Famous linguist Yu.S. Stepanov believed that the difference quality And relative meanings of adjectives is one of the most difficult. This division is carried out not even in all languages. In Russian, middle school students already learn to distinguish between these categories of adjectives.
As you probably remember, adjectives answer questions Which? which? which? which?
Which? –small yard, school teacher, bear claw.
Which? –wonderful weather, wooden bench, fox face.
Which? –excellent mood, pearl necklace, horse hoof.
Which? – polite students, regional competitions, bunny ears.
Each row contains examples qualitative, relative and possessive adjectives. How to distinguish them? As has already become clear, simply asking a question about an adjective will not give a result; the category cannot be determined in this way.
Grammar and semantics(meaning of the word). Let's consider each category of adjectives by meaning .
Qualitative adjectives
It’s already clear from the name what these adjectives mean. quality of the item. What kind of quality could this be? Color(lilac, burgundy, bay, black), form(rectangular, square), physical characteristics of living things (fat, healthy, active), temporal and spatial features (slow, deep), general qualities, inherent in an animate object ( angry, funny, happy) and etc.
Also, most (but not all!) qualitative adjectives have a whole range of grammatical features, by which they are quite easy to distinguish from other adjectives. These features may not necessarily be a whole set for each quality adjective, but if you find that at least some attribute is suitable for this adjective - you have a quality adjective. So:
1) Qualitative adjectives denote a feature that can appear to a greater or lesser extent. Hence the ability to form degrees of comparison.
Thin - thinner - thinnest. Interesting – less interesting – the most interesting.
2) Form short forms. Long is long, short is small.
3) Combine with adverbs of measure and degree. Very beautiful, extremely entertaining, completely incomprehensible.
4) From qualitative adjectives you can form adverbs on -o(s) And nouns with abstract suffixes -ost (-is), -izn-, -ev-, -in-, -from- :magnificent - magnificent, clear - clarity, blue - blue, blue - blue, thick - thickness, beautiful - beauty.
5) You can also form words with diminutive or augmentative suffixes: angry - angry, dirty - dirty, green - green, healthy - hefty.
6) Can have antonyms: big - small, white - black, sharp - dull, stale - fresh.
As you can see, there are many signs, but it is absolutely not necessary to use all of them. Remember that some quality adjectives have no degrees of comparison, some abstract nouns do not form, some cannot be combined with adverbs of measure and degree, but they fit according to other criteria.
For example, adjective bay. This adjective does not fit any grammatical criteria, but it means color = quality of item, - that means it quality.
Or adjective beautiful. You can't tell very lovely, but you can form an adverb Wonderful. Conclusion: adjective quality.
Relative adjectives
Designate a sign through an attitude towards an object. What kind of relationship could this be - signs? Material, from which the item is made ( iron nail - iron nail, stone basement - stone basement, velvet dress - velvet dress); place, time, space (today's scandal is a scandal that happened today; intercity bus – a bus between cities; Moscow region – Moscow region); appointment(parent meeting - meeting for parents, children's store - store for children) and etc.
Signs of this 
and not temporary, but permanent, That's why Relative adjectives do not have all the features inherent in qualitative adjectives. This means that they do not form degrees of comparison(not to say that this house is wooden, and that one is more wooden), cannot be combined with adverbs of measure and degree(can't say very gold bracelet) etc.
But phrases with relative adjectives can be transform, replacing the adjective. For example, villager - village resident, milk porridge - porridge with milk, plastic cube - plastic cube.
We hope that it has become clearer to you how to distinguish between qualitative and relative adjectives. We’ll talk about possessive adjectives and some pitfalls in the next article.
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Adjective - is an independent significant part of speech, combining words that
1) indicate the attribute of an object and answer questions which one?, whose?;
2) they change according to gender, number and cases, and some - according to completeness/brevity and degrees of comparison;
3) in a sentence they are definitions or the nominal part of a compound nominal predicate.
Classes of adjectives by meaning
There are three categories of adjectives based on meaning:qualitative, relative, possessive.
Quality adjectives denote quality, property of an object: its size (small ), shape (round ), color (white ), physical characteristics (warm ) , as well as the propensity of the subject to perform an action (barbed ).
