Adjectives are divided into three groups according to their meaning and grammatical features: 1) qualitative, 2) relative and 3) possessive.

Qualitative adjectives denote a feature that may be characteristic of an object to a greater or lesser extent (color, size, temperature, taste, sound, strength, internal qualities of a person and living beings in general, etc.); therefore they usually have degrees of comparison, for example: 1) Walls white, and the ceilings are still whiter. 2) The fox is cunning, but the hunter is more cunning. 3) Volga – longest from the rivers of Europe.

Many qualitative adjectives have a short form, for example: snow white, beast cunning, road length, as well as special suffixes, for example, introducing a diminutive meaning or expressing a weaker or stronger degree of quality: -enk; -ovat-, -ushch- (-yushch-) - a white handkerchief, a whitish fog, a long rope.

Relative adjectives denote characteristics through relation to an object; most often they indicate material, place, time, etc., for example: leather gloves(leather mittens), Siberian wheat(wheat from Siberia), spring flowers(flowers that come in spring). Relative adjectives have no degrees of comparison and no short form. They have special suffixes, for example: -n-, -an-, -sk-, -ov- (forest, leather, urban, pine).

Qualitative and relative adjectives have the same endings and the same declension system, for example: a beautiful wooden house, a beautiful wooden hut, beautiful wooden huts; a new wooden house, a new wooden hut.

Having the same basic forms with qualitative adjectives, relative adjectives are often used with a qualitative meaning. In combination gold cigarette case adjective gold relative: it refers to material, derived from a noun gold. In combination golden ripe orange adjective gold used in a qualitative sense: it does not indicate the material from which the object is made, but the color of the orange: yellow and shiny. Having received a qualitative meaning, some adjectives acquire the ability to be used (in poetic and colloquial speech) in a short form and in the form of a comparative degree, for example: I) As in autumn, the fruit is ripe gold. (V.B.) 2) Everything stony the steps are getting steeper and steeper. (V.B.)

Note. There is no sharp boundary between qualitative and relative adjectives; very often an adjective includes both relative and qualitative meanings; one of them stands out in a certain context, for example: 1) The mother entered majestically, lilac dress, in lace, with a long string of pearls around the neck. (M. G.) (lilac dress, i.e. a lilac-colored dress is a qualitative adjective); 2) The terraces have grown all around lilac bushes(i.e. lilac bushes is a relative adjective).

This is why qualitative and relative adjectives are sometimes combined into one group of qualitative-relative adjectives.

Possessive adjectives denote a feature that indicates that an object belongs to an individual person (less often, an animal); they are formed from a noun using suffixes -in (-yn),-s(-s), For example: sister's book, sister's album, father's hat, uncle's house; they have a special declension that combines the endings of nouns and adjectives, for example: sisters A book, I see my sisters at book(noun endings); no sisters Ouch books, talking about sisters Ouch book(adjective endings).

A special group in terms of meaning and endings consists of adjectives in -th(fox) - ya(fox) - ye(fox) - yi(foxes), which are formed from nouns denoting people or animals (fisherman - fisherman, fox - fox). They have mixed endings: both short and full, for example: fox ya fur coat(short ending) fox ye th fur coats(full ending) fox ye flair(short ending) lis his flair(full ending).

These adjectives combine different meanings. They are used in a possessive meaning, for example: human voices, a fishing boat, fox tricks; Moreover, they do not indicate belonging to an individual person or animal, but denote a characteristic characteristic of either a certain group of people or an entire species of animal, for example: bearish den; To whom, if not me, everything fox know the tricks. (Kr.) This meaning distinguishes them from possessive adjectives with suffixes -in, -ov, denoting ownership of a single person (grandfather's sheepskin coat - This is a sheepskin coat that belonged to someone’s grandfather, and not at all the sheepskin coat typical of all old people).

Adjectives are used in -y, -y, -y and in a relative sense, for example: fox collar, bearskin coat, hare hat, sheepskin coat.(Adjectives indicate the material from which things are made.) These same adjectives can also acquire a qualitative meaning, for example: disservice(stupid service that causes damage, nuisance instead of helping), hare soul(cowardly, timid).

Exercise 189. Read and indicate in what combinations relative adjectives are used in a qualitative sense.

Iron chain - iron discipline, steel scissors - steel muscles, wooden face - wooden house, cherry tree - cherry dress, tin soldiers - tin eyes, golden character - golden bracelet, stone heart - stone building.

190. Read and indicate which adjectives are qualitative and which are relative; then indicate the gender, number and case of each adjective. Indicate adjective epithets.

At a provincial stop, endless, hot as desire,

Lunch silence. Straight country road.

Buntings sing lifelessly, Lilac forest in the background,

In the bushes near the canvas. Gray cloud's tuft,

(B. Pasternak.)

