Stylistic use of degrees of comparison of adjectives

RF Federal Agency for Education

Russian State University of Tourism & Service

Institute for Tourism & Hospitality (Moscow) (Branch) 
 

Chair: “Linguistics for Tourism” 
 
 
 

ENGLISH Stylistics

COURSE PAPER

 

on

  “Stylistic use of degrees of comparison of adjectives” 
 
 
 
 
 

                   Student:             Kristina R. Datashvili 

       Group:                       L3- B 
 
 

                   Scientific advisor:            Ph.D. Lyudmila V. Savinich 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

MOSCOW 

2010

Contents

Introduction                                                                                                        3

Theoretical survey

1. Development and changes of adjectives and degrees of comparison            4

2. Adjectives in Modern English                                                                        6

3. Syntactic Functions of Adjectives                                                                  9

4. Stylistic potential of degrees of comparison of adjectives                             10

5. Epithet                                                                                                            14

Linguistic investigation

Use of adjectives and their degrees of comparison in different functional styles of speech                                                                                                                 18

Conclusion                                                                                                          23

References                                                                                                          24 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Introduction

      The aim of the given course paper is to investigate such part of speech as the adjective and its degrees of comparison. As it is generally known, adjectives form the third major class of words in the English language (after nouns and verbs). We are to study the stylistic peculiarities and use of adjectives and their degrees of comparison. The topicality of this course paper is that, if we study the English language, it goes without saying that we should have a pretty good idea of its parts of speech. In particular, it is important to know the general characteristics of adjectives, their grammatical categories, development and change in the course of time, but this course paper aims at stylistic functions of adjectives.

      A message void of adjectives is the least expressive one. Therefore adjectives are somehow the backbone of any expression we want to make accurate and clear in encoding the message. Adjectives help us respect real and straight communication rules. Without the use of adjectives, actually, we lose a lot; and we may be short in expressing our emotions, opinions, and the impressions we have about a given subject.

      In the first chapter of this course paper the development of degrees of comparison, syntactic and stylistic functions of adjectives and their degrees of comparison will be studied. And the last part of the theoretical survey will be dedicated to the epithet and its role in stylistics.

      The second chapter represents the linguistic investigation of adjectives and their degrees of comparison where several sentences of different functional styles of speech will be taken and analyzed. In the linguistic investigation we are to explain what stylistic function does each adjective play in the sentence. We will also analyze the addition of different suffixes and prefixes to adjectives and will examine what stylistic changes this method brings.

      Finally, the main points of our research will be summarized and the general conclusion will be made. 
 

Theoretical survey

1. Development and changes of adjectives and degrees of comparison

Originally, adjectives differed from nouns only in meaning and syntactic use but not graphically, e.g.: lat. lupus (n. ‘wolf’) – bonus (adj. ‘good’), aqua (n. ‘water’) – bona (adj. ‘good’). In Old English, whose usage covered a period of approximately 700 years – from the Anglo-Saxon migrations that created England in the 5^th century to some time after the Norman Conquest of 1066) the adjective could change for number, gender and case.

      Like nouns, adjectives had three genders (masculine, neuter, and feminine) and two numbers (singular and plural). The category of case in adjectives differed from that of nouns: in addition to four cases of nouns (Nominative, Genitive, Accusative and Dative) they had one more case, Instrumental. It was used when the adjective served as an attribute to a noun in the Dative case expressing an instrumental meaning, e.g.: lȳtel werede (‘with (the help of) a small troop’).

      Like adjectives in other languages, most OE adjectives distinguished between three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative. The regular means used to form the comparative and superlative from the positive were the suffixes -ra and -est/-ost. Sometimes suffixation was accompanied by an interchange of the root-vowel. Besides that, some adjectives had suppletive forms of degrees of comparison. Several examples of comparison of adjectives in Old English are given in Table 1.

      Table 1

      Comparison of Adjectives in Old English

 

      As follows from the Table 1, those adjectives, which have the suffix -ost in the superlative degree, have the same root-vowel in all forms with the exception of the adjectives with the root-vowel -æ-. In the superlative degree it alternates with the root-vowel -a- before the back vowel in the suffix -ost: ჳlæd – ჳladost. (T.A. Rastorguyeva). However, some linguists say that, since ჳlæd refers to the words which used to form their degrees of comparison by adding the suffixes -ora and -ost, it had no vowel interchange: ჳlæd – ჳlædra – ჳlædost (I.P. Ivanova, L.P. Chakhoyan and T.M. Belyayeva).

      Degrees of comparison with -mest are generally derived from adverbs but they function as adjectives. We can see several examples in Table 2.

      Table 2

 

      The degrees of comparison is the only set of forms which the adjective has preserved through all historical periods. However, the means employed to build up the forms of the degrees of comparison have considerably altered.

      In Middle English the degrees of comparison could be built in the same way as in Old English – by adding the suffixes to the form of the positive degree (sometimes suffixation was accompanied by an interchange of the root-vowel; a few adjectives had suppletive forms). But the comparative degree suffix -ra had been weakened to -er; afterwards, the final unstressed -e disappears completely and before -r we find a weak vowel, i.e. -ra → -re → -r → -er. As a result of weakening of an unstressed vowel, the OE suffix -ost coincided in Middle English with the suffix -est.

