Adjectives are divided into three groups according to their meaning and grammatical features: 1) qualitative, 2) relative and 3) possessive.

Qualitative adjectives denote a feature that may be characteristic of an object to a greater or lesser extent (color, size, temperature, taste, sound, strength, internal qualities of a person and living beings in general, etc.); therefore they usually have degrees of comparison, for example: 1) Walls white, and the ceilings are still whiter. 2) The fox is cunning, but the hunter is more cunning. 3) Volga – longest from the rivers of Europe.

Many qualitative adjectives have a short form, for example: snow white, beast cunning road length, as well as special suffixes, for example, introducing a diminutive meaning or expressing a weaker or stronger degree of quality: -enk; -ovat-, -ushch- (-yushch-) - a white handkerchief, a whitish fog, a long rope.

Relative adjectives denote characteristics through relation to an object; most often they indicate material, place, time, etc., for example: leather gloves(leather mittens), Siberian wheat(wheat from Siberia), spring flowers(flowers that come in spring). Relative adjectives have no degrees of comparison and no short form. They have special suffixes, for example: -n-, -an-, -sk-, -ov- (forest, leather, urban, pine).

Qualitative and relative adjectives have the same endings and the same declension system, for example: a beautiful wooden house, a beautiful wooden hut, beautiful wooden huts; a new wooden house, a new wooden hut.

Having the same basic forms with qualitative adjectives, relative adjectives are often used with a qualitative meaning. In combination gold cigarette case adjective gold relative: it refers to material, derived from a noun gold. In combination golden ripe orange adjective gold used in a qualitative sense: it does not indicate the material from which the object is made, but the color of the orange: yellow and shiny. Having received a qualitative meaning, some adjectives acquire the ability to be used (in poetic and colloquial speech) in a short form and in the form of a comparative degree, for example: I) As in autumn, the fruit is ripe gold. (V.B.) 2) Everything stony the steps are getting steeper and steeper. (V.B.)

Note. There is no sharp boundary between qualitative and relative adjectives; very often an adjective includes both relative and qualitative meanings; one of them stands out in a certain context, for example: 1) The mother entered majestically, lilac dress, in lace, with a long string of pearls around the neck. (M. G.) (lilac dress, i.e. a lilac-colored dress is a qualitative adjective); 2) The terraces have grown all around lilac bushes(i.e. lilac bushes is a relative adjective).

This is why qualitative and relative adjectives are sometimes combined into one group of qualitative-relative adjectives.

Possessive adjectives denote a feature that indicates that an object belongs to an individual (less often, an animal); they are formed from a noun using suffixes -in (-yn),-s(-s), For example: sister's book, sister's album, father's hat, uncle's house; they have a special declension that combines the endings of nouns and adjectives, for example: sisters A book, I see my sisters at book(noun endings); no sisters Ouch books, talking about sisters Ouch book(adjective endings).

A special group in terms of meaning and endings consists of adjectives in -th(fox) - ya(fox) - ye(fox) - yi(foxes), which are formed from nouns denoting people or animals (fisherman - fisherman, fox - fox). They have mixed endings: both short and full, for example: fox ya fur coat(short ending) fox ye th fur coats(full ending) fox ye flair(short ending) lis his flair(full ending).

These adjectives combine different meanings. They are used in a possessive meaning, for example: human voices, a fishing boat, fox tricks; Moreover, they do not indicate belonging to an individual person or animal, but denote a characteristic characteristic of either a certain group of people or an entire species of animal, for example: bearish den; To whom, if not me, everything fox know the tricks. (Kr.) This meaning distinguishes them from possessive adjectives with suffixes -in, -ov, denoting ownership of a single person (grandfather's sheepskin coat - This is a sheepskin coat that belonged to someone’s grandfather, and not at all the sheepskin coat typical of all old people).

Adjectives are used in -y, -ya, -ye and in a relative sense, for example: fox collar, bearskin coat, hare hat, sheepskin coat.(Adjectives indicate the material from which things are made.) These same adjectives can also acquire a qualitative meaning, for example: disservice(stupid service that causes damage, trouble instead of providing help), hare's soul(cowardly, timid).

Exercise 189. Read and indicate in what combinations relative adjectives are used in a qualitative sense.

Iron chain - iron discipline, steel scissors - steel muscles, wooden face - wooden house, cherry tree - cherry dress, tin soldiers - tin eyes, golden character - golden bracelet, stone heart - stone building.

190. Read and indicate which adjectives are qualitative and which are relative; then indicate the gender, number and case of each adjective. Indicate adjective epithets.

At a provincial stop, endless, hot as desire,

Lunch silence. Straight country road space.

Buntings sing lifelessly, Lilac forest in the background,

In the bushes near the canvas. Gray cloud's tuft,

(B. Pasternak.)

