Monosyllabic adjectives in English. Degrees of comparison of adjectives

(good, yellow, interesting).

Adjectives in English do not change either by gender, or by number, or by case. Adjectives in English can only be modified by degrees of comparison.

Adjectives can be simple or derived. Simple names adjectives have neither prefixes nor suffixes. Derived adjectives contain 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 characteristic of an object.

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

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

positive degree
comparative degree
superlative degree.

Adjective degrees

Formation of degrees of comparison of adjectives

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

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

The second way to form 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, the comparative and superlative forms are also formed using the words more and most.

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

Some adjectives form special forms of degrees of comparison, and these adjectives must be immediately memorized in all forms.

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

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

To correctly write forms of degrees of comparison of adjectives, you need to know that when adding the suffixes -er and -est, 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 is omitted: nice (good) - nicer - nicest
the consonant is doubled in one-syllable adjectives after a short vowel: big - bigger - biggest

Using an adjective

The adjective is usually used in a sentence as a definition of a noun and stands before the word being defined. An adjective can also be a nominal member of a compound nominal predicate (predicative) and in this case stand after the linking verb to be.
Not a clever boy. He's a smart boy. (Clever - definition.) .Not is 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 denote 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, just like in Russian, adjectives and adverbs have three degrees of comparison:

positive
comparative
excellent.

In English there are two ways of constructing degrees of comparison.

1. For short (one syllable) words:

Notes:

The definite article is often used with a superlative adjective; When constructing degrees of comparison of adjectives in writing:

the final consonant with the preceding short vowel is doubled: big (bigger ((the) biggest
if there is a consonant before the final -y, then -y goes into -i:
easy (easy ((the) easiest; early (earlier ((the) earliest
when adding -er u -est, the final -e is omitted: (see large above). Spelling features do not affect pronunciation.

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

It doesn't make sense to lengthen the word any further, so in English we add another short word in front:

beautiful beautiful
more beautiful
easily easy
more easily easier
most easily

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

less beautiful
least beautiful least beautiful

Note:

Sometimes monosyllabic words form degrees of comparison using more / less or most / least , and conversely, words consisting of more than one syllable have -er / -est at the end; it depends only on the sound - if some form is perceived better by ear than another, it is put into the 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; V in this case it is used only as an adverb little; if you need to construct degrees of comparison from the adjective small, we use the word small (see above).

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

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

In most other cases, degrees of comparison of adjectives are formed using method 1:

old old er old est

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

The word most can come before a noun or pronoun in plural(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 retained before the superlative form even if there is no noun: Not is the best. He is the best.

To denote the comparative degree of an adjective, the word than is used; however, in order to avoid repetition of the same noun, it is often put the word one as a substitute for this noun or a possessive pronoun in 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, you can use pronouns both in the objective case (colloquial version) and accusative case (literary version, usually with an auxiliary verb):

She reads more than him / he does. She reads more than him.
You are taller than me / I am. You are taller than me.
Didn't come earlier than them / they did. He arrived earlier than them but
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 (s) / as (same) ... as (s) is used: She is as beautiful as my mother(She is as beautiful as my mother.

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

When comparing with a multiple effect, the combination as ... as with numerals is used; the second as may be omitted if another comparison object is not mentioned in the situation:

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

The word half in such cases means 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 as much money (than you).

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

The Russian version of 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 faster you arrive, the more you will get.
The sooner you do it the better. The sooner you do this, the better.

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

Please 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 initial form and simply denotes the quality of an object, without comparing it with others: tall, old, long, big, thin, fat ). Education comparative And excellent degrees comparison depends on how many syllables the adjective contains.

Here are a few rules for forming degrees of comparison of adjectives in English with example sentences.

Monosyllabic adjectives add a suffix -er comparative degree and suffix -est superlative:

tall - taller - the tallest (high - higher - the highest)
old - older - the oldest (old - older, older - the oldest, the 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 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 one-syllable adjective ends in a consonant preceded by a vowel, the consonant is doubled:

big - bigger - the biggest (big - bigger - the biggest)
thin - thinner - the thinnest (thin - thinner - the thinnest)
fat - fatter - the fattest (full - fuller - the 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 skinniest of all the students in the class.
My dog is fatter than your dog. - My dog is fatter than your dog.