Relative adjectives denote the attribute of an object through the relationship of this object to another object (book ), action (reading ) or other sign (yesterday's ). Relative adjectives are formed from nouns, verbs and adverbs; The most common suffixes for relative adjectives are the suffixes -n - ( forest ), - ov - ( hedgehog ), - in - ( poplar-in-y ), - sk - ( warehouse ), - l - ( fluent ).
Possessives adjectives denote that an object belongs to a person or animal and are formed from nouns by suffixes -in - ( mom-in ), - ov - ( fathers ), - th - ( fox ). These suffixes come at the end of the adjective stem (cf. possessive adjectivefathers and relative adjectivepaternal ).
Quality adjectives differ from relative and possessive adjectives at all linguistic levels:
1) only qualitative adjectives denote a characteristic that can manifest itself to a greater or lesser extent;
2) qualitative adjectives can have antonyms (quiet - loud );
3) only qualitative adjectives can be non-derivative, relative and possessive are always derived from nouns, adjectives, verbs;
4) qualitative adjectives form nouns with the meaning of an abstract attribute (strictness ) and adverbs starting with -o (strictly ), as well as adjectives with a subjective assessment suffix (blue, angry) ;
5) only qualitative adjectives have a full/short form and degrees of comparison;
6) qualitative adjectives are combined with adverbs of measure and degree (Very funny ).
Declension of adjectives
Adjectives of all categories have inconstant signs of gender (in the singular), number and case, in which they agree with the noun. Adjectives also agree with the noun in animation if the noun is in the V. plural form, and for the masculine gender - singular (cf.: I seebeautiful shoes and I see beautiful girls ).
Changing an adjective by gender, number and case is called declension of adjectives.
Qualitative adjectives in the short form are not declined (expressions on bare feet, in broad daylight are phraseological and do not reflect the modern state of the language), as well as qualitative adjectives in the simple comparative and the compound superlative degree built on its basis (above, above all) .
In Russian there areindeclinable adjectives , which mean:
1) colors:beige , khaki , Marengo , electrician ;
2) nationalities and languages:Khanty , Mansi , Urdu ;
3) clothing styles:pleated , corrugation , bell-bottom , mini .
Fixed adjectives are also words (weight)gross , net , (hour)peak .
Their grammatical features are their invariability, adjoining to a noun, location after, and not before, the noun. The immutability of these adjectives is their constant feature.
Degrees of comparison of adjectives
Qualitative adjectives have an inconsistent morphological feature of degrees of comparison.
School grammar indicates that there are two degrees of comparison -comparative and superlative .
Comparative degree of the adjective indicates that the characteristic is manifested to a greater/lesser extent in a given object compared to another object (Vanya is taller than Kolya; This river is deeper than the other ) or the same item in other circumstances (Vanya is taller than he was last year; The river is deeper in this place than in that one ).
There is a comparative degreesimple and compound .
Simple comparative degree denotes a greater degree of manifestation of a characteristic and is formed from the base of adjectives with the help of suffixes -her(s), -e, -she/-same ( faster, higher, earlier, deeper ).
The simple form of the comparative degree of some adjectives is formed from another stem:pl O hoy - worse , good - better .
Sometimes, when forming a simple comparative degree, a prefix can be addedBy- ( newer ) .
The morphological features of the simple comparative degree are uncharacteristic of an adjective. This:
1) immutability,
2) the ability to control a noun,
3) use primarily as a predicate (He is taller than his father ). A simple comparative degree can occupy a position of definition only in a separate position (Much taller than the other students, he seemed almost an adult ) or in a non-isolated position with the prefix po- in the position after the noun (Buy me some fresh newspapers ).
Compound comparative degree denotes both a greater and lesser degree of manifestation of a characteristic and is formed as follows:
element more/less + adjective (more / less high ).
The difference between a compound comparative degree and a simple one is as follows:
1) the compound comparative degree is broader in meaning, since it denotes not only a greater, but also a lesser degree of manifestation of a characteristic;
2) the compound comparative degree changes in the same way as the positive degree of comparison (original form), i.e. according to gender, number and cases, and can also be in a short form (more handsome );
3) a compound comparative degree can be either a predicate or a non-isolated and isolated definition (Less interesting article was presented V this magazine . This article is less interesting than the previous one. )
Excellent the degree of comparison indicates the greatest/smallest degree of manifestation of the trait (the highest mountain) or a very large/small degree of manifestation of the trait (the kindest person).
