Popular about adjectives in English
Today we decided to make an almost theoretical topic. And they settled on adjectives. After all, it is they who make the language juicy and allow the expression of emotions.
At first glance, the topic is quite simple – it is studied even at the initial level. But everything is more complicated than it seems – there are also enough nuances and peculiarities there. Today we are talking about the secrets and secrets of adjectives. It will be interesting. Go.
Types and order of adjectives
The main function of adjectives is to change nouns and pronouns. There is a big difference between “cat” and “nice big black cat”. Adjectives make nouns clearer and more specific.
There are seven types of adjectives in English. It is not necessary to know what they are called, but it is important to understand what they are and what functions they perform:
Descriptive (big, fine, loud)
Quantitative (one, hundred, thousand)
Indicative (this, that)
Possessive (my, his)
Interrogative (which, what)
Separating (each, every)
Articles (a, the)
Yes, although articles are considered separate members of a sentence, they perform functions similar to adjectives – they change and concretize nouns.
Do you have a book?
Do you have the book?
Formally, both sentences are translated as “You have a book”, but the meaning is different. In the first case, any book is meant, and in the second, a specific one.
One of the main features of adjectives in English is their rigid order in the application. In Russian, there is no difference between “beautiful fluffy black cat” or “fluffy beautiful black cat”. And in English there is.
In short, the correct order should be as follows:
Opinion – Size – Shape – Age – Color – Origin – Material – Type – Purpose
I love that awesome big old green car.
I love that gorgeous big old green car.
I love that awesome (opinion) big (the size) old (age) green (color) car.
Please note that only descriptive adjectives are included here. Any others, if present in the application, come before them.
This is the only correct word order in this app. Any other will be a mistake, for which, by the way, many points are removed on the TOEFL and IELTS exams. So it’s worth learning it.
Comparison of adjectives: correct …
Everything is more wonderful and more wonderful!
This is exactly what Alice said from Lewis Carroll’s fairy tale in one of the translations into Russian. Only not in a literary version, but in a musical performance released on records in 1976.
The translation of Nina Demurova was taken as a basis, but the phrase “Everything is more wonderful and more wonderful” is not in the book version. There it is translated as “Curiouser and Curiouser.”
It is believed that “Everything is more wonderful and more wonderful” was invented by Vladimir Vysotsky, who wrote the music for the play and performed some of the songs.
In Russian it sounds strange, but in English it is no less strange – “Curiouser and curiouser! “.
Here is this phrase in Tim Burton’s film thinking:
The fact is that Lewis Carroll here deliberately violated the rule for creating degrees of comparison of adjectives. If you follow the grammar, then it should be “More curious and more curious”. Let’s explain now.
Descriptive adjectives have three degrees of comparison:
Positive – fine, big, interesting
Comparative – finer, bigger, more interesting
Excellent – the finest, the biggest, the most interesting
There are two ways how degrees of comparison are created:
Most one- and two-syllable words use the endings -er (for comparative) and -est (for excellent).
Bright, brighter, the brightest – brighter, brighter, brightest
Brave, braver, the bravest – the brave, the braver, the bravest
But there are exceptions – the degrees of adjectives that end in -ful are created following the example of three-syllable ones. And then there are irregular adjectives that don’t follow the rules at all. About them below.
If a word has three or more syllables, then the degrees of comparison are created using the auxiliary words more (for comparative) and most (for excellent).
Beautiful, more beautiful, the most beautiful – beautiful, more beautiful, the most beautiful
Complicated, more complicated, the most complicated – complex, more complicated, most difficult.
This is why Carroll’s “Curiouser and curiouser” sounds fabulous, but grammatically wrong.
Although there are adjectives in the grammar of the language, the degrees of comparison of which can be formed in two ways.
