Grammatical characteristics of relative adjectives.

1. Relative adjectives have no degrees of comparison.

2. They do not form adverbs with the suffix ‑ly.

3. They have certain typical suffixes, such as ‑en, ‑an, -ist, ‑ic, ‑ical: wooden, Italian, socialist, synthetic, analytical.

4. Relative adjectives are chiefly used as attributes.

...she was a fair example of the middle Americanclass... (Dreiser)

(ATTRIBUTE)

She had noticed a pretty woodenchain upon Gretel’s neck. (Dodge)

(ATTRIBUTE)

“Certainly,” answered Hilda, looking kindly into the two earnest faces, and

wishing from her heart that she had not spent so much of her monthly

allowance for lace and finery. (Dodge) (ATTRIBUTE)

The morning was windyand sharp. (Saxton) (PREDICATIVE)

It must be pointed out that no hard and fast line of demarcation exists between relative and qualitative adjectives. Compare: silken thread (relative adjective), but silken hair (qualitative adjective).

Substantivized adjectives.

Substantivized adjectives have acquired some or all of the characteristics of the noun, but their adjectival origin is still generally felt.

Substantivized adjectives are divided into wholly substantivized and partially substantivized adjectives.

Wholly substantivized adjectives have all the characteristics of nouns, namely the plural form, the genitive case; they are associated with articles, i. e. they have become nouns: a native, the natives, a native’s hut.

Some wholly substantivized adjectives have only the plural form: eatables, valuables, ancients, sweets, greens.

Partially substantivized adjectives acquire only some of the characteristics of the noun; they are used with the definite article. Partially substantivized adjectives denote a whole class: the rich, the poor, the unemployed. They may also denote abstract notions: the good, the evil, the beautiful, the singular, the plural, the future, the present, the past.

Substantivized adjectives denoting nationalities fall under wholly and partially substantivized adjectives.

Wholly substantivized adjectives are: a Russian — Russians, a German — Germans.

Partially substantivized adjectives are: the English, the French, the Chinese.

Chapter IV

THE PRONOUN

§ 1. The pronoun is a part of speech which points out objects and their qualities without naming them.

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