Joining Grammar Forces Advanced C1 – C2

Unit 5 – Presentation 1 What are Adjectives & Adverbs? The decorative elements of language. What does an Adjective qualify? Technically speaking, a noun. And an Adverb? Mainly, a verb but there are other possibilities, too.

Are these two parts of speech important? We could write and speak without them but the effect - and impact - would be poor. They are decorations, as we said, but they embellish speech and allow us to draw comparisons.

Adjective Combinations Presentation 2

Adjective + Noun State Verb + Adjective e.g. exquisite taste But if the adjective describes the influence it has over the noun, then it tends to come after it. State Verb + Adjective e.g. It looks awkward Adjectives can come even after action verbs if they refer to the subject and not the action.

Adjective Order in Descriptions In descriptions and newspaper language in particular, we often use more than one adjective with a noun for reasons of space, syntactic range or sound effect. When this happens, adjectives tend to follow this order: NOC-OF & SAT ShCO MUK

Participles, Compound & Predicate Adjectives Presentation 3

i) Verb + -ing = present participle a description ii) Verb + -ed= past participle a feeling When sb/ sth is -ing, you are -ed

Like Nouns, Adjectives can also be Compound Look at the possible combinations: a) adjective + -ed/-ing participle e.g. empty-headed/good-looking b) adverb + -ed participle e.g. well-educated c) noun + -ed/-ing participle e.g. heart-felt (thanks)/(an) eye-catching (advert) d) all of the above + noun + -ed e.g. blue-eyed/fair-sized/diamond-shaped e) practically any words linked with a hyphen (-) e.g. run-of-the-mill procedures, a three-hour walk

Predicates Some adjectives cannot come before nouns but only after state verbs (like look, seem, be). Compare the following with their attributive equivalents : PREDICATE ATTRIBUTE asleep sleeping alive living ashamed shameful (shameless) ill (unwell) sick

Predicates cont’d PREDICATE ATTRIBUTE glad (pleased, content, delighted) joyful (merry, sunny) awake waking alone lonely, lonesome well healthy

Extreme, Group & Double-Form Adjectives Presentation 4

Extreme Adjectives We can stress the intensity of an adjective using adverbs like very, quite, fairly, etc. Some adjectives, though, are already emphatic enough not to need such extra 'embellishment'. For reasons of euphony, it is still possible to stress these too but then we tend to use equally “extreme” adverbs like really, virtually, totally, quite, utterly, absolutely, etc. e.g. very bad BUT absolutely appalling

Group Adjectives In English, we can’t use articles (a/ an/ the) with adjectives alone; there has to be a noun to which the article refers. It can happen, though, when we are referring to a group of people with the same attribute or of the same nationality and only ‘the’ is used in this way. e.g. the brave, the destitute, the British BUT the/ a brave man, the destitute people in this city, a British woman

Double-form Adjectives Some adjectives have two forms: one that states the real attribute and one that states a likeness. These are adjectives like gold - golden, stone - stony, silk - silky, wooded - wooden, lead - leaden. e.g. a stone wall (made of stone) a stony mask (like ‘stone’)

Adverb Combinations Presentation 5

Adverb + Prepositional Phrase Verb + Adverb e.g. to ban officially Adverb + Adjective e.g. totally useless Adverb + Adverb e.g. entirely truthfully claiming Adverb + Prepositional Phrase e.g. it’s completely out of my hands

Making adverbs out of adjectives As a rule, we make adverbs by adding -ly to their corresponding adjectives. So, common  commonly, quick  quickly Spelling Rules: 1) adj. in -le → e goes and y is added e.g. horrible → horribly 2) adj. in -l → -lly e.g. exceptional → exceptionally 3) adj. in -y → y turns into i and ly follows (exceptions: shyly, slyly & dryly OR drily) e.g. extraordinary → extraordinarily 4) adj.’s in -ic & -ical → both -cally (exception publicly) e.g. local → locally, magical → magically