191. Insert the missing epithets: then compare them with those given in M. Gorky’s story “Old Woman Izergil”.

The air was saturated... with the smell of the sea and... with the vapors of the earth, which had been heavily moistened by rain shortly before evening. Even now, fragments of clouds were wandering across the sky, lush, like clouds of smoke, gray and ash-blue, there - sharp, like fragments of rocks, matte black or brown. Between them sparkled tenderly... patches of sky, decorated with specks of stars.

192. Orally make up a phrase with each synonym; indicate the difference in the use of synonyms, then select antonyms for them (where possible).

1) Strong, durable, solid, strong, powerful, irresistible. 2) Fast, nimble, quick, nimble, playful, lively. 3) Fearful, timid, cowardly, indecisive, humble. 4) Thin, skinny, lean, lean, dry, lean. 5) Wonderful, wondrous, wonderful, charming, magnificent, excellent. 6) Red, scarlet, purple, crimson, crimson, crimson.

Adjective - is an independent significant part of speech, combining words that

1) indicate the attribute of an object and answer questions which one?, whose?;

2) they change according to gender, number and cases, and some - according to completeness/brevity and degrees of comparison;

3) in a sentence they are definitions or the nominal part of a compound nominal predicate.

Classes of adjectives by meaning

There are three categories of adjectives based on meaning:qualitative, relative, possessive.

Quality adjectives denote quality, property of an object: its size (small ), shape (round ), color (white ), physical characteristics (warm ) , as well as the propensity of the subject to perform an action (barbed ).

Relative adjectives denote the attribute of an object through the relationship of this object to another object (book ), action (reading ) or other sign (yesterday's ). Relative adjectives are formed from nouns, verbs and adverbs; The most common suffixes for relative adjectives are the suffixes -n - ( forest ), - ov - ( hedgehog ), - in - ( poplar-in-y ), - sk - ( warehouse ), - l - ( fluent ).

Possessives adjectives denote that an object belongs to a person or animal and is formed from nouns by suffixes -in - ( mom-in ), - ov - ( fathers ), - th - ( fox ). These suffixes come at the end of the adjective stem (cf. possessive adjectivefathers and relative adjectivepaternal ).

Quality adjectives differ from relative and possessive adjectives at all linguistic levels:

1) only qualitative adjectives denote a characteristic that can manifest itself to a greater or lesser extent;

2) qualitative adjectives can have antonyms (quiet - loud );

3) only qualitative adjectives can be non-derivative, relative and possessive are always derived from nouns, adjectives, verbs;

4) qualitative adjectives form nouns with the meaning of an abstract attribute (strictness ) and adverbs ending in -o (strictly ), as well as adjectives with a subjective assessment suffix (blue, angry) ;

5) only qualitative adjectives have a full/short form and degrees of comparison;

6) qualitative adjectives are combined with adverbs of measure and degree (Very funny ).

Declension of adjectives

Adjectives of all categories have inconsistent signs of gender (in the singular), number and case, in which they agree with the noun. Adjectives also agree with the noun in animation if the noun is in the V. plural form, and for the masculine gender - singular (cf.: I seebeautiful shoes and I see beautiful girls ).

Changing an adjective by gender, number and case is called declension of adjectives.

Qualitative adjectives in the short form are not declined (expressions on bare feet, in broad daylight are phraseological and do not reflect the modern state of the language), as well as qualitative adjectives in the simple comparative and the compound superlative degree built on its basis (above, above all) .

In Russian there areindeclinable adjectives , which mean:

1) colors:beige , khaki , Marengo , electrician ;

2) nationalities and languages:Khanty , Mansi , Urdu ;

3) clothing styles:pleated , corrugation , bell-bottom , mini .

Fixed adjectives are also words (weight)gross , net , (hour)peak .

Their grammatical features are their invariability, adjoining to a noun, location after, and not before, the noun. The immutability of these adjectives is their constant feature.

Degrees of comparison of adjectives

Qualitative adjectives have an inconsistent morphological feature of degrees of comparison.

School grammar indicates that there are two degrees of comparison -comparative and superlative .

Comparative degree of the adjective indicates that the characteristic is manifested to a greater/lesser extent in a given object compared to another object (Vanya is taller than Kolya; This river is deeper than the other ) or the same item in other circumstances (Vanya is taller than he was last year; The river is deeper in this place than in that one ).

There is a comparative degreesimple and compound .

Simple comparative degree denotes a greater degree of manifestation of a characteristic and is formed from the base of adjectives with the help of suffixes -her(s), -e, -she/-same ( faster, higher, earlier, deeper ).

The simple form of the comparative degree of some adjectives is formed from another stem:pl O hoy - worse , good - better .

