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VANADZOR STATE UNIVERSITY NAMED AFTER HOVH.

TOUMANYAN

TERM PAPER
FACULTY: Philological

DEPARTMENT: English Language and Literature

YEAR: IV

SUBJECT: English Grammar

THEME: Contrastive Study of Adjectives in


English and Armenian

SUPERVISOR: Nune Marikyan

STUDENT: Arpine Minasyan

VANADZOR
2022
Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………….........................................3

Chapter One

The Main Types and Characteristics of Adjectives in Armenian ……………...........................4

1.1Classification of Adjectives ……………………………………………………………….5

1.2Types of Adjectives ……………………………………………………………………….6

1.3 Degrees of Comparison of Qualitative Adjective ………………………………………8

Chapter Two

The Main Types and Characteristics of Adjectives in English ………......................................11

2.1 Structure of Adjectives …………………………………………………………………....12


2.2 Types of Adjectives in English ………………………………………………………….13
2.3 Degrees of Comparison of English Adjectives ………………………………………...16

Chapter Three

The Comparative Analysis of Adjectives in English and Armenian…………………...............20

3.1 Similarities …………………………………………………………………………………20

3.2 Differences …………………………………………………………………………………22

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………24

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………….26

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Introduction

The subject matter of our term-paper is the comparative analysis of typological


features of adjectives in English and Armenian.

The general meaning peculiar to adjectives is that of property. Each adjective used in
the text presupposes relation to some noun the property of whose referent it denotes
such as its material, color, positions. It has neither number, nor case, nor gender distinctions.
Some adjectives have degrees of comparison.

Our term paper consists of Introduction, three chapters, conclusion and the list of
references.

The Introduction introduces the subject matter of the investigation and specifies the goals
that must be achieved.

Chapter One, “The Main Types and Characteristics of Adjectives in Armenian”, consists
of three paragraphs that give us general notion about the main types of adjectives in
Armenian and their characteristic features. It also includes some information about the
formation of adjectives, their order in the sentence and their degrees of comparison.

Chapter Two, “The Main Types and Characteristics of Adjectives in English” deals with
the types of Adjectives in English, including its formation, degrees of comparison, royal
order in the sentence.

Chapter Three, “The Comparative Analysis of Adjectives in English and Armenian”, we


draw parallels between the main characteristic features of adjectives in the contrasted languages
and tried to reveal the main differences and similarities observed in these languages.

Conclusion sums up all the observations made in the investigation. It shows all the
differences and similarities of adjectives English and Armenian.

In the References we give the list of books and the internet sources that have
been used by us.

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CHAPTER ONE

The Main Types and Characteristics of Adjectives in Armenian

In Armenian Language there are ten parts of speech. One of


them is the adjective. The words show attitude of subject called
adjectives1.They describes and modifies the nouns. Adjectives answer
the question what kind? Adjectives nearly always appear immediately
before noun, but in poems it often appear after the noun.
E.g. I have a small and good-tempered dog. In this sentence
new and good-tempered words are adjectives and describe the noun
(dog).
Armenian adjectives in a sentence can be
 supplement of noun: high mountain, warm weather, naughty child,
 a part of predicate: Our river’s water is cold.
Adjectives in Armenian have no inflection, article and plural form
(His cheeks are red). But they are widely used as noun and give
their forms. For example: Red (կարմիրը) suits him really well. Our
competitors play in red. (կարմիրով):

There are words that can be used both as noun and adjective:
calm, poor, past, widowed, future, rebel, last, relative, crazy, thief, dark,
cold, wild, traitor, familiar, holy, sick, liar, neighbor, military, scientist,
volunteer, wealth etc. 2

1
https://www.imdproc.am/p/hayoc-lezu/7-dasaran/atsakan-9892/atsakani-hamematutyan-astichannery-9895/re-
f81dd080-e583-4110-9bf8-3dd01f3c6dcf
2
Հայոց լեզու 7, Հ. Բարսեղյան, Փ. Մեյթիխանյան,Երևան,Աստղիկ գրատուն,2011,էջ 42
4
1.1 Classification of Adjectives

There are simple, compound and derivative adjectives.


