Substantivized numerals

§ 234. Numerals can be substantivized, that is, take formal nominal features: the plural suffix -s, an article, and the ability to combine with adjectives and some other modifiers of nouns. When numerals undergo substantivization not only their morphology is changed, but also their meaning. Thus when the numerals hundred, thousand and million are substantivized they acquire the meaning "a great quantity", as in:

hundreds of books, thousands of people, millions of insects, etc.

Other numerals, both cardinals and ordinals, can also be substantivized.

Cardinals are substantivized when they name:

1) school marks in Russia

(He got a two. He got three fives)

school marks in Great Britain

(He got ten. He got three nines last week).

2) sets of persons and things:

They came in twos. They followed in fours. Form fours!

3) playing cards:

the two of hearts, the five of spades, the seven of diamonds, the ten of clubs, three of trumps.

4) boats for a certain number of rowers:

a four, an eight.

5) decades:

in the early sixties, in the late fifties, etc.

The meaning of substantivized ordinals is less affected by substantivization and remains the same:

He was the first to come.

She was the fourth to leave.

THE STATIVE

§ 235. The stative denotes a temporary state of a person or a non-person. Unlike such classes of words as nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs the number of statives functioning in English is limited. There are about 30 stable statives, used both in colloquial and in formal style:

ablaze adrift afire aflame afloat afoot afraid aghast aglow agog

ahead akin ajar alight alike alive aloof alone amiss ashamed

askew aslant asleep aslope astir astray athirst awake awry

and about 100 unstable ones, which are seldom used even in formal style and never in colloquial:

ashudder, atwist, atremble, agleam, etc.

Semantically statives fall into five groups describing various states of persons or non-persons:

1. Psychological states of persons:

afraid, aghast, ashamed, aware, agog.

2. Physical states of persons:

alive, awake, asleep.

3. States of motion or activity of persons or non-persons:

afoot, astir, afloat, adrift.

4. Physical states of non-persons:

afire, aflame, alight, aglow, ablaze.

5. The posture of non-persons:

askew, awry, aslant, ajar.

Не знайшли потрібну інформацію? Скористайтесь пошуком google:

Генерація сторінки за: 0.004 сек.