Adjective ranks of degree of comparison. Qualitative and relative adjectives. Confused? Then this is the place for you

In Russian, it is a part of speech, the main function of which is to designate a non-procedural attribute of an object (in contrast to the participle, which denotes an attribute of an object by action). Adjectives can change in case and number, and in form singular- also by gender, and are also classified into special lexical and grammatical groups - categories. Thus, the categories of adjectives are three large groups that unite words that are similar in meaning and way of denoting the attribute of an object. Adjectives belonging to each of the categories have their own characteristics of change and use. Let's talk about this in more detail below, and below is a summary table.

Places of adjectives

features of meaning, change and use

Qualitative adjectives are a lexical-grammatical category that combines words denoting the quality of an object, that is, a feature that can manifest itself to one degree or another, to a greater or lesser extent, for example: dear doll, beautiful girl, poor artist, talented actor. Qualitative adjectives, in addition to changing by case, gender and number, can also form short forms, degrees of comparison and be combined with the adverb “very”. Other categories and possessives) do not have these characteristics.

Education of short forms

The short form is formed from the full form and has a close semantic connection with it: cramped - cramped, cramped, cramped; beautiful - beautiful, beautiful, beautiful; harmful - harmful, harmful, harmful. There are a number of adjectives that once had both full and short forms in the Russian language, but today are used only in the short form, for example: glad, love, much, must and others.

It is noteworthy that historically it is considered the basic, initial, and at the initial stages of language development full form was formed from short. Today, when forming a short form, alternation or loss of vowels can be observed: green - green, green, green; sharp - cutting, cutting, cutting. Adjectives in the short form are inflected by number and gender (in the singular), but are not declined. In a sentence, as a rule, they perform the function of a predicate: The Countess looked extraordinarily beautiful in this dress.

Education of degrees of comparison

Comparative and simile is an illustration of how clearly and fully expressed this quality is in an object: dad is good - better - best; talented artist - more talented than another - most talented. Let us recall that other categories of adjectives designate the attribute of an object as constant, incapable of gradation.

Degrees of comparison can be formed synthetically - suffixally ( expensive - more expensive, beautiful - most beautiful), and analytically - using special words:

• comparative - more, less + initial form of adjective ( more complex, less interesting);
• superlative - most, least, most + initial form of adjective ( the most attractive, the most cheerful) or all, all + simple comparative degree of adjective ( sings best, is valued most highly).

Words of this part of speech in synthetic comparative form do not change in cases, numbers and genders and do not agree with the noun whose attribute they denote. Their syntactic function in a sentence is the nominal part of a compound nominal predicate ( An old friend is better than two new ones).

For most qualitative adjectives, simple and compound forms of degrees of comparison can exist in parallel, but there are words that modern language do not form a simple comparative degree: massive, early, timid and others.

Another nuance to pay attention to is education from different foundations, for example: good - better, bad - worse, small - less.

From adjectives to comparative and superlatives It is necessary to distinguish between words that are manifestations of subjective assessment, which denote not the degree of manifestation of a given characteristic in a particular situation, but the assessment of this characteristic by the speaker: tiny hand, pretty face, huge paws. Adjectives with suffixes should not be included in this group - ovat-/-evat-: such words do not denote a subjective assessment of a characteristic, but the objective incompleteness of its manifestation, for example: whitish haze, greenish tint.

Relative adjectives

If we compare the categories of nouns and adjectives, we can draw the following parallel: material nouns denote a substance, material, and relative adjectives - a sign in relation to this substance, material: wood - wooden, rice - rice, ice - ice. However, the feature denoted by the adjectives of this group can relate not only to the material, but also to place, time, etc., for example: evening, summer, foreign, domestic, coastal. This feature appears constantly and cannot be expressed to a greater or lesser extent, therefore relative adjectives are unable to form degrees of comparison.

Possessive adjectives

This category combines adjectives that answer the question whose? and denoting the belonging of an object to someone or something: daddy's friend, wolf fang, fleece, grandfather's cap.