Simple: funny, wet, rich, wild, red, delicious, cold, handsome, sensitive,
mild etc.
Compound adjectives are consist of two or more words.
 number+noun: five-minute, one-way, thirty-page
 noun+noun: ձյուն+փայլ/ snow+shine – ձյունափայլ (snowy),
գազանասիրտ/ beastheart
 noun+verb: գրագետ-educated, կարկտահար/ruined of hail
 adjective+noun: long-distance, high quality, գանգրահեր- curly hair
 adjective+verb: բարեկամ- native, կարճատև- short-term,
բարեգուշակ- to guess the good3
 adjective+past participle: open-minded, cold-blooded, strong-willed, old-
fashioned.
 adjective+present participle: good-looking, easy-going
 adverb+past participle: well-educated, well-behaved,highly-respected
Derivative adjectives have either sufixes or prefixes. The most
commonly used sufixes of the adjective are:
 -ական: հայկական - armenian, երաժշտական - musical,
հերոսական- heroic etc.
 -ային: դաշտային – field, սպորտային – sports, ազգային-
national etc.
 -ե and -յա: serve to indicate relation to the material, e.g.,
արծաթե or արծաթյա- silver, ոսկե or ոսկյա- golden,
փայտե or փայտյա – wooden etc.
 -ոտ , -ուն: shows the presence of some quality inside or on
surface of the object, e.g., յուղոտ– greasy,ժանգոտ- rusty,
կեղտոտ - dirty, փոշոտ - dusty, իմաստուն - wise, փայլուն -
shiny, հնչուն - resonant etc.

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Ժամանակակից հայոց լեզու -Ա.Սուքիասյան, Ք. Սուքիասյան, Մ. Ֆելեքյան Եր., ԵՊՀ հրատ., 2017, էջ
312, 313
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 -ավոր: գունավոր - colored, լուսավոր - light, վիրավոր-
wounded , փառավոր- glorious etc.
 -ավուն: indicates incompleteness, insufficience of the quality,
e.g., դեղնավուն - yelowish, երկարավուն - longish,
կարմրավուն - reddish etc.
 - ավետ: shows predominance of some quality: հոտավետ-
fragrant, բուրավետ – aromatic etc.
 -ելի, -ալի: հաճելի- pleasant, սիրելի - lovely, զարմանալի-
amazing, ցանկալի - desirable etc.
There are a number of prefixes in the Armenian language
which form adjectives in negative meaning. Such as:
• ան-: անառողջ – unhealthy, անազնիվ - dishonest
անտուն - homless, անխելք - stupid
• ապ-: ապերախտ - ungrateful, ապօրինի - illegal,
ապերջանիկ - unhappy
• դժ-: դժբախտ - unfortunate, դժգոհ - dissatisfied, դժգույն
– pale
• տ-: տգեղ - ugly,տկար - week, տհաճ – unpleasant
• չ-: this prefix is only used in some words, e.g., չկամ-
malevolent, չտես – barren.
The most commonly used negative prefix is ան- (un-,dis-,less-).

1.2 Categories of Adjectives and their peculiarities

Adjectives in the Armenian language can be qualitative


(որակական) and relative (հարաբերական).
1. Qualitative adjective is used to describe the features or
qualities of a noun, that is the attribute of a subject (a
person, place, thing). Qualitative adjectives indicate a

