adjectives in English and also know the word order. All this knowledge will help you use English adjectives correctly. Now let's find out what an adjective is.

Definition:

An adjective is a part of speech that denotes a sign of an object and answers a question. which?What?

Example: beautiful - beautiful, blue - blue, unpredictable - unpredictable.

Formation of English adjectives:

Like noun in English, adjectives can be divided into groups:

1) Simple (simple) - adjectives that have neither prefixes nor suffixes.

Example: long - long, tall - high, red - red

2) Derivatives (derived) - adjectives that have prefixes and suffixes, or both a prefix and a suffix

Example: wonderful - wonderful, invisible - invisible, unusual - unusual

3) Compound (compound) - adjectives that are formed from two words

Example: black-white- black-and-white, cold-hearted- heartless, well-known- known

Derived adjectives can be formed in several ways:

a) suffix education. Adjective suffixes include:

Able -unpredictable

Ful - beautiful - beautiful

Al - criminal - criminal

Ed - smoked

Ary - documentary - documentary

En- wooden- wooden

Ic-optimistic - optimistic

Ive- intensive

Less- hopeless- hopeless (the suffix -less denotes a lack of something)

Like- womanlike - feminine

Most- uttermost - the most remote

Ly- lonely

Ous- humorous - humorous

Some- troublesome- restless

Y- doggy- doggy, stylish, fashionable

Id- morbid- painful

Ish - reddish - reddish

Fold- threefold - triple

Que-picturesque- picturesque

Ory- observatory - observational

b) Attachment method. Almost all prefixes that are added to adjectives have a negative meaning:

Un- uncomfortable

Dis- dishonest - dishonest

Im- impractical

Ir- irregular- irregular

Il- illegal- illegal

In - inhuman - inhuman, ruthless

There are also prefixes that do not have a negative meaning:

Pre- pre-arranged - planned

Hyper-hyperactive - hyperactive

Word order: adjective plus noun

Sometimes we use two or more adjectives together. For example:

There is a small, brown, round table in the room- there is a small, brown, round table in the room.

In this sentence, the English adjectives small, brown, round are actual adjectives that give objective information about the size, color, shape of an object.

There is the following word order:

Example: The big, old, round, brown, German, wooden wardrobe.

Degrees of comparison of adjectives in English

Adjective in English has three forms of degree of comparison:

• Superlative degree

Consider examples:

* Positive degree of comparison - is the initial form of the adjective (big, wonderful)

* Comparative degree is formed from the initial form of the adjective in one of the following ways:

1) For monosyllabic adjectives

Definition: One-syllable adjectives are adjectives consisting of one syllable. Example:big

To form a comparative degree for monosyllabic adjectives, add the suffix -er to the initial form of the adjective.

2) For two-syllable adjectives

Definition: Two-syllable adjectives have two syllables.

Example:clever

* Two-syllable adjectives ending in -y, -er, -ow, -ble , form

comparative degree by adding an adjective to the initial form

suffix -er.

3) Other two-syllable adjectives and adjectives with three or more syllables form a comparative degree by adding an adjective to the initial form

- more

* Superlative degree

1) For one-syllable and two-syllable adjectives ending in

(-y, -er, -ow, -ble ).

To form a superlative degree, the suffix -est is added to the initial form of the adjective.

2) For other two-syllable adjectives and adjectives with three or more syllables

the most is added to them

We have considered examples of the formation of degrees of comparison of adjectives, but we must not forget that there are exceptions. Consider a table:

	Comparative degree	superlative degree
		the farthest/the furthest
		the oldest/eldest

These exceptions must be known by heart

Now let's take a closer look:

1) - farther and further are used to indicate distance:

Example: Parisis ten miles farther/further-Parisintenmilesfarther.

Also to mark further, additional

Example: There was no further instruction

2) elder/eldest used before nouns, namely family members:

Example:Myeldersister is my older sister.He is the eldest child in the family. He is the oldest child in the family.

3) A value less than corresponds to:

Less - when the value less is a comparative degree from few:

Example:Ihavelesstimethanshe- I have less time than her

Smaller- in the sense of a comparative degree from small :

Example: My car is smaller than herscarless, howher

4) The value is more in line with:

More- is a comparative degree from a lot of:

Example:Ihavemoretimethanshe- I have more time than her

Bigger or larger- are comparative degrees of big:

Example: My car is larger than herscarmore, howher.

5) For the value of a smaller and lowest degree of quality compared to other items, it is used less - less, theleast - least :

Example: interesting- less interesting- the least interesting

interesting - less interesting - least interesting

Designs for comparison

To compare two objects or persons are used:

one). Design as ... as - the same ... as, the same ... as

Example:Sheisbeautifulasmymother- She is as beautiful as my mother.

In negative sentences, the first as is replaced by so . It turns out so…as

Example:Yourcarisnotsooldashers- Your car is not as old as hers.

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Among the independent parts of speech of both Russian and English, the adjective occupies a separate place. Adjectives in English have a lot of features and unique features, some of which are similar to the Russian lexical composition and grammatical norms, and some exceptions are special and apply exclusively in English. That is why it is necessary to consider in detail what types of adjectives are found in English, what properties they have, and also to determine the typical features of this part of speech that are unique to it.