Sometimes, when forming a simple comparative degree, a prefix can be addedBy- ( newer ) .

The morphological features of the simple comparative degree are uncharacteristic of an adjective. This:

1) immutability,

2) the ability to control a noun,

3) use primarily as a predicate (He is taller than his father ). A simple comparative degree can occupy a position of definition only in a separate position (Much taller than the other students, he seemed almost an adult ) or in a non-isolated position with the prefix po- in the position after the noun (Buy me some fresh newspapers ).

Compound comparative degree denotes both a greater and lesser degree of manifestation of a characteristic and is formed as follows:

element more/less + adjective (more / less high ).

The difference between a compound comparative degree and a simple one is as follows:

1) the compound comparative degree is broader in meaning, since it denotes not only a greater, but also a lesser degree of manifestation of a characteristic;

2) the compound comparative degree changes in the same way as the positive degree of comparison (original form), i.e. according to gender, number and cases, and can also be in a short form (more handsome );

3) a compound comparative degree can be either a predicate or a non-isolated and isolated definition (Less interesting article was presented V this magazine . This article is less interesting than the previous one. )

Excellent the degree of comparison indicates the greatest/smallest degree of manifestation of the trait (the highest mountain) or a very large/small degree of manifestation of the trait (the kindest person).

The superlative degree of comparison, like the comparative, can be simple or compound.

Simple superlative adjective comparison denotes the greatest degree of manifestation of a characteristic and is formed from the base of the adjective with the help of suffixes -eish- / -aysh- (after k, r, x, causing alternation):kind-eysh-y, high-yish-yy.

When forming a simple superlative degree of comparison, the prefix can be usednai -: kindest .

The morphological features of the simple superlative degree of comparison of adjectives are the same as those of the adjective, i.e., variability by gender, number, case, use of the attribute and predicate in the syntactic function. The simple superlative degree of comparison of an adjective does not have a short form.

Compound superlative adjectives denotes both the greatest and the least degree of manifestation of a characteristic and is formed in three ways:

1) adding a wordmost the cleverest );

2) adding a wordmost/least to the initial form of the adjective (most/least smart );

3) adding a wordeveryone orTotal to the comparative degree (He was smarter than everyone ).

The forms of the compound superlative degree, formed in the first and second ways, have morphological features characteristic of adjectives, i.e. they change by gender, number and case, and can have a short form (most convenient ), act both as a definition and as a nominal part of the predicate. Forms of the compound superlative degree, formed in the third way, are unchangeable and act primarily as the nominal part of the predicate.

Not all qualitative adjectives have forms of degrees of comparison, and the absence of simple forms of degrees of comparison is observed more often than the absence of compound forms.

Completeness/brevity of adjectives

Qualitative adjectives have a full and a short form.

The short form is formed by adding positive degree endings to the stem: null ending for the masculine gender, -A for women, -O / -e for average, -s / -And for plural (deep , deepA , deepO , deepAnd ) .

A short form cannot be formed from qualitative adjectives that:

1) have suffixes characteristic of relative adjectives -sk-, -ov-/-ev-, -n- : brown , coffee , brotherly ;

2) indicate the colors of animals:brown , black ;

3) have suffixes of subjective assessment:tall , blue .

The short form has grammatical differences from the full form: it does not change by case, in a sentence it acts primarily as a nominal part of the predicate; the short form acts as a definition only in a separate syntactic position (Angry at the whole world, he almost stopped leaving the house).

In the position of the predicate, the meaning of the full and short forms usually coincides, but for some adjectives the following semantic differences are possible between them:

1) the short form denotes excessive manifestation of a trait with a negative assessment, cf..: skirt short - skirt short ;

2) the short form denotes a temporary sign, the long form - permanent, cf.:child is ill - child sick .

There are such qualitative adjectives that have only a short form:glad , much , must .

Transition of adjectives from category to category

It is possible for an adjective to have several meanings belonging to different categories. In school grammar this is called “the transition of an adjective from category to category.” Thus, a relative adjective can develop a meaning characteristic of qualitative ones (for example:iron detail (relative) -iron will (qual.) - metaphorical transfer). Possessives may have meanings characteristic of relative and qualitative (for example:Foxy burrow (possessive)- fox a cap (relative) -fox habits (quality).

Morphological analysis of the adjective

Morphological analysis of the adjective is carried out according to the following plan:

I. Part of speech. General meaning. Initial form (nominative singular masculine).

An example of morphological analysis of an adjective.

And indeed, she was beautiful: tall, thin, black eyes, like those of a mountain chamois, and looked into your soul (M. Yu. Lermontov).

1. Good (what?) - adjective,

initial form is good.

2. Constant signs: high-quality, brief;

inconsistent signs: units. number, female genus.

3. She (was what?)good (part of the predicate).