The development of the adjective in ME (decay of grammatical categories and declensions).

The decay of grammatical categories of the adj proceeded in the following order. The first category to disappear was Gender, which ceased to be distinguished by the adj in the 11^th c.

The number of cases was reduced: the Instr. Case had fused with the Dat. By the end of OE; distinction of other cases in Early ME was unsteady.

In the 14^th c. the difference between the strong and weak form is sometimes shown in the sg with the help of ending –e.

In the 14^th c. pl forms were sometimes contrasted to the sg forms with the help of ending –e.

In the age of Chaucer the paradigm of the adj consisted of 4 forms distinguished by a single vocalic ending –e.

Adjs ending vowels and polysyllabic adjs took no endings and could not show the difference between sg and pl forms or strong and weak forms.

Certain distinctions between weak and strong forms, and also between pl and sg are found in the works of 14^th . writers like Chaucer and Gower.

In ME the following changes happened:

· In most cases inflections -er, -est were used to form the comparative and the superlative degrees;

· Root-sound interchange fell into disuse (long – longer – longest), though in some cases it was preserved as an exception from the rule (e.g. old – elder – eldest; far – further – furthest);

A new way of formation of the degrees of comparison appeared: more + Adj (comparative) || most + Adj (superlative)…..It was applicable to all adjectives and was interchangeable with -er, -est way of formation till 17^th – 18^th c. In NE, during the Normalisation Period, the modern rule appeared and this way was applicable only to a certain group of adjectives.

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