Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
14: EXPRESSION OF QUALITY - Coggle Diagram
14: EXPRESSION OF QUALITY
Adjective
Morphological Classification
o Suffixes like -ous, -ful, -able, and -y create adjectives that can be further modified through comparison (happy → happier → happiest).
o Comparatives and superlatives can be formed by adding -er or -est to short adjectives (big → bigger → biggest), or by using more or most with multi-syllable adjectives (beautiful → more beautiful → most beautiful).
Syntactic Classification
The man is afraid (predicative) versus an utter fool (attributive-only)
Semantic Classification
Qualitative
happy, sad, tall
Classifying
industrial, atomic
Gradable
tall, short
Non-gradable
polar bear
Function
Attributive
Adjectives that modify nouns by directly preceding them, e.g., a clever student. These adjectives provide crucial information about the noun, often helping to clarify or specify the identity of the subject.
Predicative
Adjectives that follow linking verbs, e.g., The student is clever. These adjectives serve as subject complements, giving more detail about the subject via the verb.
Degree
Submodifiers
intensify or reduce the degree of an adjective or adverb
Quite, a little, a bit: It’s a bit cold today.
Very, extremely, fairly, rather: He is very tall.
Scalar Correspondence
Tiny → small → large → enormous.
Comparison
Comparatives and Superlatives
Comparatives: Used to compare two items. For one-syllable adjectives, add -er; for multi-syllable adjectives, use more. Examples: smaller, more interesting.
Superlatives: Used to express the extreme degree among three or more items. Examples: smallest, most interesting.
Irregular Comp. and Sup.
Good → better → best.
Bad → worse → worst.
Far → farther/further → farthest/furthest.
Types of Comparisons
Equality comparison: Expresses the same degree of a quality using as…as: He is as tall as his brother.
Inequality comparison:
Higher degree: more…than, e.g., She is more intelligent than her friend.
Lower degree: less…than, e.g., This is less difficult than I expected.
Correspondence Between Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjectives can often be turned into adverbs by adding -ly, such as quick → quickly. However, not all adjectives follow this pattern, as in fast (which remains the same as both adjective and adverb).
Syntactically, adjectives modify nouns, while adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, influencing the placement of these forms in sentences.
The Expression of Quality Through Relative Clauses
Defining relative clauses: Provide essential information, e.g., The man who lives next door.
Non-defining relative clauses: Add non-essential information, e.g., My brother, who lives in Madrid.