A Grammar of the English Language. Грамматика английского языка. A grammar of the english language
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§ 4. The adjective has the following syntactical characteristics: In a sentence the adjective may be used as an attribute or as a predicative. A little fat chap thrust out his underlip and the tall fellow frowned. (Mansfield) (ATTRIBUTES) Laura was terribly nervous. (Mansfield) (PREDICATIVE) The air was motionless... (Mansfield) (PREDICATIVE) § 5. Morphological composition of the adjective. Adjectives are divided into simple, derivative and compound. 1. Simple adjectives are adjectives which have neither prefixes nor suffixes. They are indecomposable: e. g. good, red, black. 2. Derivative adjectives 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, blue-eyed Unproductive suffixes are: -fid: careful ‑ible: responsible ‑able: reliable ‑ant: important ‑ent: dependent ‑en: woolen ‑ous: dangerous ‑some: troublesome Productive adjective-forming prefixes are: un-: unhappy pre-: prewar The unproductive prefix of the adjective is: in-: incorrect 3. Compound adjectives are adjectives built from two or more stems. The main types of compound adjectives are as follows: (a) noun-stem + adjective-stem: snow-white. (b) noun-stem + participle-stem: life-giving, smoke-dried. (c) adjective-stem + adjective-stem: deaf-mute. (d) adjective-stem + noun-stem + suffix ‑ed: cold-hearted. (e) noun-stem + noun-stem + suffix ‑ed: lynx-eyed. (f) numeral-stem + noun-stem + suffix ‑ed: four-wheeled. (g) adverb-stem + noun-stem + suffix ‑ed: over-peopled. § 6. Classification of adjectives. According to their meaning and grammatical characteristics adjectives fall under two classes: (1) qualitative adjectives, (2) relative adjectives. 1. Qualitative adjectives denote qualities of a substance directly, not through its relation to another substance, as size, shape, colour, physical and mental qualities, qualities of general estimation: little, large, high, soft, hard, warm, white, blue, pink, strong, hold, beautiful, important, necessary, etc. 2. Relative adjectives denote qualities of a substance through their relation to materials (silken, woollen, wooden), to place (Italian, Asian), to time (monthly, weekly), to some action (preparatory, rotatory). § 7. Grammatical characteristics of qualitative adjectives. 1. Most qualitative adjectives have degrees of comparison:
Some qualitative adjectives such as greenish, darkish, incurable, unsuitable, chief, principal, have no degrees of comparison. 2. They have certain typical suffixes, such as ‑ful, ‑less, ‑ous, ‑ent, ‑able, ‑y, ‑ish: careful, careless, dangerous, convenient, comfortable, silvery, watery, whitish, shortish. 3. From most of them adverbs can be formed by the suffix ‑ly: graceful — gracefully gay — gaily 4. Most qualitative adjectives can be used as attributes and predicatives. How lovely the little river is, with its dark, changing wavelets! (Eliot) (ATTRIBUTES) The young man was introduced, and they sat down at the table. (Aldington) (ATTRIBUTE) But you’re nearly as old as I am! (Aldington) (PREDICATIVE) The Hartlys thought he was ‘rich’. George Augustus was so very comfortable... that he too really thought he was rich! (Aldington) (PREDICATIVES) § 8. Grammatical characteristics of relative adjectives. 1. Relative adjectives have no degrees of comparison. 2. They do not form adverbs with the suffix ‑ly. 3. They have certain typical suffixes, such as ‑en, ‑an, -ist, ‑ic, ‑ical: wooden, Italian, socialist, synthetic, analytical. 4. Relative adjectives are chiefly used as attributes. ...she was a fair example of the middle American class... (Dreiser) (ATTRIBUTE) She had noticed a pretty wooden chain upon Gretel’s neck. (Dodge) (ATTRIBUTE) “Certainly,” answered Hilda, looking kindly into the two earnest faces, and wishing from her heart that she had not spent so much of her monthly allowance for lace and finery. (Dodge) (ATTRIBUTE) The morning was windy and sharp. (Saxton) (PREDICATIVE) It must be pointed out that no hard and fast line of demarcation exists between relative and qualitative adjectives. Compare: silken thread (relative adjective), but silken hair (qualitative adjective). § 9. Substantivized adjectives. Substantivized adjectives have acquired some or all of the characteristics of the noun, but their adjectival origin is still generally felt. Substantivized adjectives are divided into wholly substantivized and partially substantivized adjectives. Wholly substantivized