What are monosyllabic adjectives in English. Other comparative constructions with adjectives

The adjective - adjective in English language denotes a distinctive feature of the subject (subject) in three degrees. In accordance with the type (simple or complex, that is, monosyllabic or polysyllabic), it is possible to form a construction of a comparative or superlative degree of an adjective.

Words denoting colors (white, red, blue), qualities of a person and objects (prudent, strong, fearful, clean, wet) are all adjectives.

Rules for the formation of degrees of simple (monosyllabic) adjectives

positive degree - positive degree;
comparative degree - comparative degree;
superlative degree - superlative degree.

A simple adjective is created by adding the suffix -est if the word is simple (monosyllabic). In addition, the superlative degree is characterized by adding to the adjective also definite article(the), since we are no longer talking about a simple subject (subject in a sentence or in a phrase), but about the best and most outstanding of its kind.

The simplest examples of the use of monosyllabic adjectives in the superlative degree of comparison:

strong - the strongest (strong - the strongest or strongest);
sharp - the sharpest (sharp - the sharpest or sharpest);
clever - the cleverest (smart - the smartest or smartest);
neat - the neatest (neat - the neatest or neatest);
short - the shortest (short - the shortest or shortest);
East or West home is best - East or West - home is better (an analogue of the Russian proverb "Away is good, but home is better").

If the adjective ends in -y, as in other similar words, that letter changes to -i. And only then a sign of superlative degree is added, that is, the ending -est:

naughty - naughtiest (naughty - the most naughty);
pretty - prettiest (charming - the most charming);
dry - driest (dry - the driest);
noisy - noisest (noisy - the noisiest);
happy - happiest (happy - happiest);
dirty - dirtiest (dirty - the dirtiest);
messy - messiest (sloppy - the most sloppy).

The same rule is followed simple words: ugly (ugly, ugly), busy (busy).

An adjective ending in the vowel e loses the last letter:

nice - nicest (good - the best or the nicest);
white - whitest (white - the whitest or whitest);
rare - rarest (rare - the rarest or rarest).

In simple one-syllable adjectives, after a short vowel, the consonant is doubled:

big - biggest (big - biggest);
fat - fattest (thick - the thickest);
red - reddest (red - the reddest);
hot - hottest (hot - the hottest).

The same rule includes the words: sad (sad, sad), hot (hot), wet (wet).

Suggestion examples:

Europe is the largest continent - Europe is the widest continent.

Oceania is the smallest continent - Oceania is the smallest continent.

Exceptions to the rules

The superlative degree of an adjective in English may not be formed according to the typical rules. These examples are people who study English at first, try to remember by heart or always have a cheat sheet with them:

good - best (good - the best);
bad - worst (bad - the worst);
little - least (small - smallest);
many, much - most (a lot - the most or the largest).

The adjective OLD (old) in addition to its exclusivity is distinguished by two forms of superlatives. The most common form:

old - oldest (old - oldest or oldest).

But, if we are talking about family members (native people), a different form is used:

old - eldest (old - oldest or oldest).

Usage examples

Exceptional superlative adjective. Usage examples:

My diploma work in the best - My diploma work is the best.

This campaign has the worst production - This campaign has the worst production.

My son is the smallest in its class - My son is the smallest in his class.

This book is the oldest in my library - This book is the oldest in my library.

Our great-grandfather is the eldest member of the family - Our great-grandfather is the oldest member of the family.

Try to form the superlatives of the following adjectives:

new (new);
fast (fast);
tall (high);
cheap (cheap);
expensive (expensive).

Formation of the degree of polysyllabic adjectives

A polysyllabic adjective is one in which there is more than one syllable, that is, a combination of a consonant and a vowel.

In this case, the exclusive construction more - the most, already familiar from the previous explanation, is used. The superlative degree from this combination is simply substituted for the adjective:

comfortable - the most comfortable (comfortable - the most comfortable or most comfortable);
interesting - the most interesting (interesting - the most interesting or most interesting).