Clever (smart) – cleverer, the cleverest or more clever, the most clever
Gentle (gentle) – gentler, the gentlest or more gentle, the most gentle
Friendly (friendly) – friendlier, the friendliest or more friendly, the most friendly
Quiet (quiet) – quieter, the quietest or more quite, the most quite
Simple (simple) – simpler, the simplest or more simple, the most simple
According to the rules, their degrees of comparison should be formed according to the first type – using the endings -er and -est. But in fact, another spelling has become common – through more and most. Therefore, both options are now correct.
And there are also adjectives for which it is impossible to create degrees of comparison. It is quite simple to define them – if in Russian it is impossible to add “more” or “most” to the word, then in English it will not work.
Some of these adjectives are:
blind – blind
dead – dead
fatal – fatal
final – final
left – left
right – right
unique – unique
universal – universal
vertical – vertical
wrong – wrong
Of course, this is not the whole list, but you get the logic.
… and wrong
And now about the most interesting thing – about those very adjectives that do not obey the rules. In the linguistic sphere, this is called Suppletivism.
Good – better – the best
Bad – worse – the worst
Far – farther – the farthest
Little – less – the least
many / much – more – the most
They do not lend themselves to any rules – you just need to remember. According to modern grammar, it should be “good-gooder-goodest” and “bad-badder-baddest”. And to make it easier to remember, we dug up a story for you, why they look like that at all.
Blame for this – no, this time not the French, but the Germans. More precisely, the Germanic language.
Let’s start with the word “good”.
To figure it out, you have to dig into the etymology. The word “good” in English came from the Proto-Germanic “gōdaz”, which had the meaning “to unite”. By the way, it was from him that the modern “gather” was formed. In the meaning of “good”, it began to be used not earlier than the XIV century.
Old English used the word “bot” (or “boot”), from the Proto-Germanic “boto” meaning “help”, “relief” or “do better.” It was from him that later the forms “better” and “best” were formed.
So why don’t we use boot instead of good now? And the French are to blame for this. Around the 12th century, the French meaning of the word “boot” – “shoes” began to spread on the territory of the British Isles, which has come down to modern times. And this value has almost completely supplanted the rest.
In Swedish, for example, the ancestor of Germanic origin bra / got – bättre – bäst is preserved. And in English I had to look for a new word to replace “boot” – and it became “good”. But they did not change the better and the best – they did not interfere with anyone.
Now about the word “bad”.
In the Middle Ages, it was true that “badder” and “baddest” were used to mean “worst” and “worst”. Even Chaucer, in The Canterbury Tales, confirms:
As lewed peple demeth comunly
Of thynges that been maad moore subtilly
Than they kan in hir lewednesse comprehende
They demen gladly to the badder ende.(translated by O. Rumer)
How to argue for ignoramuses is always habitual
About what is unusual for the mind:
They don’t understand things
Their speculation is driven by fear.
And in general, the forms “badder” and “baddest” were freely used until the 18th century and were considered grammatically correct.
Even today, “badder” and “baddest” are considered slang forms. Telling the tough guy that he is “the baddest guy on the block” is a compliment. Because in slang it is “the coolest kid in the area.”
It is noteworthy that until the 13th century the word “bad” was used very rarely. And even then only in the meanings “useless, unlucky, unsatisfactory.” And as an antonym for “good” it began to be used only after the XIV century.
But in Old English, the word “wiersa” (or “wyrsa”) was widespread – it was it that meant “bad” and from it came the modern “worse” and “worst”. Already by the XIV it was almost completely supplanted by the word “bad”, but the degrees of comparison remained.
One of the most likely hypotheses is that “badder” and “better” sound too similar. If in written English this did not cause problems, then in spoken English confusion arose. It was simply not clear what the interlocutor was talking about: the “best” or the “worst”. Therefore, the older “worse” and “worst” began to be used more often, and then completely supplanted the “badder” and “baddest”.
With almost the exception, there is a similar interesting story. If you are interested, we will do the second part and tell you more about other irregular adjectives.
And if you want to enjoy learning English and learn more stories about adjectives and more, sign up for a free trial lesson with a teacher.
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