Two-syllable adjectives form the comparative degree of comparison by adding more before adjectives, and the superlative degree, adding most:

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

Example sentences:

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 -i and add a suffix -er, and to form a superlative degree - the suffix -est:

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

Example phrases:

Robert is happier today than he was yesterday. - Today Robert is happier than yesterday.
He is the happiest boy in the world. - He is the happiest boy in the world.
John is angrier 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 busiest busy man from 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 - the 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 of 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)

Example sentences:

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.

Exceptional 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 farthest)
Little - less - the least (small - less - the smallest)
Many - more - the most (many - more - most of all)

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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Hello dear friends!
Imagine a situation where you are in a store, trying on a shirt and realizing that it is too big. You want to ask for a smaller size and you realize that you know how to say “small”, but you find it difficult to remember what to add to get “smaller”. And there are enough situations when you need to be able to compare. To be able to do this, you need to know the difference between monosyllabic and polysyllabic adjectives in English.

From this article you will learn:

How to identify them

Basically, the division of words into syllables coincides with the Russian language, that is, their number corresponds to the number of vowels. For example, in Russian kar-tosh-ka there are 3 vowels, respectively 3 syllables. It's the same with po-ta-to. But there are also small differences. There are consonants in English that are called sonorant. They give sounds: [m], [n], [l], [w], [r], [j]. Even if a word has one vowel sound, two syllables are counted, as in mild. You'll soon see that it's very simple!
A word that has only a diphthong (a combination of two vowel sounds) among vowel sounds is considered indivisible. Thus, fine contains a diphthong.
And now I’ll tell you why we discussed this...

The simplest rule

So now let's learn powers of comparison. General scheme comparative offer next Subject + verb to be + comparative adjective ( comparative adjective) + than.
If a word consists of only one syllable, then add –er to it. Examples: tall – taller, small – smaller, fast – faster. We get in a sentence: My car is faster than yours.

Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss anything and receive a gift - a phrasebook in English, German and French. It has Russian transcription, so even without knowing the language, you can easily master colloquial phrases.

The superlative sentence structure looks like this: subject + verb to be + the + superlative adjective (superlative).
To obtain superlative adjective from a short word we add –est to it. We get: tallest, smallest, fastest.
There are some nuances to remember here. If a word contains a combination of letters consonant + vowel + consonant, double it last letter. For example, sad – sadder – the saddest, big – bigger – the biggest. Moscow is bigger than Tomsk (Moscow is bigger than Tomsk).

Comparative and superlative degrees

With doubling consonants

When a word ends in –e (those with diphthongs), add only –r/-st: nice – nicer – the nicest. Sally is the nicest girl I’ve ever met (Sally is the nicest girl I’ve ever seen).

Endings with diphthongs - you need to remember

Ending in -y

When words are longer
With adjectives that have two or more syllables, use more in the comparative degree and the most in the superlative degree. In this case, the ending is no longer added. For example, wonderful – more wonderful – the most wonderful. Emily is the most beautiful girl in class (Emily is the most beautiful girl in class).
However, with some people the rule of small words also applies. Most often these are those in which the stress falls at the beginning: quiet – quieter – the quietest, clever – cleverer – the cleverest, narrow – narrower – the narrowest. Although you can add more/most to them.
If the word consists of two and ends in y, then change y to i and add –er/est. For example, funny – funnier – the funniest, crazy – crazier – the craziest.

It's as easy as shelling pears - add more or the most

By the way, did you know that you can easily form adjectives?

With two or more syllables
Not without exceptions
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. Also here, but there are few of them, so learning them will be as easy as shelling pears. I announce the list: good – better – the best, bad – worse – the worst, far – further – the furthest, old – elder – the eldest. However, old is also changed as a regular one, without changing the meaning: older – the oldest. As you noticed, the form itself is changing here, and not just endings are added. But remember, in Russian the same phenomenon is observed: good - better - best.