The same with the words: popular (popular), beautiful (beautiful).

Other comparative constructions with adjectives

The superlative degree of an adjective can also be formed by other comparative constructions.

The union than (than) is used if the degree of quality of one object is compared with the degree of quality of another:

This room is larger than that - This room is larger than that one.

Better late than never - Better late than never.

Two heads are better than one - Two heads are better than one.

Green gallary is wider than red - The green gallery is wider than the red one.

Antarctida is bigger than Oceania - Antarctica is bigger than Oceania.

Use of the as…as construction (same...as, same...as). In this case, the adjective is compared in a positive degree between as and as:

This book is as interesting as that - This book is as interesting as that one.

Yellow car as fast as green - A yellow car is as fast as a green one.

This doctor as clever as that one - This doctor is as smart as that one.

Exercises to consolidate the learned

1) Quiz. Try to answer the questions using word constructions with comparative adjectives.

Which country is smaller? (Scotland or England)

Which country is begger? (Russia or Spain)

Which is the largest continent on our planet?

Which is the biggest ocean on our planet?

Which city is older? (Moscow or London)

Which is the smallest country? (Vatican City or Monaco)

2) Read the dialogue between two friends Alison and Tony and try to understand what they are talking about.

Alison: My cat is big. It is beautiful and neat. Your dog is messier than my cat.

Tony: My dog is bigger thn your cat. It is more beautiful than your cat.

Alison: My house is newer than your house. It is the newest in our street.

Tony: No, it's not. Your house is older than my house. Your garden is smaller than my garden.

Alison: Yes, it is. But it is more beautiful. It's the most beautiful garden in our city.

Tony: Our car is bigger, newer, more comfortable and more expensive than your car.

Alison's cat: Alison is as fast and clever as Tony.

Tony's dog: Tony is as fast and clever as Alison.

In English, there are 3 degrees of comparison of adjectives: the positive degree (the positive degree), the comparative degree (the comparative degree) and the superlative degree (the superlative degree).

Note that the adjective comes before the noun and does not change in gender or number.

positive degree adjective means that it is in its own initial form and simply indicates the quality of the item, without comparing it with others: tall (high), old (old), long (long), big (large), thin (thin), fat (fat). Education comparative and excellent degrees Comparisons depend on how many syllables the adjective contains.

And here are a few rules for the formation of degrees of comparison of adjectives in English with examples of sentences.

One-syllable adjectives add a suffix -er comparative and suffix -est in superlatives:

tall - taller - the tallest (high - higher - tallest)
old - older - the oldest (old - older, older - oldest, oldest)
long - longer - the longest (long - longer - the longest)

Here are some examples:

Katie is taller than Rob. - Katie is taller than Rob.
Katie is the tallest of all my friends. - Katie is the tallest of my friends.
Rob is older than John. - Rob is older than John.
Of the three students, Rob is the oldest. - Rob is the oldest of the three students.
My hair is longer than your hair. - My hair is longer than yours.
Rob "s story is the longest story I" ve ever heard. - Rob's story is the longest I've ever heard.

If a monosyllabic adjective ends in a consonant preceded by a vowel, the consonant is doubled:

big - bigger - the biggest (big - more - the biggest)
thin - thinner - the thinnest (thin - thinner - thinnest)
fat - fatter - the fattest (full - fuller - most complete)

Examples:

My house is bigger than your house. - My house is bigger than your house.
My house is the biggest of all the houses in the neighborhood. - My house is the largest of all in the area.
Rob is thinner than John. - Rob is thinner than John.
Of all the students in the class, Rob is the thinnest. - Rob is the thinnest of all the students in the class.
My dog is fatter than your dog. - My dog is fatter than your dog.