Not all words in -ly are adverbs! Sometimes they are: i) adjectives: friendly, lovely, lonely, cowardly, OR ii) both adjectives and adverbs in the same form: hourly, daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, yearly, likely, early. e.g. He gave me a friendly nod (adj.), a weekly magazine (adj.) - a magazine that comes out weekly (adv.) When they are adjectives (pronounced /lɪ/), they form adverbs in the phrase: in a … way/ manner. Those in case (ii) (except likely & early) can be used either as are or in the phrases: on a(n)…basis, every hour/ day/ etc. e.g. He nodded in a friendly way (adv. phrase) a magazine that comes out on a weekly basis/ every week (adv. phrases)

To reverse this latter rule a bit, we should also say that: i) not all adverbs end in -ly e.g. just, enough, very, well and ii) some words that we know as adjectives may also be used as adverbs, in the same form but with a different meaning e.g. pretty Note also a use of ‘very’ as an adjective. e.g. He picked the very day to call back!

Adverbs with meaning issues Most adverbs may be formed from their respective adjectives but that does not mean that they always have the same meaning, too. Look at the following: short = κοντός, βραχύς - shortly = σύντομα present = τωρινός, παροντικός - presently = σύντομα awful/ terrible = απαίσιος/ τρομερός - awfully/ terribly = πάρα πολύ/ τρομερά (επαινετικά) extreme = ακραίος, υπερβολικός - extremely = πάρα πολύ

Types of Adverbs Presentation 6

Depending on the information we get from adverbs, they are categorised as: Manner: how, in what way? Place/ Direction: where?/ which way? Time: when? Frequency: how often? Degree: how much, to what extent? Quantity: how much/ how many? Comment: who thinks so? Restrictive: (only/ even/ enough) Connecting: (however/ thus/ so…)

Compare: (Clearly,) she (clearly) can’t see the error of her ways, (clearly). [COMMENT - note positions & commas!] She can’t (clearly) see (clearly) the error of her ways (clearly). [MANNER - no commas, different positions] NB. Care should be taken not to mix one-word adverbs with multi-word adverbials. e.g. They never fail to be on time vs. They are on time every day.

Double Form Adverbs Some words have the same form both as adjectives and as adverbs. e.g. a late arrival is sb who arrives late Most of these have an -ly form too but it has a different meaning. e.g. We haven’t heard from them lately. These are the most common:

fast clean fair early clear fine straight dead right hard slow wrong late flat most sharp free sure direct just loud close high near

Comparison Presentation 7

One- & Two- Syllable Adjectives & Adverbs As you know, adjectives and adverbs have 3 degrees of comparison: positive (normal form), comparative (when comparison is between 2) & superlative (when more than 2 are compared). The forms are: positive comparative superlative small smaller than the smallest of/ in

Spelling Rules 1) adj./adv. in -e → only -r & -st are added e.g. gentle → gentler → the gentlest 2) adj./ adv. in -y → y turns into i + -er/ -est e.g. naughty → naughtier → the naughtiest 3) adj./ adv. in one consonant with one preceding stressed vowel → doubles the final consonant + -er/ -est e.g. thin → thinner → the thinnest

Some Two- Syllable & All Multi-Syllable Adjectives & Adverbs positive comparative superlative interesting politely more interesting than more politely than the most interesting of/ in the most politely of/ in NB. 1) Some two-syllable adj.’s have both forms: e.g. common, clever, polite, cruel, etc. 2) The two-syllable adj.’s ending in -y, though, have the -er/ -est form only e.g. merrier/ the merriest 3) It’s possible to say ‘the (better) of the two’ although this is usu. the form of the Superlative.