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feature which is specific to that object regardless of
others: bright star, cold water, solid wall. They are
gradable. Different subjects can have the feature in
different sizes. For example: high mountain, higher
mountain, the highest mountain. Qualitative adjective has
its antonym: wide - narrow, high – low.4
Several qualitative adjectives haven't degree of
comparison, such as blind, deserted, deaf, barefoot, naked,
male, female, bald, pair, last, pregnant, hungry, lame, free,
close, equal etc.5
2. Relative adjectives denote the attribute of the object
through relation to another object, that is,they name the
attribute that indicates the relation: wooden door, night
coolness, medical instruments. In these word
combinations wooden, night and medical adjectives
denote the relation to the nouns door, coolness and
medical. Relative adjectives can also be expressed by
word combinations: wooden – made of wood, winter coat –
coat for winter. All relative adjectives denote the
variable attributes of the objects. They don't have a
degree of comparison.We cannot say more wollen coat
or more mountainian lake.6 The suffixes are the feature
of the relative adjectives: -ական / -al (musical), -եղ/ -y
(tasty), ան-,
-less (harmless), -լի/- ful (hopeful), -ավոր/-ous
(dangerous) etc.

1.3 Degrees of comparison of qualitative adjectives


Qualitative adjectives are gradable into three form. These forms
denote degree of comparison. They are the positive, the

4
http://shahbazyansona2005.wordpress.com
5
http://elengyulumyan.wordpress.com
6
https://www.imdproc.am/p/hayoc-lezu/7-dasaran/atsakan-9892/atsakani-hamematutyan-astichannery-9895/re-
f81dd080-e583-4110-9bf8-3dd01f3c6dcf
7
comparative and the superlative forms. Actually only the
comparative and superlative show degrees.
 The positive form denotes the feature of the
object without comparing with the attribute of
other objects: fresh air, blue sky, mild weather,
charming smile.
 The comparative is used for comparing two
things: My brother is taller than me.
 The superlative adjectives are used to
describe an object which is at the upper or
lower limit of a quality. The superlative degree
is formed by means of word ամենա-, which is
put before the adjective, e.g.
խելացի, ամենախելացի – wise, wisest
կարևոր, ամենակարևոր – important, most important
բարձր, ամենաբարձր –high, highest
մեծ, ամենամեծ – big, biggest.
They are used in sentences where a subject is compared to a
group of objects.
How to form comparative adjectives.We usually add more
(առավելական) or less (նվազական) to positive form to make
comparative: more hardworking, more interesting, more tired, less
creative, less expensive.
We use than when we want to compare one thing with
another.
David is more hardworking than Aram.
Masis is higher than Aragats.
Jorge is less enthusiastic than Susana.

How to form superlative adjectives. We usually add -est


prefix to positive form to make superlatives or most before positive
form: latest, coldest, happiest, tallest, most important, most expensive,
most careful.

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E.g. Adana is a rich woman, but Rosie is richer than Adana
and Sadie is the richest woman in the town.
In this sentence rich is positive, richer is comparative, richest is
superlative form.

Should nօt confuse!

1. գույն գոյականը -(ա)գույն ածանցի հետ7/ the noun color to


suffix -est

վարդագույն / pink

արծաթագույն / silver գոյական

նարնջագույն / orange

խստագույն / the strictest

խորագույն /the deepest ածանց

նորագույն /the newest, latest

2. գին գոյականը -ագին ածանցի հետ / the noun price to


suffix -est

էժանագին / the cheapest


գոյական/ noun
թանկագին / the most expensive

մթագին / the darkest


ածանց / suffix
թախծագին / the saddest

3.ամեն(ա) արմատը ամեն(ա)- ածանցի հետ / the root


ամեն(ա) to prefix ամենա-

արմատ/root. ամենակարող «ամեն ինչ կարողացող» /


almighty-having complete power

7
Հայոց լեզու 7-Հ.Բարսեղյան, Փ.Մեյթիխանյան, Երևան, Աստղիկ գրատուն,2011, էջ 47
9
ամենագնաց «ամեն ճանապարհով գնացող» / going all the
way
ամենահաղթ «ամենքին հաղթող» / the most victorious

ամենակուլ «ամեն ինչ կլանող» /engrossing, absorbing

ածանց/suffix. ամենալավ «ամենից լավ» / the best

ամենագեղեցիկ «ամեինց գեղեցիկ» / the most beautiful

ամենաքնքուշ «ամենից քնքուշ» / the most tender

ամենածույլ «ամինից ծույլ» / the laziest

right wrong
ամենալավ- լավագույն / the best ամենալավագույն / the bestest

CHAPTER TWO

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The Main Types and Characteristics of Adjectives in English

An adjective describes a person, a thing, which a noun refers to.