Disyllabic adjectives form a comparative degree of comparison by adding more before adjectives, and a superlative degree, adding most:

peaceful - more peaceful - the most peaceful (calm, peaceful - calmer - the most peaceful)
pleasant - more pleasant - the most pleasant (pleasant - more pleasant - most pleasant)
careful - more careful - the most careful (careful - more careful - the most careful)

Suggestion examples:

This morning is more peaceful than yesterday morning. - This morning is more peaceful than yesterday.
John is more careful than Mike. - John is more careful than Mike.
This evening is the most pleasant I "ve ever had. - This evening is the most pleasant of all that I have had.

If a two-syllable adjective ends in -y, then to form a comparative degree, you need to change -y on the -i and add suffix -er, and for superlatives, the suffix -est:

happy - happier - the happiest (happy - happier - happiest)
angry - angrier - the angriest (angry - meaner - the most evil)
busy - busier - the busiest (busy - busier - busiest)

Phrase examples:

Robert is happy today than he was yesterday. Today Robert is happier than yesterday.
He is the happy boy in the world. - He is the happiest boy in the world.
John is angry than Rob. - John is angrier than Rob.
Katie is busier than John. - Katie is busier than John.
Katie is the busiest person I "ve ever met. - Katie is the most busy man of all that I have met.

Two-syllable adjectives ending in -er, -le, -ow form comparative and superlative degrees of comparison by adding suffixes -er and -est respectively.

narrow - narrower - the narrowest (narrow - already - the narrowest)
gentle - gentler - the gentlest (noble - nobler - most noble)

Examples:

The streets in European countries are narrower than the streets in Russia. - The streets of European cities are narrower than in Russia.
This street is the narrowest of all the roads in this town. - This street is the narrowest in this city.
Big dogs are gentler than small dogs. - Big dogs are nobler than small ones.

An interesting English-language video about typical mistakes when using comparative degrees adjectives (and a bonus - about adverbs!):

For adjectives of three syllables, the comparative and superlative degrees are formed by adding more and most before an adjective.

generous - more generous - the most generous (generous - more generous - the most generous)
important - more important - the most important (important - more important - the most important)
intelligent - more intelligent - the most intelligent (smart - smarter - the smartest)

Suggestion examples:

Katie is more generous than Mary. - Katie is more generous than Mary.
John is the most generous of all the people I know. - John is the most generous person I know.
Health is more important than money. - Health is more important than money.
Katie is the most intelligent person I "ve ever met. - Katie is the smartest person I know.

Exception adjectives that have their own comparative and superlative forms:

Good - better - the best (good - better - the best)
Bad - worse - the worst (bad - worse - the worst)
Far - farther - the farthest (far - further - the most distant)
Little - less - the least (small - less - smallest)
Many - more - the most (many - more - most)

Examples of phrases with exceptions:

Italian food is better than American food. - Italian food is better than American food.
My dog is the best dog in the world. - My dog is the best in the world.
My sister's cooking is worse than your sister's cooking. - My sister cooks worse than yours.

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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 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 typical features this part of speech, inherent only 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 What questions are always relevant in translation? which? which? or what?

Concerning morphological categories adjectives of the English language, then there are much fewer opportunities compared to a 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, a particular 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 large quantity 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 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 grammar basics, 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 relation 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 context. 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 the upcoming trip

The second variant with -ing shows the quality or characteristic of this or that 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, they display belonging to an object. They completely repeat the possessive pronouns (my, his, our), but at the same time they are called possessive adjectives.

So-called strong structures (strong adjectives) differ from weak topics that are able to convey this or that 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 demonstrative adjectives 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.

Every person or thing 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, as well as learn its laws of compilation and use. In addition, they will help us quickly understand and remember the rules about simple and polysyllabic adjectives in English. language 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-IgaveLittleof breadthisgray bird.

The only case of changing the form of adjectives in English sentence is the use of them to compare objects and express superiority.

Comparison Forms

Before learning the methods of comparison, it is necessary to understand that for English grammar the composition of adjectives is very important. 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 brotherMumboughtmybrotherdark-bluesuit.
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 base, 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.

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 suffix 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 this group has special cases 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 tripThis iswasmostinterestingdayfrommytrips.

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 worldThis isthe 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.