Classes of adjectives: the use of words in a figurative meaning

To improve in some cases, adjectives from one category can be used in the meaning of words from another category, for example: an iron mug - iron nerves, a wolf's trail - a wolf's gaze, gold chain- golden hands. In this regard, the category of an adjective is determined not only taking into account general formal indicators, but also with close attention to the context.

In this lesson you will expand your knowledge about adjectives and learn about the categories of adjectives by meaning.

Topic: Adjective

Lesson: Classifying adjectives by meaning

1. Distinctive features of adjectives

We know that every word in a language belongs to one or another part of speech. By what signs can one distinguish an adjective from other parts of speech?

1. Adjectives answer questions Which? whose?

2. Adjectives denote a characteristic of an object

3. Adjectives relate to nouns and agree with them in number and case, and in the singular - in gender

Now we have named the common features of adjectives.

2. Places of adjectives

Adjectives have properties that allow us to divide them into three large groups. Or, as we say, discharges.

Let's select adjectives for the word pencil.

Thin,

small,

Beautiful

wooden,

plastic.

If we asked sister Masha for a pencil, then we can say that it Machines or sisters.

Look at the last adjectives. They answer the question whose? Such adjectives are called possessive. They indicate that an object belongs to someone.

The adjectives we named first ( thin, small, beautiful), - quality. They denote the qualities of an object, that is, those characteristics that can appear in an object to a greater or lesser extent. This could be color, size, shape and so on.

Adjectives of the second group ( wooden, plastic) are called relative. They denote a feature of an object that cannot be expressed to a greater or lesser extent. These adjectives denote the material from which an object is made, a sign of an object by time or place of its existence, a sign of an object by purpose, and more. When using such adjectives in phrases, we can easily replace them with nouns.

For example:

Wooden house - house made of wood

Winter day - winter day

3. How to determine the category of an adjective?

Determining which category an adjective belongs to is quite simple. To do this, you need to perform the following algorithm:

1. Ask a question:

If the adjective answers the question whose?, before us is a possessive adjective.

But if the adjective answers the question Which?, go to the next step.

2. Form from the name of the adjective short form or any degree of comparison.

If you can do this, then we have a quality adjective.

And if not, then it’s relative.

Let's try to determine the categories of adjectives from the quatrains:

From evil wolf -

IN earthen crack.

By cold dew -

TO cunning fox.

For convenience, we can put adjectives in nominative singular.

Wicked(Which?). Let's try to form degrees of comparison: angrier, the most evil.

This means that we have a qualitative adjective.

Zemlyannaya (which?). Let's try to form degrees of comparison. One hole cannot be more earthy than another. And it’s impossible to form a short form from this adjective. We have a relative adjective.

Adjectives cold And cunning are also high quality because they answer the question Which? and from them we can form degrees of comparison ( the coldest, the most cunning).

Is it possible to determine the category of adjectives based on their morphemic composition? Sometimes you can. The point is that suffixes an, yang, enn are used when we form adjectives from nouns denoting material, substance. These will be relative adjectives: leather en y.

But if the adjective has no suffixes at all, then we have a quality adjective. For example , fast.

Adjectives of all three categories can move from one category to another. But only when they are used in figurative meaning. For example:

Golden ring. In this case the adjective golden relative. But in the phrase golden character adjective gold will be qualitative, as it denotes the quality of a person.

Wolf mouth In this case, we have a possessive adjective. But in the phrase wolf fur coat this adjective acts as a relative adjective because it refers to the material from which the object is made.

Some relative adjectives were so often used in speech to mean qualitative that they gradually finally lost their original meaning and are now perceived by us only as qualitative in modern Russian. Adjectives, for example, have gone this way stormy, outrageous and many others.

4. Qualitative adjectives

Qualitative adjectives differ from relative and possessive adjectives at all linguistic levels.

1. Designate a feature that may appear in an object to a greater or lesser extent

2. Can have antonyms: evil/good

3. Always non-derivative

But possessive and relative are always derivative, that is, formed from nouns, adjectives, verbs.

4. From qualitative adjectives you can form nouns of abstract meaning: severity

And adverbs on - O: strictly.