Adjectives are the most used parts of speech in sentences. We use
adjectives to say what a person or a thing is like, e.g. the tall
professor, a month's pay, a six-year-old child, the richest man etc.
Adjectives normally indicates quality, size, shape, duration, feelings,
contents and more about a noun or pronoun. They usually provide
relevant information about the nouns (pronouns they modify)
describe by answering the questions: What kind? How many? Which
one? How much? Adjectives enrich your writing and speech by
adding precision and originality to it.
Example: The team has a dangerous batsman. (What kind?)
I have five candies in my pocket. (How many?)
I liked that small dog. (Which one?)
My brother earn more money than I do. (How much?) 8
An adjective can also describe the idea contained in a whole
group of words.
E.g. Professor Roberts' lecture on magnetism was fascinating.
If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an
adjective, it is called an Adjective Clause. E.g. My sister, who is
much older than I am , is an engineer. If an adjective clause is
stripped of its subject and verb, the resulting modifier becomes an
Adjective Phrase: He is the man keeping my family in the
poorhouse.9
Unlike Adverbs, which often seem capable of popping up
almost anywhere in a sentence, adjectives nearly always appear
immediately before the noun or noun phrase that they modify or
after the verb ''to be''. For instance, in the sentence, ''I like the green
shirt,'' the adjective is placed in front of the noun. But in this

8
https://www.learngrammar.net/english-grammar/adjective
9
http://guidetogrammer.org/grammer/adjectives.htm
11
sentence, ''The shirt is green'', a form of ''to be'' is followed by the
adjective.
There are a few very important exceptions to that rule. Certain
adjectives never stand in front of nouns: afraid, alive, alone, asleep,
glad, pleased, sorry, upset, ill, well/fine.
E.g. She is afraid of spiders. Not possible: The afraid girl.
The boy is sorry. Not possible: The sorry boy
The dog is ill. Not possible: The ill dog.

2.1 Formation of Adjectives


There are various ways to form adjectives from nouns and
verbs as follow:
Add ‘-al’: music-musical, nation-national, person-personal
Add ‘-ful’: care- careful, doubt-doubtful, peace-peaceful
Add ‘-ic’: acrobat- acrobatic, artist- artistic, photograph-photographic
Add ‘-ive’: attract - attractive, act- active, effect- effective, instruct-
instructive.
Some words can be both adjectives and adverbs as follow:
early, fast and late. It’s important to distinguish how they are used.
E.g. We arrived a little early for lunch. (Adjective)
We arrived early so we still had time before lunch.(Adverb)
You are a fast driver these days. (Adjective)
You drive fast these days. (Adverb)
Compound adjectives are often written with hyphens. Some of the
commonest types are:
Compound adjectives formed with participles, etc.
E.g. a candle-lit table,
a tree-lined avenue,
a long-playing record,
Compound adjectives of measurement,

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Cardinal numbers combine with nouns (usually singular) to form
compound adjectives relating to time, measurement,etc.
E.g. Age: a three-year-old building
Area /volume: a two-litre car
Duration: a four-hour meeting
Lenght/depth: a six-foot hole
Price: a 50$ dress
Time/distance: a ten-miute work
Weight: a ten-stone man

Ordinal numbers can be used in compounds :


E.g. a first-rate film, a second-hand car, a third-floor flat etc.
Compound adjectives formed with prefixes and suffixes
E.g. class-consciouse, tax-free, waterproof, fire-resistant
Many compounds can be formed with well and badly, -
behaved, -built, -done, -paid etc.

