42794 (Adjectives), страница 2

Position of Adjectives.

1 Most adjectives can be used in a noun group, after determiners and

numbers if there are any, in front of the noun.

e.g. He had a beautiful smile.

She bought a loaf of white bread.

There was no clear evidence.

2 Most adjectives can also be used after a link verb such as ‘be’,

‘become’, or ‘feel’.

e.g. I'm cold.

I felt angry.

Nobody seemed amused.

3. Some adjectives are normally used only after a link verb.

afraid asleep due ready unable alive aware glad sorry well alone content ill sure

For example, we can say ‘She was glad’, but you do not talk about ‘a glad

woman’.

I wanted to be alone.

We were getting ready for bed.

I'm not quite sure.

He didn't know whether to feel glad or sorry.

4. Some adjectives are normally used only in front of a noun.

eastern existing neighbouring northern atomic indoor occasional southern countless introductory outdoor western digital maximum

For example, we talk about ‘an atomic bomb’, but we do not say ‘The bomb was atomic’. He sent countless letters to the newspapers.

This book includes a good introductory chapter on forests.

5. When we use an adjective to emphasize a strong feeling or opinion, it

always comes in front of a noun.

absolute outright pure true complete perfect real utter entire positive total

Some of it was absolute rubbish.

He made me feel like a complete idiot.

6. Some adjectives that describe size or age can come after a noun group

consisting of a number or determiner and a noun that indicates the unit of

measurement.

Deep long tall wide high old thick

He was about six feet tall.

The water was several metres deep.

The baby is nine months old.

Note that you do not say ‘two pounds heavy’, you say ‘two pounds in

weight’.

7. A few adjectives are used alone after a noun.

|designate |elect |galore |incarnate |

She was now the president elect.

There are empty houses galore.

8. A few adjectives have a different meaning depending on whether they come in front of or after a noun.

concerned involved present proper responsible

For example, ‘the concerned mother’ means a mother who is worried, but ‘the mother concerned’ means the mother who has been mentioned.

It's one of those incredibly involved stories.

The people involved are all doctors.

I'm worried about the present situation.

Of the 18 people present, I knew only one.

Her parents were trying to act in a responsible manner.

We do not know the person responsible for his death.

Order of Adjectives.

1. We often want to add more information to a noun than you can with one adjective, so we need to use two or more adjectives. In theory, we can use the adjectives in any order, depending on the quality you want to emphasize. In practice, however, there is a normal order. When we use two or more adjectives in front of a noun, we usually put an adjective that expresses our opinion in front of an adjective that just

describes something. e.g. You live in a nice big house. He is a naughty little boy. She was wearing a beautiful pink suit.

2. When we use more than one adjective to express our opinion, an adjective with a more general meaning such as ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘nice’, or ‘lovely’ usually comes before an adjective with a more specific meaning such as ‘comfortable’, ‘clean’, or ‘dirty’. e.g. I sat in a lovely comfortable armchair in the corner. He put on a nice clean shirt. It was a horrible dirty room.

3. We can use adjectives to describe various qualities of people or things.

For example, we might want to indicate their size, their shape, or the

country they come from. Descriptive adjectives belong to six main types, but we are unlikely ever to use all six types in the same noun group. If we did, we would normally put them in the following order:

Size shape age colour nationality material

This means that if we want to use an ‘age’ adjective and a ‘nationality’

adjective, we put the ‘age’ adjective first. We met some young Chinese girls.

Similarly, a ‘shape’ adjective normally comes before a ‘colour’

adjective.

e.g. He had round black eyes.

Other combinations of adjectives follow the same order. Note that

‘material’ means any substance, not only cloth.

e.g. There was a large round wooden table in the room.

The man was carrying a small black plastic bag.

4. We usually put comparative and superlative adjectives in front of other

adjectives.

e.g. Some of the better English actors have gone to live in Hollywood.

These are the highest monthly figures on record.

5. When we use a noun in front of another noun, we never put adjectives between them. We put any adjectives in front of the first noun.

e.g. He works in the French film industry.

He receives a large weekly cash payment.

6. When we use two adjectives as the complement of a link verb, we use a conjunction such as ‘and’ to link them. With three or more adjectives, we link the last two with a conjunction, and put commas after the others.

e.g. The day was hot and dusty.