adjectives have all the characteristics of nouns, namely the plural form, the genitive case; they are associated with articles, i. e. they have become nouns: a native, the natives, a native’s hut. Some wholly substantivized adjectives have only the plural form: eatables, valuables, ancients, sweets, greens. Partially substantivized adjectives acquire only some of the characteristics of the noun; they are used with the definite article. Partially substantivized adjectives denote a whole class: the rich, the poor, the unemployed. They may also denote abstract notions: the good, the evil, the beautiful, the singular, the plural, the future, the present, the past. Substantivized adjectives denoting nationalities fall under wholly and partially substantivized adjectives. Wholly substantivized adjectives are: a Russian — Russians, a German — Germans. Partially substantivized adjectives are: the English, the French, the Chinese. Chapter IV THE PRONOUN § 1. The pronoun is a part of speech which points out objects and their qualities without naming them. § 2. Classification of pronouns. Pronouns fall under the following groups: (1) personal pronouns: I, he, she, it, we, you, they. (2) possessive pronouns: my, his, her, its, our, your, their; mine, his, hers, ours, yours, theirs. (3) reflexive pronouns: myself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourself (yourselves), themselves. (4) reciprocal pronouns: each other, one another. (5) demonstrative pronouns: this (these), that (those), such, (the) same. (6) interrogative pronouns: who, whose, what, which. (7) relative pronouns: who, whose, which, that, as. (8) conjunctive pronouns: who, whose, which, what. (9) defining pronouns: each, every, everybody, everyone, everything, all, either, both, other, another. (10) indefinite pronouns: some, any, somebody, anybody, something, anything, someone, anyone, one. (11) negative pronouns: no, none, neither, nobody, no one, nothing. There is no uniformity of morphological and syntactical characteristics in the groups of pronouns. Some pronouns have the grammatical categories of person, gender, case, and number. The categories of person and gender (in the third person singular) exist only in personal, and possessive pronouns. Pronouns as well as nouns have two cases but whereas some pronouns (e. g., personal pronouns and the relative and interrogative who)have the nominative and objective cases, others (e. g. indefinite pronouns such as somebody, reciprocal pronouns such as one another, negative pronouns such as nobody)have the common and genitive cases. The category of number is found in demonstrative pronouns (this and that)and the defining pronoun other. Many pronouns are characterised by double syntactical use (they may be used as subject, predicative, object, and at the same time as attribute). Here belong demonstrative pronouns, possessive pronouns, etc. § 3. Personal pronouns. 1. The personal pronouns are: I, he, she, it, we, you, they. The personal pronouns have the grammatical categories of person, case, number and (in the third person singular) gender. The personal pronouns have two cases: the nominative case and the objective case. The nominative case: /, he, she, it, we, you, they.1 1 The archaic pronoun of the second person singular is thou. The objective case: me, him, her, it, us, you, them.2 2 The objective case of thou is thee. The objective case of the pronouns I, he, she, we is expressed by suppletive forms. In colloquial speech me, not I is commonly used as a predicative: Who is there? — It is me. The personal pronouns have two numbers, singular (I, he, she, it) and plural (we, they). The second-person pronoun you is both singular and plural. The pronouns of the third person he, she, it distinguish gender. Male beings (man, father, uncle, boy, etc.) are referred to as he; female beings (woman, mother, aunt, girl, etc.) are referred to as she; inanimate things (house, tree, cap, etc.) are referred to as it.3 3 In literary style the general principle is to associate with the pronoun he words indicating strong forces, violent passions, violent actions, big heavenly bodies (wind, fear, love, anger, despair, sun); and to associate with the pronoun she gentler forces, gentler feelings, smaller heavenly bodies (hope, mercy, justice, modesty, moon). Her husband asked a few questions and sat down to read the evening paper. He was a silent man... (Dreiser) And then he turned and saw the girl... She was a pale, ethereal creature, with wide, spiritual eyes and a