2.2 Types of Adjectives

Descriptive
Descriptive adjectives can be classified into different categories
such as color, size, sound, taste, touch, shape, time, personality and
age.
Colors as adjectives: Green, Red, Yellow, Blue, White
Sizes as adjectives: Big, Small, Thin, Thick, Large
Shapes as adjectives: Round, Square,Triangular,Circular
Qualities as adjectives: Good, Bad, Mediocre
Personality traits as adjectives: Happy, Angry, Sad, Depressed
Time as adjective: Yearly,Weekly,Monthly,Annualy

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Predicative
This form of adjective isn't part of the noun phrase followed
by the noun it modifies but it is the complement of a copulative
function, which links it to the noun. For instance, in the sentence,
“The house is big”, the predicative adjective here is “big” , which is
linked to the noun “house” by the verb “is”. Most of the
descriptive adjectives can be also used as predicative adjectives.
However, there are also few adjectives, which are only used
predictively. They are words such as “Afloat”, “Afraid”, “Alive”,
“Alone”, “Asleep” and “Aglow”.

Personal Titles
Titles such as Mr, Mrs, Auntie, Uncle, Dr and Lord are
classified as adjectives, if they are attached in front of a name. For
instance, in the sentence “Did you visit Uncle Neil on your way
back home?” Here the word “Uncle” is an adjective.

Possessive Adjective
This form of adjective is used in a sentence before a noun to
indicate possession. For instance, in the sentence, “Do not toch on
my diary. It is personal.” The word “my” inserted just in front of
the noun diary is the adjective. Few other examples of possessive
adjectives are “your”, “his”, “her”, “our”, “their”, etc.

Demonstrative Adjective
This form of adjective is used to demonstrate or indicate
certain things. For instance, in the sentence, “Parents of only those
students, who have not managed to pass in all subjects will have to
come tomorrow’s parents-teachers meeting.” Other such adjectives
are “this”, “that”, “these”, “those” etc.

Indefinite Adjectives

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While demonstrative adjectives point out specific things,
indefinite adjectives do not indicate anything specific. Indefinite
adjectives are formed from indefinite pronouns and the most
common ones among them are “any”, “many”, “few”, “several”, etc.

Quantitative
This type of adjectives describe the quantity of something. In
other words, they answer the question “how many?” or “how
much?” Numbers like one and thirty are this type of adjective. So
are more general words like many, half and a lot.
E.g. “How many children do you have?” “I only have one
daughter”.
“Do you plan on having more children?” “Oh yes, I want
many children!”
“I can’t believe I ate that whole cake!”

Interrogative
Interrogative adjectives interrogate, meaning that they ask a
question. These adjectives are always followed by a noun or a
pronoun and are used to form questions. The interrogative adjectives
are:
 Which - Asks to make a choise between options
 What - Asks to make a choise (in general)
 Whose - Asks who something belong to
Other questions words, like “who” or “how”, aren’t adjectives
since they don’t modify nouns. For example, you can say “whose
coat is this?” but you can’t say “who coat?”
Which, what and whose are only considered adjectives if they’re
immediately followed by a noun. The word which is an adjective in
this sentence: “Which color is your favourite?” But note in this one
“Which is your favourite color?”
E.g. “Which song will you play on your wedding day?”
“What pet do you want to get?”

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“Whose child is this?”

Distributive
Distributive adjectives describe specific members out of group.
These adjectives are used to single out one or more individual
items or people. Some of the most common distributive adjectives
include:
 Each - every single one of a group (used to speak about
group members individually).
 Every – Every single one of a group (used to make
generalizations).
 Either – One between a choise of two.
 Neither – Not one or the other between a choise of two.

 Any – One or some things out of any number of


choices.This is also used when the choice is irrelevant,
like “it doesn’t matter, I’ll take any of them”.10

2.3 Degrees of Comparison of English Adjectives

Qualitative adjectives have three different degrees: the positive,


the comparative and the superlative. Actually, only comparative and
superlative show degrees.
1.The positive- an adjective may simply describe a
quality:green, kind, nice, lovely, far etc. We use the Positive degree to
compare two equal nouns.
Example: His head is as big as my head.
2. Comparative Adjectives – We use the Comparative degree e to
compare two unequal nouns.