The superlative degree of comparison, like the comparative, can be simple or compound.
Simple superlative adjective comparison denotes the greatest degree of manifestation of a characteristic and is formed from the base of the adjective with the help of suffixes -eish- / -aysh- (after k, r, x, causing alternation):kind-eysh-y, high-yish-yy.
When forming a simple superlative degree of comparison, the prefix can be usednai -: kindest .
The morphological features of the simple superlative degree of comparison of adjectives are the same as those of the adjective, i.e., variability by gender, number, case, use of the attribute and predicate in the syntactic function. The simple superlative degree of comparison of an adjective does not have a short form.
Compound superlative adjectives denotes both the greatest and the least degree of manifestation of a characteristic and is formed in three ways:
1) adding a wordmost the cleverest );
2) adding a wordmost/least to the initial form of the adjective (most/least smart );
3) adding a wordeveryone orTotal to the comparative degree (He was smarter than everyone ).
The forms of the compound superlative degree, formed in the first and second ways, have morphological features characteristic of adjectives, i.e. they change by gender, number and case, and can have a short form (most convenient ), act both as a definition and as a nominal part of the predicate. Forms of the compound superlative degree, formed in the third way, are unchangeable and act primarily as the nominal part of the predicate.
Not all qualitative adjectives have forms of degrees of comparison, and the absence of simple forms of degrees of comparison is observed more often than the absence of compound forms.
Completeness/brevity of adjectives
Qualitative adjectives have a full and a short form.
The short form is formed by adding positive degree endings to the stem: null ending for the masculine gender, -A for women, -O / -e for average, -s / -And for plural (deep , deepA , deepO , deepAnd ) .
A short form cannot be formed from qualitative adjectives that:
1) have suffixes characteristic of relative adjectives -sk-, -ov-/-ev-, -n- : brown , coffee , brotherly ;
2) indicate the colors of animals:brown , black ;
3) have suffixes of subjective assessment:tall , blue .
The short form has grammatical differences from the full form: it does not change by case, in a sentence it acts primarily as a nominal part of the predicate; the short form acts as a definition only in a separate syntactic position (Angry at the whole world, he almost stopped leaving the house).
In the position of the predicate, the meaning of the full and short forms usually coincides, but for some adjectives the following semantic differences are possible between them:
1) the short form denotes excessive manifestation of a trait with a negative assessment, cf..: skirt short - skirt short ;
2) the short form denotes a temporary sign, the long form - permanent, cf.:child is ill - child sick .
There are such qualitative adjectives that have only a short form:glad , much , must .
Transition of adjectives from category to category
It is possible for an adjective to have several meanings belonging to different categories. In school grammar this is called “the transition of an adjective from category to category.” Thus, a relative adjective can develop a meaning characteristic of qualitative ones (for example:iron detail (relative) -iron will (qual.) - metaphorical transfer). Possessives may have meanings characteristic of relative and qualitative (for example:Foxy burrow (possessive)- fox a cap (relative) -fox habits (quality).
Morphological analysis of the adjective
Morphological analysis of the adjective is carried out according to the following plan:
I. Part of speech. General meaning. Initial form (nominative singular masculine).
II. Morphological characteristics.1. Constant signs: rank by meaning (qualitative, relative or possessive) 2. Variable signs: 1) for qualitative adjectives: a) degree of comparison (comparative, superlative), b) full or short form; 2) for all adjectives: a) case, b) number, c) gender
III. Syntactic role.
An example of morphological analysis of an adjective.
And indeed, she was beautiful: tall, thin, black eyes, like those of a mountain chamois, and looked into your soul (M. Yu. Lermontov).
1. Good (what?) - adjective,
initial form is good.
2. Constant signs: high-quality, brief;
inconsistent signs: units. number, female genus.
3.
She (was what?)good (part of the predicate).
initial form - tall.
Non-constant signs: complete, positive degree of comparison, units. number, female genus, I. p..
3. She (was what?) high (part of the predicate).
1. T-nenkaya - adjective,
the initial form is thin.
2. Constant signs: high-quality, complete;
inconsistent signs: positive degree of comparison, units. number, female genus, I. p.
