英语语法专练第2课
第2课形容词Adjectives
The term adjective can be used broadly for any word that modifies a noun. In this book, how-ever, we will divide all noun modifiers into three smaller groups and address each group in a separate chapter. In this chapter we will cover what we will call “true” adjectives. In Chapter 3 we will cover articles, and in Chapter 4 we will cover all post-noun modifiers, modifiers that follow the nouns they modify.
“True” adjectives真实的形容词
True adjectives have three distinctive features:
1.They immediately precede the nouns that they modify.
2.They have comparative and superlative forms.
3.They can be used as predicate adjectives.
To see the difference between a true adjective and another common type of noun modifier, let us compare the true adjective slow and the article the. Both slow and the are adjectives in the broad sense because they both modify nouns. For example, they modify the noun cars in the fol-lowing sentences:
Slow cars should stay in the right lane.
The cars in the left lane passed me.
However, as a true adjective, slow has three characteristics that the does not have:
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Adjectives19
1. It always immediately precedes the noun being modified. We see in the preceding exam-ple sentences that both slow and the can be used immediately in front of the noun they modify. But what happens if we use both slow and the to modify the same noun? We can say this:
The slow cars moved into the right lane.
But we cannot say this:
X Slow the cars moved into the right lane.
There is a strict left-to-right rule that says that articles (and other types of noun modifiers as well) must precede true adjectives when they both modify the same noun. In other words, no other noun modifier can come between a true noun and the noun it modifies.
2. It has comparative and superlative forms. We can use s low in the comparative and super-lative forms, but there are no comparative and superlative forms for the article the: Base form Comparative form Superlative form
slow slower slowest
the X ther X thest
3. It can be used as a predicate adjective. The term predicate adjective refers to adjectives
that function as predicates of linking verbs. (These terms are explained in detail in Chapter 10.) For now, let’s just look at some examples of predicate adjectives:
The Tower of London is ancient.
The children are quiet.
Our dinner is ready.
The verb be is by far the most common linking verb. The predicate adjective in linking verb sentences is used to give information about the subject. In the three example sentences, ancient gives information about the Tower of London, quiet gives information about the children, and ready gives information about our dinner.
We can use slow as a predicate adjective, but we cannot use the:
The clock in the hall is slow.
X The clock in the hall is the.
Exercise 2.1
Here are three exercises in one. Following are pairs of noun modifiers; one member of the pair is a true adjective, and one is not. Fill in the blanks to see (1) which adjective always immediately
20Noun Phra se s
precedes the noun, (2) which adjective has a comparative and superlative form, and (3) which adjective can be used as a predicate adjective. The noun modifier that fulfills these three criteria is the true adjective.
some/strong
Comparative Superlative
some:X somer X somest
strong:stronger strongest
Order of modifiers:Some strong coffee keeps me awake at night.
X Strong some coffee keeps me awake at night.
Predicate adjective:X The coffee is some.
The coffee is strong.
True adjective:strong
1.true/two
Comparative Superlative
true:
two:
stories are in the book.
Order of modifiers:
stories are in the book.
Predicate adjective:The stories are.
The stories are.
True adjective:
2.his/sweet
Comparative Superlative
his:
sweet:
cupcakes were the hit of the party.
Order of modifiers:
cupcakes were the hit of the party.
Predicate adjective:The cupcakes were.
The cupcakes were.
True adjective:.
A dj ec ves21
3.fast/all
Comparative Superlative
fast:
all:
boats have two engines.
Order of modifiers:
boats have two engines.
Predicate adjective:The boats were.
The boats were.
True adjective:.
4.these/hungry
Comparative Superlative
these:
hungry:
cats need to be fed.
Order of modifiers:
cats need to be fed.
Predicate adjective:The cats were.
The cats were.
base的形容词True adjective:.
5.bright/a
Comparative Superlative
bright:

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