10
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/english-adjectives
16
Example: His head is bigger than my head.
They are used in sentences where two nouns are compared, in
this pattern:
noun(subject) +verb+ comparative adjective+ than +
noun(object)
E.g. My house is larger than hers.
Your car is faster than Jim’s car.
The weather is better today than yesterday.
3.Superlative – Superlative adjectives are used to describe an
object which is at the upper or lower limit of a quality ( the tallest,
the smallest, the highest). They are used in sentences where a
subject is compared to a group of objects.
Noun (subject) + verb+ the superlative adjective + noun(object)
E.g. My house is the largest one in our neighborhood.
Your dog was the fastest of any dog in the race.
I was the tallest girl in our classroom.
Forming regular comparatives and superlatives
The form depends on the number of syllables in the original
adjective.
One syllable adjectives: Add -er for the comparative and -est
for the superlative. If the adjective has a consonant + single vowel
+ consonant spelling, the final consonant must be doubled before
adding the ending.

Positive Comparative Superlative


tall taller tallest
fat fatter fattest
big bigger biggest
sad sadder saddest

Two syllables
Adjectives with two syllables can form the comparative either
by adding -er or preceeding the adjective with more. These
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adjectives form the superlative either by adding -est or preceeding
the adjective with most. In many cases, both forms are used,
although one usage will be more common than the other. If you
are not sure whether a two-syllable adjective can take a
comparative or superlative ending, use more or most instead. For
adjectives ending in y, change the y to an i before adding the
ending.

Positive Comparative Superlative


happy happier happiest
simple simpler simplest
busy busier busiest
tangled more tangled most tangled

Three or more syllables


Adjectives with three or more syllables from the comparative
by putting more in front of the adjective, and the superlative by
putting most in front.

Positive Comparative Superlative


important more important most important
expensive more expensive most expensive

Irregular comparatives and superlatives


These very common adjectives have completely irregular
comparative and superlative forms.

Positive Comparative Superlative


good better best
bad worse worst
little less least
much more most
far further/farther furthest/furthest
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E.g. Today is the best day I’ve had in a long time.
Your painting is better than mine.
Our house is far from town,but Ani’s house is even farther11.

If you are using more than one adjective in a sentence, you


should list them in the following order:1. number (three, few),
2.opinion (lovely,nice), 3.size (large,tiny),4.shape (round,square),5.age
(new, antique), 6.color (pink, bright), 7.pattern (stripped, plaid),
8.origin (English,German), 9.material (plastic,wood), 10.purpose
(race,camping,cleaning).

E.g. The four large yellow plastic beach balls were on sale.
I got a nice little old leather journal for my birthday.

CHAPTER THREE

The Comparative Analysis of Adjectives in English and Armenian

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Adjective is an essential part of speech, which helps to modify a

noun in any particular sentence. It has two main roles in a sentence.

While predicative adjectives modify a noun that follows it and is linked

by a verb, attributive adjectives modify a noun by directly being linked to

the noun as part of the noun phrase. Adjectives don’t form a part of

speech in all languages. In several Native American languages, verbs are

used to fill in the role adjectives play in case of English language. When

we compare the adjectives in English and Armenian we find both

similarities and differences. Adjective is one of the most used parts

of speech both in English and Armenian. It enriches your speech

and writing. Attributive adjective is more complicated in English

than in Armenian. English has so exceptions as rules. When we

compare the adjectives in English and in Armenian we see that

there are more similarities than differences.

3.1 Similarities

1. Both in English and Armenian , attributive adjectives modify the

noun.

2. Adjectives are the most used parts of speech in sentences and


have an important role as they enrich your writing and speech
by adding precision and originality to it.

3. As Armenian adjectives, English also normally indicate quality,


size, shape, duration, feelings and more about a noun.