3. She (was what?) thin
the initial form is black.
2. Constant signs: quality;
inconsistent features: complete, positive degree of comparison, plural. number, I. p..
3. Eyes (which ones?) black (predicate).
1. Adjective- an independent part of speech that denotes a feature of an object and answers the questions: what? whose?
Basic features of an adjective
| A) General grammatical meaning | Examples |
| This is the value of the item attribute: | |
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Blue, light blue, lilac. |
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Sweet, fragrant, spicy. |
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Good bad. |
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Kind, modest, funny. |
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Smart, stupid, talkative. |
| B) Morphological characteristics | Examples |
| The same as for a noun - gender, number, case. But unlike nouns, adjectives change by gender, number, and case, and gender differences are observed in adjectives only in the singular form. This is due to the fact that adjectives serve and explain nouns: adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number and case. |
Wed: blue carpet, blue ribbon, blue saucer - blue carpets, blue ribbons, blue saucers. |
| B) Syntactic features | Examples |
| In a sentence, adjectives are usually modifiers or the nominal part of the predicate. | Wed: The cheerful clown made the kids laugh; The clown was funny. |
| Adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number and case. | Wed: The cheerful clown made the kids laugh; A funny joke made the guys laugh. |
| Adjectives can be extended by nouns and adverbs, forming phrases with them. | Wed: weak from illness, very weak. |
2. Based on the nature of their lexical meaning, adjectives are divided into three categories:
A) quality;
B) relative;
B) possessive.
A) Qualitative adjectives
Qualitative adjectives denote various qualities of an object:
size: big, large, small;
age: old, young;
color: Red Blue;
weight: light heavy;
appearance: handsome, slender;
personal traits: smart, strict, lazy.
Characteristic grammatical and word-formation features qualitative adjectives are:
the presence of degrees of comparison;
Big bigger Biggest; smart - smarter, smartest.
availability of full and short forms;
Strict is strict, old is old.
ability to combine with adverbs of degree;
Very strict, very big, very smart.
form adverbs with the suffixes -o, -e, -i.
Clever → clever, brilliant → brilliant, brutal → brutal.
However, not all qualitative adjectives have these features:
There are no degrees of comparison for adjectives like barefoot, oblique, blind, lame, dead, married, because they express absolute qualities, that is, qualities that cannot be compared (one cannot be dead to a greater or lesser extent; one cannot be married to a greater or lesser extent);
There is no short form for adjectives like business, friendly, comic, since they are relative in origin;
There are no degrees of comparison for relative or possessive adjectives in a qualitative sense.
Wed: a gold bracelet(relative adjective) - golden character(qualitative meaning); Fox's tail(possessive adjective) - this person has a fox character / a fox smile(qualitative meaning).
They indicate signs not directly, but through their relationship to:
These signs cannot appear to a greater or lesser extent.
Relative adjectives are synonymous with case or prepositional case forms of nouns.
Wed: iron hoop - a hoop made of iron; Volga bank - the bank of the Volga; sports shoes - shoes for sports.
B) Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives denote the characteristics of an object according to its belonging to a person or animal.
Father's jacket, mother's scarf, fox tail, wolf trail.
These adjectives answer the question whose? whose? whose? whose? An object cannot have such characteristics to a greater or lesser extent.
Possessive adjectives have suffixes:
In/-yn: mother, chicken, sister;
Ov/-ev: fathers, grandfathers;
Ий/-j- : bearish - bearish[j] his.
Note!
1) Possessive adjectives with suffixes -in/yn, -ov/-ev, -iy/-j- in the singular form of the nominative case in the masculine gender usually have a zero ending, and in the feminine and neuter genders they have the same endings as nouns.
Wed: bearish□ , bearish , bearish.
2) When adjectives are used, their meaning may change. Thus, relative adjectives can become qualitative.
Wed: lilac branch- relative adjective; lilac dress- qualitative adjective.
Possessive adjectives can become relative and qualitative.
Wed: bear trail(the trail belongs to the bear) - possessive adjective; bear coat(the fur coat is made from the skin of a bear, and does not belong to the bear) - relative adjective; bear walk(gait like a bear) is a qualitative adjective.