Exception table

Exceptions

Therefore, the sentence “I have the best dad” will sound in English as My father is the best.
Let's now put the information we received into a table:

adjective	comparative	superlative
One syllable
Young	Younger	Youngest
Vowel + consonant + vowel
Hot	Hotter	Hottest
Two or more syllables
Curious	More curious	Most curious
Ending with -e
Cute	Cuter	Cutest
Ending with -y
Funny	funnier	funniest
exceptions
Good	Better	Best

By the way, speaking English is as easy as shelling pears! You will understand this after your first lesson at Marina Rusakova’s school! Get your first 5 lessons for free! The course can be completed online, no boring cramming or tons of textbooks. Only interesting, lively communication and a simple approach to learning complex rules.

Exercises

And so that the scheme fits into your head forever and bounces off your teeth, I offer you exercises to practice.
Put the adjectives in brackets in the comparative degree:

John is ________ (weak) than Michael.
John is weaker than Michael.
My teacher is ________(strict) than yours.
People in the North are ________ (friendly) than in the South.
People in Thailand are ________(lazy) than in China.
Sam is 3 years ________(old) than Emily.
Stan has a ________(fat) cat than Dan.
Matt is ________(generous) than Scrooge.
My apartment is ________(big) than yours.
Their workers are even ________(lazy) than ours.
My book is ________(interesting) than yours.

Now translate the sentences into English:

Jack is more sociable than his wife.
Jack is more sociable than his wife.
Adam is the most insecure person I have ever met.
Mason is more talkative than his neighbor.
Evan is even more arrogant than his boss.
Justin is the most unreliable person, whom I know, so I never ask him to help me.
Jessica is more sincere than her friend.
Violet is more practical than Jazmine, she will never spend her last money on lipstick.
Diana is the most forgetful. Yesterday she left her passport at the bank.

Write your answers in the comments, we’ll check it together!

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I was with you, a philologist of the English language, Ekaterina Martynova.
Have a nice day everyone!

Among independent parts In speech in both Russian and English, the adjective occupies a special 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 used 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

An adjective in English, or adjective, differs from nouns in that it does not reflect an object or phenomenon, but its attribute or quality. This means that for English adjectives in translation the following questions are always relevant: what? which? which? or what?

As for the morphological categories of adjectives in the English language, there are much fewer possibilities compared to a noun. For example, the categories of gender and number are absolutely not expressed in adjectives. 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. Eg:

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 examples presented, in Russian adjectives the ending changes in accordance with number and cases, but English adjectives do not have such changes. They do not differ in any special pronunciation. However, these parts of speech still have their own special characteristics: they are always associated with nouns (or pronouns) and describe precisely these words. Therefore, a particular noun is often preceded by an adjective and an article to describe some special properties: origin, color, material, size, etc.

Talking about what syntactic role carry English adjectives, it can be noted that they, as a rule, perform the function of a determiner in a sentence.

Structure of English adjectives

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

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

· Derivatives. These words usually have some kind of word-forming morphemes (usually either prefixes or suffixes). For example: careful (cautious), waterless (waterless), 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, you can see that everything, even complex adjectives in English, are formed quite standardly, and the principles of formation are in many ways reminiscent of the methods of forming nouns.

Types of adjectives by meaning

The list of classifications includes one more category - division into:

quality
relative adjectives

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

So, qualitative adjectives are called for a reason. The fact is that such adjectives reflect precisely 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 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 subjective evaluation. In this case, this group can be divided into:

positive adjectives(positive)
negative adjectives(negative)

Positive words are words such as good, interesting, amazing, wonderful, etc. Negative in relation to positive are opposite adjectives; these are the structures bad, unpleasant, boring, ugly, 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 this group are adjectives with –ed or – ing endings. The first option shows a state or feeling and is often translated by the participle:

· I’m interested in this job - I’m interested in this job
· Out daughter is excited about her future travelling – Our daughter is excited about the 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 the difference between these types of words also gives other variants of pairs: exhausted (tired) - exhausting (tiring), humiliated (humiliated) - humiliating (humiliating), etc.

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

Additional groups of adjectives

There are additional classifications that are also worth considering. For example, possessive adjectives in English reflect belonging to some object. They completely repeat possessive pronouns (my, his, our), but are called possessive adjectives.

The so-called strong adjectives differ from weak ones in that they are able to convey a particular meaning independently, without adding the popular adverb 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), that – those (that – those).

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