Module 1

Module 1: Basic Elements

1.1 Parts of Speech 詞類

Day 3: General Observations about Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives 形容詞

An adjective is a word that describes or limits a noun or pronoun. It usually precedes the noun or pronoun it modifies. There are several types of adjective: 形容詞是一個用來描述或限制名詞或代名詞的字. 它通常用在所修飾的名詞和代名詞前

1. Possessive adjectives

are similar or identical to possessive pronouns

擁有格形容詞和擁有格代名詞很相近甚至相同.

e.g. my, your, his, her, its, our and their

2. Demonstrative adjectives

are identical to demonstrative pronouns

指示形容詞和指示代名詞是相同的.

e.g. this, that, these, those and what

3. Interrogative adjectives

are similar to interrogative pronouns 疑問形容詞和疑問代名詞很相近

e.g. What book are you reading?

4. Indefinite adjectives

are similar to indefinite pronouns 不定形容詞和不定代名詞很相近

e.g. many, much, any and more

5. Qualitative adjectives

describe quality 質量形容詞形容質量

e.g. clever, smart, good, bright, thin, etc.

6. Distributive adjectives

indicate the separate individuals of a group 配分形容詞表示集體裡的每一個個體

e.g. every, each, either and neither

Sometimes, we classify adjectives by their position in a sentence.

有時候我們可以按形容詞在句中的位置而分類.

Attributive adjectives (前置形容詞) are found immediately before the word(s) they modify 會在修飾的詞前

e.g. I am reading an interesting book.

Appositive adjectives (同位形容詞) occur after linking verbs or the verb “to be”

e.g. The doctor, young but experienced, remains calm during the surgery.

Predicate adjectives(述語形容詞) follow the word(s) they modify

e.g. My sister is beautiful.

Adjectives have three different degrees of comparison.

形容詞有三個不同比較的程度

The Positive degree (expresses a quality without comparison)

正常狀態 (表達物件沒有比較下的狀態)

e.g. big, small

The Comparative degree (expresses a higher or lower degree than the positive degree)

比較狀態(表達一個比正常狀態高或低的程度)

e.g. bigger, smaller

The Superlative degree (expresses the highest or the lowest degree when comparing more than two persons or things)

最高狀態(當比較多於兩個物件或人時, 用來表示最高或最低的程度)

e.g. the biggest, the smallest

Adverbs 副詞

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. It indicates manner, time, place, cause, or degree and answers questions such as "how," "when," "where," "how much". Adverbs can easily be identified by their suffixes (e.g. -ly, -wards, -wise, and -ways).

副詞是一個用來修飾動詞, 形容詞或其他副詞的詞語. 它可以用來表示方式,時間 ,地點 ,原因,程度和回答諸如 “how," "when," "where," "how much"的問題. 因為副詞有-ly, -wards, -wise, and –ways這些後綴, 所以我們可以輕易地找到它們.

There are three main types of adverb: simple, interrogative and conjunctive.

一般有三大類副詞: 簡單式, 疑問式和連接式

1. Simple adverbs are usually one-word adverbs

簡單式副詞一般是一個字的副詞

e.g. quickly

2. Interrogative adverbs are used when asking questions

疑問式副詞一般是用於提問的

e.g. Where have you been?

3. Conjunctive adverbs are used to connect dependent clauses to the remainder of the sentence

連接式副詞是用來連接附屬子句到句子的其餘部份.

e.g. whenever, while, as, since, until, etc.

Adverbs, like adjectives, also have three degrees of comparison:

副詞跟形容詞一樣, 是有三種不同比較程度的

The Positive degree (describes without comparing)

正常狀態 (表達物件沒有比較下的狀態)

e.g. fast, slow

The Comparative degree (expresses a higher or lower degree than the positive)

比較狀態(表達一個比正常狀態高或低的程度)

e.g. faster, slower

The Superlative degree (expresses the highest or the lowest degree when comparing more than two actions)

最高狀態(當比較多於兩個動作時, 用來表示最高或最低的程度)

e.g. fastest, slowest

Note: An adverb can be a word, a phrase or a clause (see topic 2.5 “Adverbs” for more details).

注意: 副詞可以是一個字, 一個短語或一個子句 (你可以到2.5“Adverbs”那一課去參考更多資料)

Let’s do some exercises!