      The new system of comparisons emerged at the end of the Middle English period. To form the comparative and superlative degrees they began to use such words as more and most. But the ground for this method had already been prepared by the use of the OE adverbs mā, bet, betst, swīpor – ‘more’, ‘better’, ‘to a greater degree’ with adjectives and participles. It is noteworthy that in Middle English the phrases with more and most became popular and were used with all kinds of adjectives, regardless of the number of syllables and were even preferred with mono- and disyllabic words. 

2. Adjectives in Modern English

      Adjectives are the third major class of words in English, after nouns and verbs. Adjectives are words expressing properties of objects (e.g. large, blue, simple, clever, economic, progressive, productive, etc) and, hence, qualifying nouns. Adjectives in English do not change for number or case. The only grammatical category they have is the degrees of comparison. They are also characterized by functions in the sentence.

      There are three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative. The positive form is the plain stem of an adjective (e.g. heavy, slow, straight, etc). The comparative  states  that  one  thing  has more of the quality named by the adjective  than  some  other  thing  (e.g. Henry is taller than John). The superlative states that the thing has the greatest degree of the quality among the things being considered (e.g. Henry is the tallest boy in the class). All adjectives other than those enumerated above form  their  comparative by  using  the  intensifier  more  and  their  superlative  by   using   the intensifier the most. In a very few cases, English permits a choice between the two devices: commoner / more common, commonest / the most common.  Ordinary, when one form is prescribed by the rules, the other is forbidden.

      The definite article with the elative most-construction is also possible, if leaving the elative function less distinctly recognizable (in oral speech the elative most is commonly left unstressed, the absence of stress serving as a negative mark of the elative).

     Cf.: I found myself in the most awkward situation, for I couldn't give a satisfactory answer to any question asked by the visitors.

     Now, the syntactical superlative degree, as is known, can be used in the elative function as well, the distinguishing feature of the latter being its exclusion from a comparison.

      Cf.: Unfortunately, our cooperation with Danny proved the worst experience for both of us. No doubt Mr. Snider will show you his collection of minerals with the greatest pleasure.

     And this fact gives us a clue for understanding the expressive nature of the elative superlative as such — the nature that provides it with a permanent grammatical-stylistic status in the language. Indeed, the expressive peculiarity of the form consists exactly in the immediate combination of the two features which outwardly contradict each other: The categorial form of the superlative on the one hand, and the absence of a comparison on the other.

     That the categorical form of the superlative (i.e. the superlative with its general functional specification) is essential also for the expression of the elative semantics can, however paradoxical it might appear, be very well illustrated by the elative use of the comparative degree. Indeed, the comparative combination featuring the dative comparative degree is constructed in such a way as to place it in the functional position of unrestricted superiority, i.e. in the position specifically characteristic of the superlative.

     E.g.: Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to greet you as our guest of honour. There is nothing more refreshing than a good swim.

     The parallelism of functions between the two forms of comparison (the comparative degree and the superlative degree) in such and like examples is unquestionable.

     As we see, the elative superlative, though it is not the regular superlative in the grammatical sense, is still a kind of a specific, grammatically featured construction. This grammatical specification distinguishes it from common elative constructions which may be generally defined as syntactic combinations of an intensely high estimation.

     E.g.: an extremely important amendment; a matter of exceeding urgency; quite an unparalleled beauty; etc.

     In English and many other languages, adjectives also have a correct and incorrect order, depending on the type of adjectives used. Most native speakers learn this order instinctively, and related mistakes are one of the most obvious signs of a non-native speaker. For example, using the adjectives red, little, and two with the noun books, most native English speakers would intuitively order the adjectives to form the sentence ‘The two little red books.’ To non-native speakers, however, it might seem just as intuitive to say ‘The two red little books.’ or even ‘The red two little books.’ both of which are immediately obvious as incorrect to a native English speaker.

      There are set phrases which contain the comparative or the superlative degree of an adjective and which are very popular in colloquial style of speech:

      a) a change for the better  (for  the  worst)  –  перемена  к  лучшему  (к

худшему)

e.g. There seem to be a change for the better  in your uncle. He had a very hearty dinner yesterday.

      b) none the less – тем не менее

e.g. It did not take him long to make up his mind. None the less she showed her scorn for his hesitation.

      c) so much the better ( the worst) – тем лучше (хуже)

e.g. If he will help us, so much the better.

       if he doesn’t work, so much the worst for him.

      d) to be the worst for – делать что-то хуже,  еще больше

e.g. He is rather the worst for drink.

      e) no (none the) worse for – хуже не станет (не стало) от ...

e.g. You’ll be no worse for having her to help you.

You are none the worse for the experience.

      f) if the worst comes to the worst – в худшем случае

e.g. If the worst comes to the worst, I can  always  go  back  home   to  my parents.

      g) to go from bad to worse – становиться все хуже и хуже

e.g. Thinks went from bad to worse in the family.

      h) as best -  в полную меру, как только можно

e.g. He made a living as best he could.

      i) at (the) best -  в лучшем случае

e.g. She cannot get away from her home for long. At (the) best she can  stay with us for two days.

      A message void of adjectives is the least expressive one. Therefore adjectives are somehow the backbone of any expression we want to make accurate and clear in encoding the message. Adjectives help us respect real and straight communication rules.

      Without the use of adjectives, actually, we lose a lot; and we may be short in expressing our emotions, opinions, and the impressions we have about a given subject. 

      3. Syntactic Functions of Adjectives

      Adjectives may serve in the sentence as: