Theoretical Grammar of English

Substantivization of Adjectives

As is known adjectives under certain circumstances can be substantivized, i.e. become nouns.
B. Khaimovich (22) states that "when adjectives are converted into nouns they no longer indicate attributes of substances but substances possessing these attributes.
B. Khaimovich (22) speaks of two types of substantivization full and partial. By full substantivization he means when an adjective gets all the morphological features of nouns, like: native, a native, the native, natives. But all the partial substantivization he means when adjectives get only some of the morphological features of nouns, as far instance, the adjective “rich” having substantivized can be used only with the definite article: the rich.
B. Ilyish (15) is almost of the same opinion: we shall confine ourselves to the statement that these words are partly substantivized and occupy an intermediate position.
More detailed consideration of the problem shows that the rich and others are not partial substantivization. All the substantivized adjectives can be explained within the terms of nouns. (37)

Study questions

1. 
   What are the most important characteristic features of adjectives?
   
2. 
   Why do we have to differentiate the qualitative and relative adjectives?
   
3. 
   How are the comparative and superlative of adjectives formed?
   
4. 
   What adjectives form their degrees by both inflections and words more and most?
   
5. 
   Are their adjectives that form their degrees of comparison by means of suppletion?
   
6. 
   What do you understand by substantivization?
   
7. 
   Are the words "more" and "most" lexical or grammatical means when, they form the degrees of comparison of adjectives?
   
8. 
   What adjectives form their comparative and superlative by root-vowel and final-consonant change?
   

Lecture 8

The Verb

Problems to be discussed:

• 
  the characteristic features of verbs as a part of speech
  
• 
  verbs are morphologically most developed part of speech
  
• 
  the types of verbs
  
• 
  the grammatical categories of verbs: voice, mood, tense, number and others.