Adjectives with subjective evaluation suffixes: blue, angry.

5. Only they can have degrees of comparison and a short form

6. Only they can be combined with adverbs of measure and degree: very big, very strict

5. Formation of relative and possessive adjectives

Relative adjectives are formed from nouns, verbs and adverbs. The most common suffixes for their formation are the suffixes - l-, For example, fluent; -sk-, For example, human; -in- - poplar; -ov- - hedgehog; -n- - forest.

Possessive adjectives are formed only from nouns. Using suffixes - th- - fox, -ov- - fathers, -in- - mom's.

References

1. Russian language. 6th grade: Baranov M.T. and others - M.: Education, 2008.
2. Russian language. Theory. 5-9 grades: V.V. Babaytseva, L.D. Chesnokova - M.: Bustard, 2008.
3. Russian language. 6th grade: ed. MM. Razumovskaya, P.A. Lekanta - M.: Bustard, 2010.

1. About the categories of adjectives ().
2. Additional tasks ().

Homework

Sort adjectives into categories (qualitative, relative, possessive).

Tin soldier, tin eyes, cold day, long train, brave act, kind person, stupid question, heart muscle, heartfelt greetings, stone house, stone face, short dress, fat boy, blue scarf, Moscow metro, children's literature, double chin, wool suit, lead bullet, lead clouds, city park, heavy briefcase, heavy industry, deaf old man, deaf consonant, grandfather's office, Machine work, tit's nest, crow's foot, dog's kennel, cleft mouth, wolf's fur coat, wolf's appetite, deer antlers, marines, dog cold, Katyusha's bicycle, sharpening machine, snake venom, snake smile, vegetable oil, lean face, mouse tail, neighbor's garden, grandiose plans, observant person, tragic fate, wooden voice, chicken foot, chicken soup, squirrel collar, iron will, grandfather's words, bird hubbub, hare's hat, December frosts, school uniform, Serezhin's briefcase, Barents Sea, Bering Strait.

2. Exercise 2.

Write by inserting the missing letters. Underline the adjectives and determine their category.

The whiteness of the snow made the paws turn even more green. The steam of the uneasy lowlands rose to the level of the tree peaks and crumbled on the birch branches.Countless showers of tiny beads sparkled on the sun. The frost slowly began to silver everything that had even a small amount of moisture. The forest river, which just yesterday was rushing towards the snowstorms, began to be crushed by silver teeth. Transparent ice confidently poured into the middle of the stream, compressing the current with an unbreakable armor. And everything around shone noisily, sparkled, sparkled. But, barely having time to warm up, our great luminary began to turn red and fall to the distant treetops. Purple wings, moving into the depths of the darkening expanse, descended lower and lower. In the constellation Gemini, the awakened Mars, the god of the Roman pagans, the patron of wars and conflagrations, flashed its red eye. But this shine immediately disappeared, lost in the twinkling of countless stars. And now, near and distant clusters of stars hung over the world. Only the month, glowing brightly yellow, but still not (with, from) this light, seemed very close to the frosty forest ground. (According to V. Belov)

Adjective– this is an independent part of speech that combines words denoting a non-procedural attribute of an object and answering the questions which?, whose?;

In Russian, adjectives can change by gender, case and number, and have a short form. In a sentence, an adjective is most often a modifier, but can also be a predicate or subject.

This is the meaning of the attribute of an object, denoting color, taste, smell, evaluation, character, mental and speech activity.

Let's give an example: red, bitter, smelly, funny, smart.

There are lexical and grammatical categories of adjectives.

Adjectives can be divided into lexical and grammatical categories:
- high-quality
- possessive
- relative

The categories of adjectives always differ from each other in grammatical features and semantics.

There are qualitative adjectives, which denote an object directly, that is, without relation to other objects (red, dull, evil), have forms of comparison and short forms.