Irregular Comparison Forms positive comparative superlative much/many/a lot (of) more the most little less the least bad/ badly worse the worst good/ well better the best far farther/ further the farthest/ furthest old older/ elder the oldest/ eldest late later/ latter the latest/ last

Types of Comparison Presentation 8

The forms -er/ more & -est/ the most are known as 1) Comparison of Superiority, where we compare by higher standards. However, there are other forms: 2) Comparison of Inferiority: always formed by less/ the least + positive. e.g. less big/ interesting than, the least kind/ ordinary of/ in 3) Equality/ inequality: as + positive adj./adv. + as not so/as + positive adj./adv. + as e.g. as pretty/ slowly as, not so pretty/ slowly as

4) Comparison of proportion: the + comparative … the + comparative e.g. The harder you try, the more likely you are to succeed. 5) Conjoined comparison: comparative and comparative e.g. It’s flying higher and higher/ it’s getting more and more difficult 6) Comparison of sizes: half/ twice/ three times as … as e.g. a flat half as spacious as the one next door/ twice as big as you

7) Comparison by contrast: other than (inseparable) e.g. We can do nothing other than obey orders BUT: there’s no other option but/ except obey orders besides/except/ but e.g. Besides obeying orders, there’s not much we can do OR there’s not much we can do except/ but obey orders rather than (In front position followed by an -ing verb. In others, it depends on the construction that precedes it.) e.g. Rather than going there alone, I stayed in. I’d prefer to stay in rather than go there alone. while/ whereas/ but (‘whereas’ usu. starts the sentence) e.g. She’s tall while/ whereas/ but her brother is shortish ALSO Whereas she’s tall, her brother is shortish

e.g. I’d rather/ sooner do sth than do sth else 8) With verbs: would rather/ would sooner … than, e.g. I’d rather/ sooner do sth than do sth else would just as soon … as e.g. I’d (just) as soon do sth as do sth else prefer sb/ sth to sb/ sth else e.g. I prefer roses to tulips prefer doing sth to doing sth else e.g. I prefer looking at flowers to picking them would prefer to do sth (rather than do sth else) e.g. I would prefer to have an early night (rather than watch TV) - the comparison is usu. obvious with this one because of the context

9) Individual cases: a) such + [(a/an) + (adj. )] + noun + as e. g 9) Individual cases: a) such + [(a/an) + (adj.)] + noun + as e.g. I’ve never met such a pessimist as Ian (I’ve never met anyone so pessimistic as Ian) b) more/ less of a(n) + person noun + than e.g. Ian is more of a pessimist than anyone I’ve ever met c) the same … as/ similar (…) to/ different (in sth) from … e.g. Your car is the same colour as mine. Would you say his problems are similar to ours? Stella is different (in literary tastes) from us. d) like/unlike/alike e.g. ‘So, your boss has liberal views, like mine?’ - ‘True, but unlike your boss, mine doesn’t thrust them down your throat!’ - ‘Oh, come off it! Bosses are all alike!’

Emphasis in Comparison A) Emphatic Comparative: much/ far/ a lot/ even - a little/ a bit/ slightly - rather/ any/ no + comparative (NOT ‘very’, which is only + pos.) e.g. much higher/ a bit better/ (not) any easier NB. When ‘more’ is emphasised and it is a comparative adj. qualifying a plural countable noun, then many/ far/ a lot/ even - a few - rather/ any/ no are used. e.g. many/ far/ a lot/ even/ a few/ rather/ no more advantages than would be expected.

Emphasis in Comparison cont’d B) Emphatic Superlative: by far / adverbs (simply/ easily …) + superlative e.g. by far the most interesting/ He’s easily the best player of the team. C) Emphatic Inequality: nearly/ quite e.g. not nearly so high as …/ not quite as well as …

NB. A fitting final note on Adj. ’s & Adv. ’s is that some adj NB. A fitting final note on Adj.’s & Adv.’s is that some adj.’s DO NOT have an adverb at all, e.g. single, isolated, while some adverbs have no known adj. they come from, e.g. very, quite.