191. Insert the missing epithets: then compare them with those given in M. Gorky’s story “Old Woman Izergil”.

The air was saturated... with the smell of the sea and... with the vapors of the earth, which had been heavily moistened by rain shortly before evening. Even now, fragments of clouds wandered across the sky, lush, like puffs of smoke, gray and ash-blue, there, sharp, like fragments of rocks, matte black or brown. Between them sparkled tenderly... patches of sky, decorated with specks of stars.

192. Orally make up a phrase with each synonym; indicate the difference in the use of synonyms, then select antonyms for them (where possible).

1) Strong, durable, solid, strong, powerful, irresistible. 2) Fast, nimble, quick, nimble, playful, lively. 3) Fearful, timid, cowardly, indecisive, humble. 4) Thin, skinny, lean, lean, dry, lean. 5) Wonderful, wondrous, wonderful, charming, magnificent, excellent. 6) Red, scarlet, purple, crimson, crimson, crimson.

What makes a person’s speech (whether written or oral) most understandable? Without what would she be poor and expressionless? Of course, without adjectives. For example, if you read the word “forest” in the text without definitions, you will never understand which one is meant. After all, it can be coniferous, deciduous or mixed, winter, spring, summer or autumn. The Russian language is great. The qualitative adjective is a direct confirmation of this. In order to vividly and accurately present any picture, we need this wonderful part of speech.

Meaning and main features

An adjective is a name indicating the attribute of an object, that is, its properties that contain characteristics of quality, quantity, belonging. For example, they give a definition by color, taste, smell; indicate an assessment of a phenomenon, its nature, etc. Usually questions are asked to it: what (th, -th)? what is (-a, -o)? whose(s)? This is a significant (independent) part of speech.

The grammatical ones include:

• variability by gender (for example, red - masculine, yellow - feminine, green - neuter);
• declension by cases (let's check: nominative - sandy, genitive - iron, dative - morning; instrumental - evening; prepositional - about night);
• possibility of a short form and degree of comparison (qualitative adjectives);
• changeability by numbers (for example, blue is singular, blue is plural).

Syntactic role

• The most common position for an adjective in a sentence is the modifier. It most often depends on a noun and is completely consistent with it. Consider the sentence: Deep footprints were visible in the snow. The tracks (what?) are deep. An adjective is a modifier that depends on the subject expressed by the noun. Graphically indicated
• Ability allows an adjective to be the main member of a sentence - the subject. ( For example: The patient was admitted to the hospital in serious condition.)
• Quite often, what adjectives are found as part of the predicate in the form of a nominal part? Quality in short form. ( Compare: He was weak from illness. - The boy was weak. In the first case, the main member is a verb, in the second - an adjective in a compound nominal predicate.)

Adjectives: qualitative, relative, possessive

This part of speech has three categories, differing in both form and meaning. Let's look at all their features for comparison in the table.

Quality	Relative	Possessives
This feature of an object has varying degrees of manifestation in it. One may be redder or whiter, while the other may be smaller or larger. Only they can form phrases with such adverbs as “not enough” and “extremely”, “very” and “extraordinarily”, “too”. Capable of having a short form: strong, invincible, glorious. Only qualitative adjectives can form degrees of comparison. Examples: sweeter, kindest, tallest. They can be used to form complex words by repetition: cute-darling, blue-blue.	The attribute they denote does not contain a greater or lesser degree, like qualitative adjectives. Examples: one nail cannot be more iron than another, and there is no such thing as the greatest clay pot in the world. They indicate the material from which the object is made or composed: a wooden floor, a sandy beach, gold jewelry. Show location or proximity to something: sea region. Evidence of time: February snowstorms, evening promenade, the year before last. The quantity is determined: a three-year-old child, a one and a half meter pointer. The purpose of the item is revealed: a sewing machine, a regular bus, a loading platform. They do not have a short form or degrees of comparison.	They indicate that this item belongs to someone or something. If the tail is a fox, then it is a fox, the hat could be grandma's or dad's. The main distinguishing feature is the question “whose”?

Quality varies

It is worthwhile to dwell in some more detail on the most flexible definitions in use and word formation, which are known as quality adjectives. Examples of their meanings are incredibly varied. They may indicate:

• on the shape of the object: multifaceted, round, angular;
• its size: tall, wide, huge;
• color: orange, dark green, purple;
• smell: stinking, fragrant, odorous;
• temperature: cold, lukewarm, hot;
• sound level and characteristics: quiet, loud, booming;
• overall rating: necessary, useful, unimportant.

Additional exclusivity

There are also distinctive features that you need to know so as not to confuse qualitative, relative and possessive adjectives with each other. So, the first of them have the following features:

• the formation of new words using the prefix “not”: a sad person, an expensive product; or diminutive suffixes: gray - gray - grayish;
• the ability to select synonyms: cheerful - joyful; bright - brilliant; antonyms: cold - hot, evil - kind;
• Adverbs with -o, -e originate from qualitative adjectives: white - white, gentle - tenderly.