Exercise for the topic “3.3.1. The concept of an adjective. Morphological features of adjectives. Classes of adjectives"
Adjective- This independent part of speech, which indicates the attribute of an object and answers questions "Which?", "whose?" (green, bird, cold, kind).
Adjective indicates the following signs of an object:
- item size: narrow, small, low, wide;
- physical properties of an object: hard, cold, liquid, sour;
- shape and position of the object: upper, round, curved;
- abstract properties of an object: smart, funny, dreamy, angry;
- spatial characteristics of an object: southern, Tibetan, Scandinavian;
- temporary characteristics of an object: early, late, morning, afternoon, winter;
- purpose of the item: weaving, military, sleeping;
- item material: wooden, iron, gold, paper;
- quantitative attribute of an object: double, triple, quadruple;
- item affiliation: paternal, grandfather, wolf, fish and others characteristics of the item.
Classification of adjectives.
By value adjectives are divided into three categories:
- qualitative adjectives;
- relative adjectives;
- possessive adjectives.
Morphological features of adjectives.
Adjectives Declined by numbers, genders and cases. Initial form of an adjective is the nominative singular masculine case.
Adjective It has degrees of comparison, and also has full and short form.
Adjective always agrees in gender, number and case with the word being defined.
Classes of adjectives.
As mentioned above, adjectives are divided into three categories: qualitative, relative and possessive.
Qualitative adjective indicates a sign of an object that is accessible to human sensory organs (vision, touch, hearing, etc.).
There are a number parameters by which the adjective indicates a characteristic of an object:
- Item size: big, small, huge, wide;
- Item Shape: round, square, flat, straight;
- Physical properties of an object: liquid, viscous, crumbly;
- Item color: white, yellow, red;
- Taste of the item: sour, sweet, bitter, salty;
- Smell of the item: fragrant, odorous, stinking;
- Item weight: heavy, light, weightless, weighty;
- Item temperature: cold, hot, cool, warm;
- Item sound: ringing, deafening, quiet, loud;
- Overall Item Score: harmful, useful, important and etc.
Features of qualitative adjectives.
Qualitative adjectives have a whole list of features and symptoms, among which are the following:
- Availability of degrees of comparison:
bright - brighter - brightest - brightest.
- Availability of full and short form:
Cheerful is cheerful, kind is kind, fat is fat, single is single.
Note. Adjectives are not inflected by case in the short form.
- Ability to form adverbs ending in -e, -o:
Cheerful - fun, good - good, bad - bad.
- Ability to form abstract nouns:
Cheerful - fun, kind - good, evil - evil, young - youth.
- Ability to form compound adjectives repeating:
Kind-kind, sleepy-sleepy, sad-sad.
Relative adjectives.
Relative adjective indicates a sign that indirectly expresses relation to other parameters:
- Face: student life, children's nutrition.
- Place: underground river, rural road.
- Material: watermelon candy, wood chair, floral aroma.
- Time: winter hike, evening jogging
- Purpose, action, property: sliding sofa, self-propelled apparatus, ironing board.
There are also many other parameters by which relative adjectives indicate attitudes towards other objects.
Features of relative adjectives:
1. They do not form a degree of comparison: a chair cannot be more or less wooden or a spoon more or less tin.
2. Relative adjectives can be replaced by synonymous phrases: chicken soup - chicken soup, feather bed - feather bed made from down.
Possessive adjectives.
Possessive adjective indicates belonging to someone and answers the question "whose?"(whose? whose? whose?):
Wolf fur, dog tail, mother's skirt, girl's braid.
Declension of adjectives.
Declension of adjectives- this is a change in adjectives by cases, numbers and genders. As we have already said, the adjective is inextricably linked with the noun, the attribute of which is indicated, and accordingly, it is controlled by it. This means that the adjective agrees with the given noun in number, gender and case.
This rule does not apply to adjectives in short form - they are not declined by case, only by number and gender.
Masculine singular adjectives endings ending in -й are declined in the same way as adjectives ending in -й:
Good th, winding Ouch- kind Wow, winding Wow- kind wow, winding wow etc.
§1. General characteristics of the adjective
An adjective is an independent significant part of speech.
1. Grammatical meaning- “sign of an object.”
Adjectives include words that answer the questions: which?, whose?
2. Morphological characteristics:
- constants - rank by value, for qualitative ones: full/short form and degrees of comparison,
- changeable - case, number, singular - gender.