Main characteristics of adjectives

The name adjective in English, or adjective, differs from nouns in that it displays not an object or phenomenon, but its attribute or quality. This means that English adjectives in translation always have relevant questions: what kind? which? which? or what?

As for the morphological categories of adjectives in the English language, there are much fewer possibilities compared to the noun. For example, the categories of gender and number in adjectives are absolutely not expressed. If you translate such a word into Russian, the ending will change along with the translation. At the same time, such words with transcription and translation do not differ in any features, and the forms remain unchanged. For example:

I saw a beautiful girl - I saw a beautiful girl
We told about a beautiful girl - We talked about a beautiful girl
I gifted a present to beautiful girl girls - I gave a gift to beautiful girls

As can be seen from the presented examples, in Russian adjectives the ending changes in accordance with the number and cases, while English adjectives do not have such changes. They do not differ in any special pronunciation. Nevertheless, these parts of speech still have their own special features: they are always associated with nouns (or with pronouns) and describe exactly these words. Therefore, this or that noun is often preceded by an adjective and an article to describe any special properties: origin, color, material, size, etc.

Speaking about the syntactic role of English adjectives, it can be noted that they, as a rule, perform the function of a definition in a sentence.

Structure of English adjectives

In addition to the division into semantic groups, there is also a classification of English adjectives according to the type of their structure. This includes both monosyllabic and two-syllable words, as well as structures with a large number of syllables. So, the rule implies the presence of the following types:

Simple adjectives. Examples of such adjectives are quite common in the language. They do not have any derivational morphemes and have one syllable: good (good), green (green), dull (boring), rude (rough), etc.

Derivatives. These words usually have some kind of word-forming morphemes (usually these are either prefixes or suffixes). For example: careful (careful), waterless (anhydrous), important (important), dishonest (dishonest), etc.

· Polysyllabic adjectives that are often called compound adjectives in English. Their main feature is that they consist of two or more grammatical bases, thus forming a completely new word. Compound adjectives are completely different from a monosyllabic adjective and quite often create new semantic constructions. Here are examples of such derived adjectives: smoke-dried (smoked), four-wheeled (four-wheeled), deaf-mute (deaf-mute), snow-white (heartless), etc.

Thus, it can be seen that all, even complex adjectives in English are formed quite standardly, and the principles of formation are in many ways reminiscent of the ways in which nouns are formed.

adjective types by value

The list of classifications includes another category - division into:

• quality
• relative adjectives

These types of adjectives have a fairly significant difference, and each of them has its own specific rules.

So, quality adjectives are called for a reason. The fact is that such adjectives reflect exactly the quality of an object or phenomenon: color, size, etc.: black, big, strong, etc. With these types of adjectives, we almost always use degrees of comparison (there are also some irregular adjectives, however, they are a minority).

Relative adjectives are designed to show the relationship of a word to its origin and reflect the material, nationality, time frame, etc.: Russian, gold, daily, etc.

Evaluation Structures

Quite often in the language there are evaluative adjectives that show a certain property of a noun or pronoun in the context of a subjective assessment. In this case, such a group can be divided into:

• positive adjectives(positive)
• negative adjectives(negative)

Positive words are called good, interesting, amazing, wonderful, etc. Negative to positive are opposite adjectives; these are bad, unpleasant, boring, ugly structures, etc.

Adjectives with special endings and prepositions

Some constructions showing the quality or property of an object or phenomenon differ only in the ending; the most popular varieties belonging to such a group are adjectives with -ed or -ing endings. The first option shows a state or feeling and is often translated as a participle:

I’m interested in this job - I am interested in this job
Out daughter is excited about her future travelling - Our daughter is excited about her upcoming trip

The second option with -ing shows the quality or characteristic of a particular phenomenon and is a standard descriptive word. For example:

This job is very interesting - This job is very interesting
Our travel is long and exciting - Our journey is long and exciting

Any table with a difference between these types of words also gives other options for pairs: exhausted (tired) - exhausting (tiring), humiliated (humiliated) - humiliating (humiliating), etc.

In addition, some adjectives are often accompanied by prepositions. So, typical adjectives with prepositions, which are almost always used with prepositions, are afraid (of) - frightened, ashamed (of) - ashamed, careless (about) - careless, disappointed (with) - disappointed, etc.

Additional adjectives

There are additional classifications that should also be considered. For example, possessive adjectives in English display belonging to an object. They completely repeat the possessive pronouns (my, his, our), but at the same time they are called possessive adjectives.

The so-called strong structures (strong adjectives) differ from weak ones in that they are able to convey one or another meaning on their own, without adding the popular adverb very (very). For example: delicious (very tasty, strong word) = very tasty (very tasty, weak word), tiny (tiny, strong word) = very small (very small, weak word), etc.

Typical English demonstrative adjectives are those that point to an object; at the same time, they also have a difference in numbers: this - these (this - these), that - those (that - those).

Based on the foregoing, it can be noted that the part of speech under consideration has quite a few special features and classifications. It is important to navigate all these nuances in order to use adjectives in speech in the most appropriate and correct way and not to confuse them with other grammatical structures, since such difficulties can arise.