More about degrees of comparison

They also only have qualitative adjectives. Examples of the formation of a simple comparative degree: more visible, darker, longer. The compound comparative degree is a phrase: “less” or “more” is added to the adjective: less hard, softer.

The superlative degree is called that because it indicates the predominance of a characteristic in one object over other similar ones. It can be simple: it is formed using the suffixes -eysh-, -aysh-. For example: the most faithful, the lowest. And compound: the adjective is used in combination with the word “most”: the most wonderful, the deepest.

Can adjectives change their category?

And again it is worth remembering the broad capabilities of the Russian language. Everything is possible in it. Therefore, it is not surprising that qualitative, relative and possessive adjectives in a certain context change their meaning according to category.

For example, in the phrase “glass beads” everyone understands that we are talking about beads made of glass. But “glass arguments” are already a metaphor, these are completely fragile, fragile arguments. We can conclude: the relative adjective (first example) has turned into a qualitative adjective (second example).

If you compare the expressions “fox hole” and “fox character”, you can see how the belonging of animal housing turns into the quality of human nature, which means that the possessive adjective has become qualitative.

Let’s take two more phrases as an example: “hare’s trail” and “hare’s hat.” The prints of the animal are not at all the same as the headdress made from it. As you can see, a possessive adjective can turn into a relative adjective.

1. Adjective- an independent part of speech that denotes a feature of an object and answers the questions: what? whose?

Basic features of an adjective

A) General grammatical meaning	Examples
This is the value of the item attribute:
color;	Blue, light blue, lilac.
taste, smell;	Sweet, fragrant, spicy.
grade;	Good bad.
character;	Kind, modest, funny.
mental and speech activity.	Smart, stupid, talkative.
B) Morphological characteristics	Examples
The same as for a noun - gender, number, case. But unlike nouns, adjectives change by gender, number, and case, and gender differences are observed in adjectives only in the singular form. This is due to the fact that adjectives serve and explain nouns: adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number and case.	Wed: blue carpet, blue ribbon, blue saucer - blue carpets, blue ribbons, blue saucers.
B) Syntactic features	Examples
In a sentence, adjectives are usually modifiers or the nominal part of the predicate.	Wed: The cheerful clown made the kids laugh; The clown was funny.
Adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number and case.	Wed: The cheerful clown made the kids laugh; A funny joke made the guys laugh.
Adjectives can be extended by nouns and adverbs, forming phrases with them.	Wed: weak from illness, very weak.

2. Based on the nature of their lexical meaning, adjectives are divided into three categories:

A) quality;
B) relative;
B) possessive.

A) Qualitative adjectives

Qualitative adjectives denote various qualities of an object:

size: big, large, small;

age: old, young;

color: Red Blue;

weight: light heavy;

appearance: handsome, slender;

personal traits: smart, strict, lazy.

Characteristic grammatical and word-formation features qualitative adjectives are:

the presence of degrees of comparison;

Big bigger Biggest; smart - smarter, smartest.

availability of full and short forms;

Strict is strict, old is old.

ability to combine with adverbs of degree;

Very strict, very big, very smart.

form adverbs with the suffixes -o, -e, -i.

Clever → clever, brilliant → brilliant, brutal → brutal.

However, not all qualitative adjectives have these features:

There are no degrees of comparison for adjectives like barefoot, oblique, blind, lame, dead, married, because they express absolute qualities, that is, qualities that cannot be compared (one cannot be dead to a greater or lesser extent; one cannot be married to a greater or lesser extent);

There is no short form for adjectives like business, friendly, comic, since they are relative in origin;

There are no degrees of comparison for relative or possessive adjectives in a qualitative sense.

Wed: a gold bracelet(relative adjective) - golden character(qualitative meaning); Fox's tail(possessive adjective) - this person has a fox character / a fox smile(qualitative meaning).

They indicate signs not directly, but through their relationship to:

These signs cannot appear to a greater or lesser extent.

Relative adjectives are synonymous with case or prepositional case forms of nouns.

Wed: iron hoop - a hoop made of iron; Volga bank - the bank of the Volga; sports shoes - shoes for sports.

B) Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives denote the characteristics of an object according to its belonging to a person or animal.

Father's jacket, mother's scarf, fox tail, wolf trail.

These adjectives answer the question whose? whose? whose? whose? An object cannot have such characteristics to a greater or lesser extent.

Possessive adjectives have suffixes:

In/-yn: mother, chicken, sister;

Ov/-ev: fathers, grandfathers;

Ий/-j- : bearish - bearish[j] his.

Note!

1) Possessive adjectives with suffixes -in/yn, -ov/-ev, -iy/-j- in the singular form of the nominative case in the masculine gender usually have a zero ending, and in the feminine and neuter genders they have the same endings as nouns.