3. Syntactic role in a sentence: for full forms of qualitative adjectives, as well as for relative and possessive adjectives - a definition, for short forms of qualitative adjectives - part of a compound nominal predicate.
§2. Morphological features of adjectives
An adjective, like other parts of speech, has a set of morphological characteristics. Some of them are permanent (or unchangeable). Others, on the contrary, are impermanent (or changeable). So, for example, the adjective sweet is a qualitative adjective, full form, positive degree of comparison. In a sentence, this word can be in different cases and numbers, and in the singular - in different genders. In the illustration, dotted lines lead to changeable features. The ability to be in full or short form, in a positive - comparative - superlative degree, is considered by linguists to be permanent characteristics. Different permanent signs are expressed differently. For example:
sweeter - comparative degree of adjective sweet expressed by the suffix -sche- and the absence of an ending,
less sweet - the comparative degree of the adjective sweet is expressed by the combination less + sweet,
sweet - short form of the adjective in singular. m.r. has a null ending, while the full form sweet has the ending -й.
Inconstant features: case, number, gender (singular) are expressed by endings: sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, etc.
§3. Classes of adjectives by meaning
Depending on the nature of the meaning, adjectives are divided into:
- qualitative: big, small, good, bad, cheerful, sad,
- relative: golden, tomorrow, forest, spring,
- possessive: fox, wolf, father's, mother's, fathers.
Qualitative adjectives
Qualitative adjectives denote characteristics that can be expressed to a greater or lesser extent. Answer the question: Which?
They have:
- full and short forms: good - good, cheerful - cheerful
- degrees of comparison: small - less - smallest and smallest.
Most quality adjectives are non-derivative words. The stems of qualitative adjectives are producing stems from which adverbs are easily formed: bad ← bad, sad ← sad.
The meanings of qualitative adjectives are such that most of them enter into a relationship
- synonyms: large, large, huge, enormous
- antonymies: big - small.
Relative adjectives
Relative adjectives are related in meaning to the words from which they are derived. That is why they are so named. Relative adjectives are always derived words: golden←gold, tomorrow←tomorrow, forest←forest, spring←spring. Features expressed by relative adjectives do not have different degrees of intensity. These adjectives do not have degrees of comparison, as well as full and short forms. Answer the question: Which?
Possessive adjectives
These adjectives express the idea of belonging. Unlike qualitative and relative adjectives, they answer the question: Whose? Possessive adjectives do not have degrees of comparison, as well as full and short forms.
Suffixes of possessive adjectives: lisiy - -ii- [ii’], mamin - -in-, sinitsin - [yn], fathers - -ov-, Sergeev -ev-.
Possessive adjectives have a special set of endings. Even from the above examples it is clear that in the initial form (im.p., singular, m.r.) they have a zero ending, while other adjectives have endings -
-y, -y, -oh.
Forms im.p. and v.p. possessive adjectives and plural, like nouns, and the rest - like adjectives:
Singular
Name w.r. - a: mother’s, fox, m.r. - : , mother’s, fox, m.r. - oh, e: mom’s, fox.
Rod.p. w.r. - oh, her: mom’s, fox’s, m.r. and w.r. - wow, his: mom’s, fox’s.
Daten.p. w.r. - oh, her: mom’s, fox’s, m.r. and w.r. - oh, him: mother’s, fox’s.
Vin.p. w.r. - u, yu: mother’s, fox, m.r. and Wed R. - as im.p. or r.p.
Tv.p. w.r. - oh, her: mom’s, fox’s, m.r. and w.r. - ym, them: mother’s, fox’s.
P.p. w.r. - oh, her: mom’s, fox’s, m.r. and w.r. - oh, I eat: my mother’s, fox’s.
Plural
Name - s, and: mother’s, foxes.
Rod.p. - oh, them: mother’s, fox’s.
Daten.p. - ym, them: mother’s, fox’s.
Vin.p. - as im.p. or v.p.
Tv.p. - s, them: mother’s, fox’s.
P.p. - oh, them: mother’s, fox’s.
