Morphological composition of the adjective.

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§ 39. A number; the number.

A number of means 'many'. It is rendered in Russian by много, ряд. The number means 'число, количество'.

His father anda number of his cronies were in the dining-room. (Dreiser)

The number of mistakes he makes is startling.

Omission of the Article

Sometimes the article is not used where we naturally expect to find it in accordance with the rules. No change of meaning is observed in these cases.

The article is often omitted in newspaper headings, telegrams, in stage directions.

Gas Blast Kills Woman. (Daily Worker)

Girl Gymnast Keeps Title. (Moscow News)

The article is often omitted with homogeneous members closely connected with each other and joined by the conjunction and. In most cases they go in pairs.

The breakfast was taken away, and that meal over, it was the general custom of uncle and niece to separate. (Ch. Bronte)

Chapter III

THE ADJECTIVE

§ 1. The adjective is a word expressing a quality of a substance.

§ 2. The adjective has the followingmorphological characteristics:

Most adjectives havedegrees of comparison: thecomparative degree and thesuperlative degree.¹

Thecomparative degree denotes a higher degree of a quality.

She istaller than her sister.

My box issmaller than hers.

Thesuperlative degree denotes the highest degree of a quality.

She isthe tallest of the three sisters.

Her box isthe smallest of all our boxes.

(The noun modified by an adjective in the superlative degree has the definite article because the superlative degree of the adjective always implies limitation.)

Adjectives form their degrees of comparison in the following way:

(a)by the inflexion -er, -est (synthetical way);

(b)by placing more and most before the adjective (analytical way).

 Monosyllabic adjectives usually form their comparatives and super­latives in the first way, and polysyllabic adjectives in the second way.

The following polysyllabic adjectives, however, generally form their comparative and superlative degrees inflexionally:

1. Adjectives of two syllables which end in -y, -ow, -er; -le.

happy

narrow

clever

simple

happier

narrower

cleverer

simpler

(the) happiest

(the) narrowest

(the) cleverest

(the) simplest

2. Adjectives of two syllables which have the stress on the last syl­lable:

¹ Some adjectives have no degrees of comparison (see § 7).

complete                                          completer                           (the) completest

concise                                            conciser                              (the) concisest

Some adjectives have irregular forms of degrees of comparison, e.g.:

good

better

(the) best

bad

worse

(the) worst

many, much

more

(the) most

little

less

(the) least

far

farther

^(the) farthest

the furthest

further

old

older

 the oldest

elder

^(the) eldest

§ 3. Spelling rules.

1. If the adjective ends in a consonant preceded by a stressed short vowel the consonant is doubled before -er, -est.

sad             sadder (the) saddest

big             bigger (the) biggest

2. If the adjective ends in -y preceded by a consonant, y is changed into i before -er and -est.

busy             busier                      (the) busiest

happy          happier                   (the) happiest

3. If the adjective ends in -e the e is dropped before -er and -est.

brave                braver                (the) bravest

tine                   finer                   (the) finest

§ 4. The adjective has the followingsyntactical characteristics:

In a sentence the adjective may be used as an attribute or as a Predicative.

Alittle fat chap thrust out his underlip and thetall fellow frowned. (Mansfield) (ATTRIBUTES)

Laura was terriblynervous. (Mansfield) (PREDICATIVE)

The air wasmotionless... (Mansfield) (PREDICATIVE)

Adjectives are divided intosimple, derivative andcompound.

1.Simple adjectivesare adjectives which have neither prefixes nor suffixes. They are indecomposable: e. g. good, red, black.

2. Derivativeadjectives are adjectives which have derivative ele­ments, suffixes or prefixes or both: beautiful, foolish, hopeless, unkind, unimportant.

Productive adjective-forming suffixes are:

-less: friendless, harmless, hopeless

-like: childlike

-ish: childish, foolish

-ed (-d): beaded

Unproductive suffixes are:

-ful: careful                                                                 

-ent: dependent

-ible: responsible                                                       

-en: woolen

-ous: dangerous

-some: troublesome

Productive adjective-forming prefixes are:

un-: unhappy

 pre-: prewar

The unproductive prefix of the adjective is: in-/ir-/im-: incorrect, irregular, improper

3.Compound adjectives are adjectives built from two or more stems.

The main types of compound adjectives are as follows:

1. noun-stem + adjective-stem: snow-white.

2. noun-stem + participle-stem: life-giving, smoke-dried.

3. adjective-stem + adjective-stem: deaf-mute.

4. adjective-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: cold-hearted.

5. noun-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: lynx-eyed.

6.  numeral-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: four-wheeled.

7. adverb-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: over-peopled.

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