Wed: bearish□ , bearish , bearish.

2) When adjectives are used, their meaning may change. Thus, relative adjectives can become qualitative.

Wed: lilac branch- relative adjective; lilac dress- qualitative adjective.

Possessive adjectives can become relative and qualitative.

Wed: bear trail(the trail belongs to the bear) - possessive adjective; bear coat(the fur coat is made from the skin of a bear, and does not belong to the bear) - relative adjective; bear walk(gait like a bear) is a qualitative adjective.

Exercise for the topic “3.3.1. The concept of an adjective. Morphological features of adjectives. Classes of adjectives"

Derivative signs.

Syntactic features.

They agree with nouns in gender, number, case (of an interesting film - R.p., singular, m.p.); and acting as the main member of the phrase, they control the noun (pale (head word) from excitement). In sentences they act as a definition or predicate; short forms perform only the function of a predicate (silent night).

The most productive ways to form adjectives are:

Suffixal – morning arr. from morning o+ - enn.

Reinforced concrete – reinforced concrete

Forest-steppe, steamship

Prefix-suffixal – Moscow region – Moscow +-n

Addition method – bitter-salted – bitter + salty

Method of addition with simultaneous suffixation - car repair - car + repair (interface O and suffix - n)

Morphological-syntactic – adjectivation – closed (adj.) character, first (adj.) grade

2. According to meaning and grammatical features, adjectives are traditionally divided into 3 categories:

Quality

Relative

Possessives

The core of the adjective class is formed by qualitative adjectives.

Quality indicate a directly perceived feature of an object: blue, long. They can name the mental and physical qualities of a person: kind, strong; animal colors: bay; colors: pink; item size: large, narrow.

Signs:

Qualitative adjectives are characterized by the ability/ability to have:

1. Full inflected form and parallel indeclinable form: huge - huge.

2. Change according to degrees of comparison: beautiful - more beautiful - most beautiful.

3. Form correlative adverbs starting with –O or –E: quiet – quietly.

4. Form abstract nouns: blue-blue, kind-kindness.

5. The ability to enter into antonymic relationships: quiet - loud, beautiful - ugly.

6. Form forms of subjective assessment (beautiful, Cute).

7. Combine with adverbs of measure and degree (very narrow).

8. Some qualitative adjectives are non-derivative words (brown, bay, narrowй - - narrow root, when forming words of the same root, the productive stem is truncation).

They have these characteristics, but if an adjective has at least one of the listed characteristics, then it is QUALITATIVE.

They denote the attribute of an object indirectly - through its relationship to another object, action or circumstance (wooden house, adolescence, city beach).

Signs:

1. The presence of a full inflected form and the absence of a short form (brick, oat).

2. Relative adjectives are derived words, formed from nouns, verbs, numerals, adverbs using the suffixes –an-, -yan-, -ov-, -ev- (kozh en y, birch ov y), -sk- (Belgorod sk th), -enn- (pumpkin enne y).

3. All relative adjectives denote constant, unchangeable characteristics.

4. Can be replaced by a synonymous case form of the noun (family budget - family budget).

Possessive adjectives (which? Whose?).

They indicate that an object belongs to a person or an animal (in the broad sense).

A) actually possessive adjectives, denoting belonging to one person. These include adjectives with a zero ending in the nominative case, singular, m.p. and suffixes - ov- (-ev-), -yn- (-in-), -nin-: prince's court, nanny's tales, fathers' jacket;

B) possessive-relative adjectives, which are formed from the names of people and animals using the suffix –iii-: fisherman - fisherman th, deer - deer th (zero ending), fisherman (j-suffix, a-ending): in fisherman (ach, j-suffix, and - suffix, because it is an adverb), hare tracks, bear paw.

The scope of use of possessive adjectives, such as fathers, mothers, is limited to the framework of colloquial speech, but in phraseological units, in geographical names they are used without stylistic restrictions (Achilles' heel, Bering Strait).

The boundary between the lexical and grammatical categories of adjectives is fluid.

1. High quality relative adjectives are relative adjectives that can take on a qualitative meaning (springs of steel - relative, nerves of steel - qualitative).

2. Relatively quality adjectives are qualitative adjectives that develop additional relative meanings (a deaf person is qualitative, a deaf consonant is relative, a fast step is qualitative, a fast train is

relative).

3. High quality possessive adjectives are possessive adjectives in qualitative use (fox hole - possessive, fox cunning - qualitative, wolfish appetite).

4. Regarding – possessive adjectives are possessive adjectives in relative use (fox collar - relative, fox hole - possessive, wolf pack - relative).

In some cases, adjectives formed from the names of animals first turn into relative adjectives, and then into qualitative adjectives (veal head - possessive, veal chop - relative, veal tenderness - qualitative).