Adjectives can move from one category to another. Such transitions are determined by the peculiarities of the context and are associated, as a rule, with the use of adjectives in figurative meanings. Examples:
- fox nora is a possessive adjective, and fox cunning is relative (does not belong to a fox, but like a fox)
- bitter medicine is a qualitative adjective, and bitter truth is relative (correlates with bitterness)
- light bag is a qualitative adjective, and light life - relative (correlates with ease)
§4. Full and short forms of qualitative adjectives
Qualitative adjectives have both forms: full and short.
In full form they bow, i.e. vary by number, by gender (in singular) and by case. Full adjectives in a sentence can be a modifier or part of a compound nominal predicate.
Late at night they left the house.
Late - qualitative adjective, positive. degree, complete, in the form of singular parts, zh.r., tv.p.
In short form, adjectives are not inflected. They do not change by case. Short adjectives vary in number and gender (singular). Short forms of adjectives in a sentence are usually part of a compound nominal predicate.
The girl is sick.
Sick - qualitative adjective, positive. degree, short form, units, w.r. In modern language, as definitions, short adjectives come in stable lexical combinations, for example: a beautiful maiden, in broad daylight.
Do not be surprised:
Some qualitative adjectives in modern language have only short forms, for example: glad, must, much.
Relative and possessive adjectives have only the full form. Please note: possessive adjectives with the suffix -in- in im.p. the form of v.p. coinciding with it. ending - as in short forms.
§5. Degrees of comparison
Qualitative adjectives have degrees of comparison. This is how language expresses the fact that signs can have a greater or lesser degree. Tea can be sweet to a greater or lesser extent, right? And language conveys this content.
Degrees of comparison thus convey the idea of comparison. They do this systematically. There are three degrees: positive, comparative, superlative.
- Positive - this means that the trait is expressed without assessing the degree: tall, cheerful, warm.
- The comparative determines a greater or lesser degree: higher, more cheerful, warmer, taller, more cheerful, warmer, less tall, less cheerful, less warm.
- The superlative expresses the greatest or least degree: the highest, the most cheerful, the warmest, the highest, the most cheerful, the warmest.
From the examples it is clear that the degrees of comparison are expressed in different ways. In the comparative and superlative degrees, the meaning is conveyed either using suffixes: higher, more cheerful, highest, most cheerful, or using words: more, less, most. Therefore, comparative and superlative degrees of comparison can be expressed:
- simple forms: higher, highest,
- compound forms: taller, less tall, highest.
Among the simple forms in the Russian language, as well as in other languages, for example, in English, there are forms formed from another stem.
- good, bad - positive degree
- better, worse - comparative degree
- best, worst - superlative
Words in simple and complex comparative and superlative degrees change differently:
- Comparative degree (simple): above, below - does not change.
- Comparative degree (complex): lower, lower, lower - the adjective itself changes, change is possible by cases, numbers, and in the singular - by gender.
- Superlative degree (simple): highest, highest, highest - changes according to cases, numbers, and in the singular - according to gender, i.e. as in a positive degree.
- Superlative degree (complex): the highest, the highest, the highest - both words change according to cases, numbers, and in the singular - according to gender, i.e. as in a positive degree.
Adjectives in simple comparative form in a sentence are part of the predicate:
Anna and Ivan are brother and sister. Anna is older than Ivan. She used to be taller, but now Ivan is taller.
Other forms of comparison can be used both as a definition and as a predicate:
I approached the older guys.
The guys were more mature than I thought.
I turned to the oldest guys.
These guys are the oldest of those who study in the circle.
Test of strength
Check your understanding of this chapter.
Final test
Is an adjective an independent part of speech?
What adjectives can express characteristics that are expressed to a greater or lesser extent?
- Quality
- Relative
- Possessives
Which adjectives are characterized by lexical relations of synonymy and antonymy?
- For quality
- For relative
- For possessives
Are relative adjectives derivatives?
Which full adjectives have a special set of endings?
- In quality
- In relative
- In possessive
Do adjectives change by case in their full form?
What forms of adjectives are characterized by the syntactic role of definition?
- For full
- For short
Do all adjectives change by case?
- Not all
Do all adjectives change according to gender?
- Not all
Do superlative adjectives change according to case?
Can comparatives or superlatives be expressed in one word?
Can adjectives change from one category of meaning to another?
Right answers:
- Quality
- For quality
- In possessive
- For full
- Not all
- Not all
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