Morphological composition

§ 208. According to their morphological composition adjectives can be subdivided into simple, derived and compound.

In the case of simple adjectives such as kind, new, fresh, we cannot always tell whether a word is an adjective by looking at it in isolation, as the form does not always indicate its status.

Derived adjectives are recognizable morphologically. They consist of one root morpheme and one or more derivational morphemes - suffixes or prefixes. There are the following adjective-forming suffixes:

Some adjectives are former participles and therefore retain participial suffixes: charming, interesting, cunning, daring.

The suffixes -ly, -ed, -ful, -ary, -al, -y are not confined to adjectives only. Thus, many adverbs are derived from adjectives hy means of the suffix -ly (strongly, bitterly, quickly). Most of the verbs form their past tense and participle II with -ed. There are many nouns with the suffixes -al (festival, scandal, criminal), -ary (boundary, missionary), -ful (mouthful, handful), -y (sonny, doggy), etc.

Compound adjectives consist of at least two stems. They may be of several patterns:

a) consisting of a noun + an adjective:

colour-blind, grass-green;

b) consisting of an adjective + an adjective:

deaf-mute;

c) consisting of an adverb + a participle:

well-known, newly-repaired, much-praised;

d) Consisting of a noun/pronoun + a verbal:

all-seeing, heart-breaking, high-born, high-flown, man-made;

e) consisting of an adjective/adverb + a noun + the suffix -ed:

blue-eyed, long-legged, fair-haired, down-hearted.

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 757