COURS DE GRAMMAIRE / SEM. 1 /L.A. MARTINEZ 2/12: Adjectives (1) 1) * Attention à l’utilisation de bad/badly ; good/well et currently/actually-/mémo3/ : « Actually, I’m not sure he’s gone on holidays », « He’s currently on holidays with is wife and children”,
« She sings and dances very well, but she draws very badly”, « She is a very good dancer but a very bad singer ». 2) Adjectives 2a) The use of adjectives « An American writer », « An inland resort hotel », « A weekly newspaper », “A complete failure”, « A probable result », « An essential solution ». 2b) The form of adjectives
Nouns+ending -AL (national, original), -IC (artistic, energetic), -IVE (expensive, informative), -FUL (peaceful, hopeful), -LESS (hopeless, powerless), -OUS (dangerous, generous), -Y (gently, healthy), -LY (monthly, weekly, friendly). - “powerless, powerful” / « hopeless, hopeful ». Verbs+ending -ABLE/IBLE (comprehensible, acceptable, eatable), -ING (exciting, fascinating), -ED (excited, fascinated). 2c) The position of adjectives * Before a noun = attributive position «I love romantic films »
* After a linking verb = predicative position « My husband is very romantic » A) Attributive position « Funny books », «The first », « The second », « The last” “The last week of the sales” / “Last week, I left for London”, « Silver chains », « Evening news », « London pubs », « a Mozart quartet », « A six-year-old boy “, « The would-be president », « A do-it yourself kit », « A no-win situation »
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ATTENTION : - « Funny girls ET NON funny(s) girls/ The girls are funny » /mémo 4. - « A six-year-old girl → six-year-old girlS » / « A do-it yourself kit → many do-it yourself kitS”. /mémo 5/.
Compound adjectives “Energy-preservation measures”, “a night-time outing to a restaurant”, “A road-widening scheme”, “a wood-burning stove”, “A home-made cake”, “a hard-boiled egg”, “government-run programme”, “a Jamaican-born poet”, “Last-minute negotiations”, “a low-fare carrier”, “A gentle-eyed teddy bear”, “a green-fingered gardener”, “Privately-owned company”, “well-protected borders”, « A three-day visit »/ « a six-mile journey »/ “a ten-page letter”,/ “a three days’ visit”, “ a six miles’ journey” “A six-year-old boy”, “a hundred-yard-long queue”
Adjectives which can be used in the attributive position only: Sheer / utter / definite / mere / only / chief /main/ principal / sole / former / inner /outer/ eventual... « This story is sheer/utter nonsense » , “But he is a mere child “, “The chief cause for the explosion was….”, On ne dirait pas : “The cause which was chief for the explosion..”. Order of adjectives A) « A London pub », « A medical school », « spring flowers »…/ Catégorie 1. B) « An old house », « A talkative man », « A big boy »…/Catégorie 2. Size: « large », « small », « long », « big », « tall », etc. Quality: « clear », « busy », « famous », « important », etc. Age: “old”, “new”, etc. Shape: “round”, “square”, “wide”, “narrow”, etc. Colour: “white”, “green”, “dark blue”, etc. Origin: “British”, “Italian”, “American”, etc. Material: “wooden”, “brick”, “plastic”, etc. Type: “Human”, “domestic”, “electronic”, “economic”, etc. Size+quality+age+shape+colour+origin+material+type+purpose A hard (quality) wooden (material) seat » /« A new (age) chemical (type) formula ». C) « A comfortable seat », « A good meal », « A boring film »… / Catégorie 3. Les adjectifs se rangent en 1 + 2 + 3 en partant du nom vers la gauche, d’où le schéma suivant : 3 + 2(size-quality-age-shape-colour-origin-material-type-purpose)+ 1+ NOUN. Ex : « A fine white cotton shirt » / « A cheerful old London pub » / “A beautiful tall black man”. /mémo 6/.
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MAIS :
« A brief hostile discussion », « A horrible big building “/ «A big horrible building ». « a soft, comfortable chair »/« a bright, cheerful smile ». « A dignified old lady » / « A pale young man », « A soft and comfortable chair » / « A nice and warm room » / «A black and white tee-shirt
“A cheap but effective solution”. B) Predicative position “This film seems boring”.,
To be/seem/to find/to think/to imagine/to get/to make/want/to prefer/to suppose/to like/to consider/to declare/ to believe/ to assume/ to call, etc. “They found this film boring”. « This beer is famous, Irish and expensive », « I’ve got a friend keen on fishing » = « I’ve got a friend (who is) keen on fishing”, “Pick the fruit when ripe” = “Pick the fruit when (it is) ripe”, “If possible, I should like some time to think it over” = “If (it is) possible, I should like some time to think it over”, “Secretary General /court martial/Attorney General/Alcoholics Anonymous/ The sum total/ God almighty/from time immemorial”.
Adjectives which can be used in the predicative position only: - afraid/alike/awake/alive/alone/asleep/ashamed → « The children were soon asleep » et non pas «The asleep children » MAIS “The half-asleep children” , - glad/pleased/upset → « I am glad the week is over », - ill/well/sick/unwell → « Several members of staff were ill last week » MAIS “A sick child” / “The child is sick”. C) Different meanings in different positions « The president is late » versus «The late president was very famous », “A late bus” versus “The bus is late”, “She’s a beautiful dancer” versus “The dancer is beautiful”, “The present situation is difficult” versus “I was present at the meeting”. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EXERCICES 2 sur 14 A) Translate into English: 1) Les enfants, tout à fait éveillés, appelaient leur mère, 2) Le passager malade demanda au chauffeur de bus de s’arrêter, -Phrase en français à traduire avec “actuellement” ou phrase en anglais à traduire avec “actually” B) Translate into French: 3) “Sky-high gas prices partnered with record-setting corn and wheat prices have led to the worst case of food inflation in nearly 20 years”, 4) “Nowhere are the food snobs more insufferable than in the comparatively low-income precincts of university humanities departments”,
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5) - Xenophobia-driven attacks, - A fast-melting glacier, - Independent, life-tenured judges, - “Family-friendly reforms” (“New mothers and fathers will get the right to take six months off work together under family-friendly reforms being unveiled by David Cameron today), - Man-made climate change, - Do-it-yourself chemical laboratories, - Sweeping climate-change bill, - A die-hard proponent of a solution, - Over-the-counter treatment, - A fast-growing economy. C) Translate into English using compound adjectives: 6) - Des cours individuels, - Une vision partiale (de la guerre), - L’invasion américaine (de l’Irak), - (Une série) de ressources utilisant Internet, - (Une propagande) en faveur de la guerre, - (Des milliers) d’invités internationaux de haut vol/de haut niveau, - Un ouragan comme il n’en arrive qu’une fois par siècle. Find the right order for the following adjectives: 7) A…company (industrial, famous, German) 8) Two….discs (green, round, tiny) 9) A… plan (street, large, informative) 10) …..difficulties (financial, major, increasing) 11) A….box (cardboard, old, broken)
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