Relative adjectives– indicate a characteristic through a relationship to another object, they are derived from nominal bases (steel, wood);

Possessive adjectives– denote belonging to a person or animal, that is, they contain an indication of the owner (foxes, fathers).
Short adjectives are those which in the masculine singular have zero endings (black, beautiful), in the feminine singular - endings "a", "ya" (black, beautiful), in the neuter singular - ending "o" , "e" (black, beautiful), and in plural all genders - endings “and”, “y” (black, beautiful). Short adjectives act as a predicate in a sentence. (“How beautiful, how fresh these flowers were...”)

Morphological characteristics the adjective is the same as the noun - case, gender, number.

But unlike nouns, adjectives change by gender, number, and case, while differences in gender are visible in adjectives only in the singular form. This is due to the fact that adjectives clarify nouns: adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number and case.

Examples: Blue carpet, blue ribbon, blue saucer - red carpets, red ribbons, red saucers.

Syntactic features of an adjective.

Usually in a sentence, adjectives are modifiers or the nominal part of the predicate.

Let's give an example: The girl had a very beautiful toy; The toy was beautiful

Adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number and case.
Let's give an example: A funny clown made the guys laugh; Funny joke made the guys laugh.

Adjectives can be extended by nouns and adverbs, forming phrases with them.
Let's give an example: weak from illness, very weak.

Famous linguist Yu.S. Stepanov believed that the difference quality And relative meanings of adjectives is one of the most difficult. This division is carried out not even in all languages. There are already students in Russian high school learn to distinguish between these categories of adjectives.

As you probably remember, adjectives answer questions Which? which? which? which?

Which? –small yard school teacher, bear claw.

Which? –wonderful weather, wooden bench, fox face.

Which? –excellent mood, pearl necklace, horse hoof.

Which? – polite students, regional competitions, bunny ears.

Each row contains examples qualitative, relative and possessive adjectives. How to distinguish them? As has already become clear, simply asking a question about an adjective will not give a result; the category cannot be determined in this way.

Grammar and semantics(meaning of the word). Let's consider each category of adjectives by meaning .

Qualitative adjectives

It’s already clear from the name what these adjectives mean. quality of the item. What kind of quality could this be? Color(lilac, burgundy, bay, black), form(rectangular, square), physical characteristics living beings (fat, healthy, active), temporal and spatial features (slow, deep), general qualities, inherent in an animate object ( angry, funny, happy), etc.

Also, most (but not all!) qualitative adjectives have a whole range of grammatical features, by which they are quite easy to distinguish from other adjectives. These features may not necessarily be a whole set for each quality adjective, but if you find that at least some attribute is suitable for this adjective - you have a quality adjective. So:

1) Qualitative adjectives denote a feature that can appear to a greater or lesser extent. Hence the ability to form degrees of comparison.

Thin - thinner - thinnest. Interesting – less interesting – the most interesting.

2) Form short forms. Long is long, short is small.

3) Combine with adverbs of measure and degree. Very beautiful, extremely entertaining, completely incomprehensible.

4) From qualitative adjectives you can form adverbs on -o(s) And nouns with abstract suffixes -ost (-is), -izn-, -ev-, -in-, -from- :magnificent - magnificent, clear - clarity, blue - blue, blue - blue, thick - thickness, beautiful - beauty.

5) You can also form words with diminutive or augmentative suffixes: angry - angry, dirty - dirty, green - green, healthy - hefty.

6) May have antonyms: big - small, white - black, sharp - dull, stale - fresh.

As you can see, there are many signs, but it is absolutely not necessary to use all of them. Remember that some quality adjectives have no degrees of comparison, some abstract nouns do not form, some cannot be combined with adverbs of measure and degree, but they fit according to other criteria.

For example, adjective bay. This adjective does not fit any grammatical criteria, but it means color = quality of item, - that means it quality.

Or adjective beautiful. You can't tell very lovely, but you can form an adverb Wonderful. Conclusion: adjective quality.

Relative adjectives

Designate a sign through an attitude towards an object. What kind of relationship could this be - signs? Material, from which the item is made ( iron nail - iron nail, stone basement - stone basement, velvet dress - velvet dress); place, time, space (today's scandal is a scandal that happened today; intercity bus – a bus between cities; Moscow region – Moscow region); appointment(parent meeting – meeting for parents, children's store– children's store), etc.

