Word-classes in English for Political Studies ADJECTIVES

Faculty of Political Science
November 19, 2015
Word-classes in English for Political Studies
ADJECTIVES (QUALIFIERS)
gives much information about a noun (e.g. black coffee, weak coffee, soft
drink, hard work, tough talks, steady growth);
no gender at all;
singular and plural forms are always the same;
when a modifier, it has attributive position, that is always comes before the
noun (modified), but … pay attention to word-clusters such as attorney
general1 and secretary-general2 (exemplifying the so called “anastrophe” or
“inversion”) see page 2;
uses very, really or highly to make an adjective stronger absolute
superlative;
higher, lower, same degree comparative;
absolute, relative superlative;
short and long adjectives must be distinguished in order to build up higher
degree comparative and superlative forms;
short adjectives have a specific paradigm using the endings -er and -est
respectively.
1
Procuratore generale – In GB: Attorney General è il principale magistrato della Corona, nominato
dal Primo Ministro. In USA: Attorney General è la più alta carica di funzionario di giustizia a livello
federale, a capo del dipartimento di giustizia federale.
2
Segretario generale.
© 2015 Rosati F. and F. Vaccarelli
1
Faculty of Political Science
November 19, 2015
Adjectives – Predicative position
• After the so-called link verbs, that is verbs used to join an adjective or noun
complement to a subject, adjectives have a predicative position.
• Common examples of link verbs are: to be, to seem, to look, to appear, to
become, to taste to sound, to feel, to get.
• She looks tired
• I feel happy
• It sounds good
Some examples of anastrophe or inversion
governor-general3
Directorate general4
heir apparent5
heir presumptive6
president elect7
body politic8
fee simple9
court martial10
air conditioning11
3
Governatore generale, viceré che rappresenta la monarchia nelle antiche colonie e nel reame del
Commonwealth.
4
Direzione generale, ciascuno dei 26 dicasteri in cui è strutturata la Commissione Europea.
5
Erede legittimo.
6
Erede presunto.
7
Presidente eletto che non ha ancora assunto le funzioni.
8
Lo Stato.
9
Proprietà assoluta.
10
Corte marziale.
11
Aria condizionata.
© 2015 Rosati F. and F. Vaccarelli
2
Faculty of Political Science
November 19, 2015
Higher degree comparative
Superlative
short adj.
cheap
early
high
tough
simple
cheaper (than)
earlier (than)
higher (than)
tougher (than)
simpler (than)
long adj.
expensive
difficult
more expensive (than) the most expensive
more difficult (than)
the most difficult
the cheapest
the earliest
the highest
the toughest
the simplest
The adjectival paradigm of a short qualifier can be described as synthetic; while the
adjectival paradigm of a long qualifier can be described as analytic or periphrastic.
Please, pay attention to the following “irregular” adjectival paradigms:
bad / ill, worse (than), the worst
good, better (than), the best
far, farther/further (than), the farthest/furthest
little, less (than), the least
late, later/latter (than), the latest/the last
old, older/elder (than), the oldest/the eldest elder / the eldest gave origin
to the collective noun the elderly (= old people or animals) such as in:
“[…] Health experts have warned that vulnerable groups, such as the elderly,
may lose out because they do not contribute as much to society as younger
people […]” (source: The Telegraph, “Fears for the elderly under new NHS
drugs policy”, January 9, 2014);
© 2015 Rosati F. and F. Vaccarelli
3
Faculty of Political Science
November 19, 2015
Let’s talk of “further” and “at least” in details …
could you please help us in translating the following sentences?
• “[…] Each committee specializes in specific issues and reviews legislation
pertaining to those issues. Most House committees are further divided
into subcommittees. […]” (source: “Committees and Caucases”,
<http://www.house.gov/capuano/issues/committees.shtml>);
• “[…] It would be of interest to investigate further the net impact from
further expansion of part time employment opportunities on labour force
participation, in terms of the average hours worked per person of working
age.[…]” (source: “Summary and areas for further research”,
<http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/81081/15chapter13.pdf>);
• “[…] A recent review of the academic literature on cyberbullying
suggests—conservatively—that at least a quarter of school-age children
are involved as either victim or perpetrator. […]” (source: The Economist,
“Secrets and lies”, March 22, 2014);
• “[…] Weeks before presidential elections in Afghanistan, children and
foreigners among at least eight people killed in an attack on the Serena
hotel in Kabul by four teenage gunmen […]” (source: The Telegraph, “At
least eight civilians killed in Kabul hotel attack ”, March 21, 2014 )
Therefore, keep in mind that:
• further can also act as an independent adjective or adverb, thus meaning
“additional” as in a further 10%, further changes, further discussions, further
information, without further delay conversion functional shift;
• together with “more” it forms the solid compound adverb furthermore (ITA =
inoltre), a synonym of moreover;
• least also behaves as an independent adverb as in the grammatical collocation
at least (ITA = almeno) conversion.
© 2015 Rosati F. and F. Vaccarelli
4
Faculty of Political Science
November 19, 2015
Order of adjectives
• When several adjectives come before a noun, they are usually put in a more
or less fixed order.
• Adjectives which express opinions usually come before adjectives that simply
describe.
OPINION ADJ. + FACT ADJ. + NOUN
A comfortable big hotel
A smart middle-aged manager
EasyJet is my favourite low-cost British carrier .
Order of fact adjectives:
COLOUR
ORIGIN
MATERIAL PURPOSE
SIZE AGE SHAPE
A fat old white horse
S
A
C
A large XVIII-century round brown French wooden writing table
S
A
SH
C
O
M
P
A small new black Italian leather shopping bag
S
A
C
O
© 2015 Rosati F. and F. Vaccarelli
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