wealth of golden hair. (London) He did not know what to do with his cap, and was stuffing it into his coat pocket... (London) As some nouns denote animate beings of either sex, masculine or feminine (friend, teacher, servant, cousin etc.), personal pronouns are often used to specify them: “Tell your servant that he must not use such words to Hendrike, Mr. Allan,” Stella said to me. (Haggard) 2. Personal pronouns may have different functions in the sentence, those of subject, object, predicative: I was not free to resume the interrupted chain of my reflections till bed-time... (Ch. Bronte) (SUBJECT) He arranged to meet her at the 96th Street station... (Wilson) (OBJECT) “Who’s there?” “It’s me.” “Who’s me?” “George Jackson, sir.” (Twain) (PREDICATIVE) But I think that was him I spoke to. (Cronin) (PREDICATIVE) § 4. Possessive pronouns. 1. Possessive pronouns have the same distinctions of person, number, and gender as personal pronouns. 2. Possessive pronouns have two forms, namely the dependent (or conjoint) form and the independent (or absolute) form. Conjoint forms of possessive pronouns
1 The archaic pronouns of the second person singular are: thy (conjoint), thine (absolute). Absolute forms of possessive pronouns
2 No absolute form of the third person neuter pronoun exists. The conjoint form is used when the possessive pronoun comes before the noun it modifies. The conjoint form of the possessive pronoun is used as an attribute. In his turn old Jolyon looked back at his son. (Galsworthy) The absolute form is used when the possessive pronoun does not modify any noun. The absolute form of the possessive pronoun may be used as subject, predicative or object. The group ‘preposition + absolute form’ may be used as an attribute. “Yours (sum of money) won’t come short of a hundred thousand, my boy,” said old Jolyon. (Galsworthy) (SUBJECT) When he turned round again he saw Fleur standing near the door holding a handkerchief which the boy had evidently just handed to her. “F.F.”, he heard her say. “Fleur Forsyte — it’s mine all right. Thank you ever so.” (Galsworthy) (PREDICATIVE) ...he realized that she was making an effort to talk his talk, and he resolved to get away from it and talk hers. (London) (OBJECT) ...and while she rattled on, he strove to follow her, marveling at all the knowledge that was stowed away in that pretty head of hers ... (London) (ATTRIBUTE) 3. Possessive pronouns are often used before the names of the parts of the body, clothing, things belonging to a person, etc. In that case they are not translated into Russian. Young Jolyon rose and held out his hand to help his father up. Молодой Джолион поднялся и протянул руку, чтобы помочь отцу встать. The girl dropped her handkerchief and he picked it up. (Galsworthy) Девушка уронила платок, а он поднял его. § 5. Reflexive pronouns. 1. Reflexive pronouns have the categories of person, number, and gender in the third person singular.
1 The archaic pronoun of the second person singular is thyself. 2. Reflexive pronouns refer to the subject of the sentence in which they are used, indicating that the action performed by the doer passes back to him or is associated with him. In the sentence they are usually used as direct objects. In that moment of emotion he betrayed the Forsyte in him — forgot himself, his interests, his property — was capable of almost anything... (Galsworthy) (OBJECT) Reflexive pronouns may be used as predicatives. When she came back she was herself again. (Hardy) (PREDICATIVE) Reflexive pronouns preceded by a preposition may be used as indirect prepositional objects, as attributes and as adverbial modifiers. He could not see that it would be better to make her feel that she was competing with herself... (Dreiser) (PREPOSITIONAL INDIRECT OBJECT) “I fancied you looked a little downcast when you came in,” she ventured to observe, anxious to keep away from the subject of herself. (Hardy) (ATTRIBUTE) If June did not like this, she could have an allowance and live by herself. (Galsworthy) (ADVERBIAL MODIFIER OF MANNER) Reflexive pronouns may be used to form the reflexive voice (in this case reflexive pronouns are structural words): Undressing again, she washed herself intensively... (Galsworthy) And then I dressed myself and came away to find you. (Hardy) Sometimes reflexive pronouns are used emphatically: Moreover, Soames himself disliked the thought of that. (Galsworthy) She was never idle, it seemed to him, and he envied her now that he himself was idle nearly all his time. (Galsworthy) |