The room was large but square.

The house was old, damp and smelly.

We felt hot, tired and thirsty.

Adjectives with prepositions.

1. When we use an adjective after a link verb, we can often use the

adjective on its own or followed by a prepositional phrase.

e.g. He was afraid.

He was afraid of his enemies.

2. Some adjectives cannot be used alone after a link verb. If they are

followed by a prepositional phrase, it must have a particular preposition:

aware of unaware of fond of
accustomed to unaccustomed to used to

e.g. I've always been terribly fond of you.

He is unaccustomed to the heat.

3. Some adjectives can be used alone, or followed by a particular

preposition. used alone, or with ‘of ’ to specify the cause of a feeling

afraid critical jealous suspicious ashamed envious proud terrified convinced frightened scared tired

They may feel jealous of your success.

I was terrified of her.

used alone, or with ‘of ’ to specify the person who has a quality

brave good polite thoughtful careless intelligent sensible unkind clever kind silly unreasonable generous nice stupid wrong

That was clever of you!

I turned the job down, which was stupid of me.

used alone or with ‘to’, usually referring to:

similarity: close equal identical related similar marriage: married engaged loyalty: dedicated devoted loya rank: junior senior

e.g.My problems are very similar to yours.

He was dedicated to his job.

used alone, or followed by 'with' to specify the cause of a feeling

bored displeased impatient pleased content dissatisfied impressed satisfied

e.g. I could never be bored with football.

He was pleased with her.

used alone or with ‘at’, usually referring to:

strong reactions: amazed astonished shocked surprised ability: bad excellent good hopeless useless

e.g. He was shocked at the hatred they had shown.

She had always been good at languages.

used alone, or with ‘for’ to specify the person or thing that quality

relates to

common essential possible unusual difficult important unnecessary usual easy necessary

e.g. It's difficult for young people on their own.

It was unusual for them to go away at the weekend.

4. Some adjectives can be used alone, or used with different prepositions.

used alone, with an impersonal subject and ‘of ’ and the subject of the

action, or with a personal subject and ‘to’ and the object of the action

cruel good nasty rude friendly kind nice unfriendly generous mean polite unkind

e.g. It was rude of him to leave so suddenly.

She was rude to him for no reason.

o used alone, with ‘about’ to specify a thing or ‘with’ to specify a

person

angry delighted fed up happy annoyed disappointed furious upset

e.g. She was still angry about the result.

They're getting pretty fed up with him.

Adjectives with ‘to’-infinitive or ‘that’-clauses

1. After link verbs, we often use adjectives that describe how someone

feels about an action or situation. With some adjectives, we can add a

‘to’-infinitive clause or a ‘that’-clause to say what the action or situation is.

afraid disappointed happy sad anxious frightened pleased surprised ashamed glad proud unhappy

If the subject is the same in both clauses, we usually use a ‘to’-

infinitive clause. If the subject is different, we must use a ‘that’-

clause.

e.g. I was happy to see them again.

He was happy that they were coming to the party.

We often use a ‘to’-infinitive clause when talking about future time in

relation to the main clause.

e.g. I am afraid to go home.

He was anxious to leave before it got dark.

We often use a ‘that’-clause when talking about present or past time in

relation to the main clause. e.g. He was anxious that the passport was missing. They were afraid that I might have talked to the police.

2. We often use ‘sorry’ with a ‘that’-clause. Note that ‘that’ is often

omitted.

e.g. I'm very sorry that I can't join you.

I'm sorry I'm so late.

3. Some adjectives are not usually used alone, but have a ‘to’-infinitive

clause after them to say what action or situation the adjective relates to.

able due likely unlikely apt inclined prepared unwilling bound liable ready willing

e.g. They were unable to help her.

They were not likely to forget it.

I am willing to try.

I'm prepared to say I was wrong.

4. When we want to express an opinion about someone or something, we often use an adjective followed by a ‘to’-infinitive clause.

difficult easy impossible possible right wrong

e.g. She had been easy to deceive.

The windows will be almost impossible to open.

Am I wrong to stay here?

5. With some adjectives, we use a ‘that’-clause to express an opinion about someone or something.

awful extraordinary important sad bad funny interesting true essential good obvious

e.g. I was sad that people had reacted in this way.

. It is extraordinary that we should ever have met!