Signs of this and not temporary, but permanent, That's why Relative adjectives do not have all the features inherent in qualitative adjectives. This means that they do not form degrees of comparison(not to say that this house is wooden, and that one is more wooden), cannot be combined with adverbs of measure and degree(can't say very gold bracelet), etc.

But phrases with relative adjectives can be transform, replacing the adjective. For example, villager - village resident, milk porridge - porridge with milk, plastic cube - plastic cube.

We hope that it has become clearer to you how to distinguish between qualitative and relative adjectives. We’ll talk about possessive adjectives and some pitfalls in the next article.

Good luck in learning Russian!

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In Russian, adjectives are divided into three categories. The classification is based on the lexical and grammatical features of the parts of speech under discussion. Common to all adjectives is the designation of a constant (not changing over time) attribute of an object; differences begin with the nature of their lexical bases, expressing direct (manifesting by themselves), indirect (determined through comparison with other phenomena) and “belonging” properties and qualities of objects.

1. Qualitative adjectives. Qualitative adjectives answer the question “which?” and denote direct names of features associated with lexical meanings:
   • colors (red, pink, crimson);
     
   • spatial characteristics (right - left, straight - curved);
     
   • physical properties of objects (sour - sweet, hot - cold, light - heavy);
     
   • appearance and internal qualities of people and animals (thin - fat, smart - stupid, lazy - hardworking).
     
   The characteristics expressed by qualitative adjectives can be manifested to a greater or lesser extent, and the adjectives themselves can have degrees of comparison (easy - easier - the easiest), combined with adverbs of measure and degree (very easy) and turned into them (easy). Qualitative adjectives can have antonyms (good - evil, high - low). Abstract nouns are often formed from them (sweet - sweetness, curve - curvature). Qualitative adjectives can have a full and short form (light - easy). With the help of diminutive suffixes, speakers easily give them a subjective evaluative form (light).
   All of the above characteristics do not necessarily appear in the same word, but they are not typical for other categories of adjectives, and the presence of at least one of them already indicates a qualitative characteristic of the part of speech.
   
2. Relative adjectives. Relative adjectives answer the question “which?” and denote indirect names of characteristics defined through relation to another:
   • an object or person (orange juice - orange juice, children's clothing - clothes for children);
     
   • action (washing powder – washing powder);
     
   • time or place (spring rain - rain that falls in the spring; urban transport - transport operating in the city);
     
   • concept (philosophical treatise).
     
   Relative adjectives do not have degrees of comparison. Most often, they can be replaced by prepositional-nominal combinations with the words from which they are formed (see above). Relative adjectives are characterized by a derivative nature, while qualitative adjectives themselves serve as the basis for other words.
   Relative adjectives can become qualitative. This usually happens in cases where a word gets into other content and changes its lexical meaning (iron lattice - a lattice made of iron and an iron will - strong, strong, unbending).
   
3. Possessive adjectives. Possessive adjectives answer the question “whose?” and indicate that one object belongs to another. As a rule, possessive adjectives indicate an animate person - a person (mother's robe, uncle's car) or an animal (a bear's den). Belonging to inanimate objects in the Russian language is usually expressed using relative adjectives or other parts of speech, but sometimes here (mainly in fiction, in the author's, metaphorical context) one can find possessive adjectives - for example, Mayakovsky's rib arches.
   Possessive adjectives are formed from nouns using two groups of suffixes:
   • -ov (-ev), -in (-yn);
     
   • -y, -ya, -ye, -other, -sky.
     
   Possessive adjectives can pass into the category of both relative (beaver house - possessive meaning, beaver collar - relative) and qualitative: (bear's den - possessive meaning, disservice - qualitative) parts of speech.
   

According to the difference in the questions “which?” - "whose?" Possessive adjectives are easily separated from qualitative and relative adjectives. The easiest way to identify quality adjectives is to try to change them, give them a subjective assessment, put them in a short form, or develop their quality to one degree or another. Relative adjectives “seem” to form combinations of two nouns whenever possible.