English grammar drills part 5 doc

precedes the noun, 2 which adjective has a comparative and superlative form, and 3 which adjective can be used as a predicate adjective.. Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives

precedes the noun, (2) which adjective has a comparative and superlative form, and (3) which

adjective can be used as a predicate adjective The noun modifi er that fulfi lls these three criteria

is the true adjective

some/strong

some: X somer X somest

strong: stronger strongest

Order of modifi ers: Some strong coffee keeps me awake at night.

X Strong some coffee keeps me awake at night.

Predicate adjective: X The coffee is some.

The coffee is strong.

True adjective: strong

1 true/two

true:

two:

Order of modifi ers: stories are in the book

stories are in the book

Predicate adjective: The stories are

The stories are

True adjective:

2 his/sweet

his:

sweet:

Order of modifi ers: cupcakes were the hit of the party

cupcakes were the hit of the party

Predicate adjective: The cupcakes were

The cupcakes were

True adjective:

3 fast/all

fast:

all:

Order of modifi ers: boats have two engines

boats have two engines

Predicate adjective: The boats were

The boats were

True adjective:

4 these/hungry

these:

hungry:

Order of modifi ers: cats need to be fed

cats need to be fed

Predicate adjective: The cats were

The cats were

True adjective:

5 bright/a

bright:

a:

Order of modifi ers: moon was rising in the eastern sky

moon was rising in the eastern sky

Predicate adjective: The moon was

The moon was

True adjective:

Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives

English is unusual in that it has not one but two ways of forming the comparative and

superla-tive forms of adjecsuperla-tives One way, as we have seen, is by adding -er and -est onto the base form of

instead uses more  adjective for the comparative form and most  adjective for the superlative

form For example:

reluctant more reluctant most reluctant

foolish more foolish most foolish

vicious more vicious most vicious

The reason why English has two different sets of comparative and superlative forms is his-torical Adjectives of native English origin usually form their comparative and superlative forms

with -er and -est endings Adjectives borrowed from French usually form their comparative and

superlative forms with more and most Adjectives of English origin tend to be one and two

syl-lable words Adjectives of French origin tend to be polysyllabic, that is two, three, and even four

syllables

Over time, English speakers tended to forget about historical origin and instead associated

the -er and -est endings with short adjectives and more and most with long adjectives As a result,

nearly all adjectives of one syllable use -er and -est and adjectives of three or more syllables use

more and most.

Two-syllable adjectives pose a problem because they can form their comparative and super-lative forms either way A few adjectives can even use both ways For example, the two-syllable

polite can be used in either pattern:

Susan is politer than Alice Susan is the politest person in her class.

Susan is more polite than Alice Susan is the most polite person I know.

Here are two generalizations that can help in deciding which type of comparative and super-lative to use:

1 Two-syllable adjectives that end in an unstressed vowel sound tend to use the -er/-est pat-tern Two-syllable adjectives ending in -le or -y are especially common For example:

-LE

able abler ablest feeble feebler feeblest gentle gentler gentlest noble nobler noblest simple simpler simplest

tacky tackier tackiest early earlier earliest happy happier happiest noisy noisier noisiest pretty prettier prettiest

Notice that when the base form ends in -y, the comparative and superlative forms change the -y to

-i This change is a general spelling rule that we also saw in forming the plural of nouns that end

in -y—for example, lady-ladies, history-histories, story-stories.

2 Adjectives that are derived from verbs ending in -ing or -ed form their comparative and superlative with more and most For example:

-ING

amusing more amusing most amusing charming more charming most charming discouraging more discouraging most discouraging tempting more tempting most tempting trusting more trusting most trusting

-ED

exploited more exploited most exploited recorded more recorded most recorded respected more respected most respected strained more strained most strained startled more startled most startled

A few irregular comparatives and superlatives survive from older forms of English:

bad worse worst good better best

The adjective far is peculiar in that it has two sets of comparative and superlative forms with

slightly different meanings:

far farther farthest far further furthest

We use farther and farthest for distance in space For example:

Please take the farthest seat.

We use further and furthest for all other kinds of sequences or progressions For example:

Are there any further questions?

Exercise 2.2

Give the comparative and superlative forms of the following adjectives

worried more worried most worried

1 sad

2 costly

3 sound

4 valuable

5 likely

6 sunny

7 patient

8 improved

9 normal

10 blue

11 bad

12 tiring

13 physical

14 strange

15 probable

16 recent

17 available

18 developed

19 shady

20 fulfi lling

Sequence of multiple true adjectives

We often use two or three true adjectives to modify a single noun For example, consider the

fol-lowing phrase:

huge old white house

Here the adjectives huge, old, and white all modify the noun house.

When multiple true adjectives modify the same noun, there is a fi xed left-to-right order to the adjectives based on their meaning For example, we cannot change the order of the adjectives

in the above example without being ungrammatical:

X huge white old house

X white huge old house

X white old huge house

X old huge white house

X old white huge house

Generalizing these examples to whole categories of adjectives, we can make the following rule

about order of true adjectives based on meaning:

large old dingy apartment building small new paisley shirt

tiny ancient grey car

Exercise 2.3

Rearrange the adjectives in the following phrases to put them into the correct sequence based on

their meaning

shiny brand-new huge refrigerator

1 brown capacious worn overcoat

2 antique gold miniature locket

3 overripe yellow great pear

4 early sizeable black and white photographs

9 off-white new immense mansion

10 white up-to-date slim drapes