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4. Adjectives nearly always appear immediately before noun: pretty
girl- գեղեցիկ աղջիկ, mild weather- մեղմ եղանակ:

5. They answer the question what kind? - ինչպիսի ՞:

6. Adjectives have no inflection, article and plural form but they are
widely used as noun and give their forms.

7. There are simple, compound and derivative adjectives. There are


various ways to form adjectives from nouns and verbs as
follow : -al, -ic, -y, -able, -ish, -ive etc.

8. According to their meaning adjectives are divided into two


main groups: qualitative and relative. Qualitative adjective
is used to describe the features or qualities of a noun, that is
the attribute of a subject (a person, place, thing). Qualitative
adjectives are gradable into three form. They are the positive, the
comparative and the superlative forms. Actually only the
comparative and superlative show degrees. Relative adjectives
denote the attribute of the object through relation to another
object, that is,they name the attribute that indicates the relation:
They don't have a degree of comparison.

9. Qualitative adjectives have three degrees of comparison: positive,


comparative, superlative.

10. We form comparative adjectives adding more / ավելի


(առավելական) or less (նվազական) / նվազ,պակաս:more
comfortable - ավելի հարմարավետ, less hardworking- պակաս
աշխատասեր: Superlative adjectives: most/ ամենա and -est/ -
ագույն` the most beautiful-ամենագեղեցիկ, brave-bravest/ քաջ-
ամենաքաջ:

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11. Both in English and Armenian there are some words that have
two ways of forming superlative: cleverest-the most
clever,common-the commonest and in Armenian ամենալավ-
լավագույն (the best),խիստ-խստագույն (strictest):12

12. As in English as in Armenian several qualitative adjectives haven't


degree of comparison, such as blind, deserted, deaf, barefoot, naked, male,
female, bald, pair, last, pregnant, hungry, lame, free, close, equal etc.

13. As in English in Armenian also it is wrong when we use both

the most and -est suffix. We may say quietest but not the most

quietest.

3.2 Differences

1. In English we add -er for the comparative and -est for the

superlative but adjectives with three or more syllables from

the comparative by putting more in front of the adjective,

and the superlative by putting most in front. In Armenian it

doesn’t depend on syllables. For the comparative we only

put more (ավելի) or less (պակաս,քիչ) in front of the

adjective and for the superlative most (ամենա,ամենից) and

-est to the positive form (-ագույն,-ագին):

2. In English these very common adjectives have completely

irregular comparative and superlative forms: good-better-best,

bad-worse-worst, much-more-most etc. while in Armenian we

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form the comparative and the superlative in the same way

as the others: լավ-ավելի լավ-ամենալավ, վատ - ավելի

վատ - ամեավատ, շատ - ավելի շատ-ամենաշատ:

3. Unlike Armenian in English there are some words that have

two ways of forming comparative: quiet-quieter/ more

quit,clever-cleverer/more clever, gentle-gentler/more gentle,

narrow- narrower, more narrow, etc.

4. If the adjective has a consonant + single vowel + consonant

spelling, the final consonant must be doubled before adding

the ending (big-bigger). In Armenian there is no doubling:

մեծ-ավելի մեծ:

5. For adjectives ending in y, change the y to an i before

adding the ending (happy-happier).But in Armenian there is

no letter changing.

6. If you use more than one adjective in a sentence, you

should list them in the following order:1. number 2.opinion

3.size, 4.shape, 5.age, 6.color, 7.pattern, 8.origin, 9.material,

10.purpose. Unlike the English in Armenian we don't have to

list the adjectives.

CONCLUSION

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The comparative analysis of adjectives in English and in Armenian

reveals the following similarities and differences.

 the general meaning peculiar to English adjective is that of

property.

 in the sentence the adjective performs the functions of attribute

and a predicative (a good book, the book is good).

 all the adjectives are traditionally derived into two large

subclasses: qualitative, relative.

 relative adjectives express such properties of a substance as are

determined by the direct relation of the substance to some other

substance.

 qualitative adjectives, as different from relative ones, denote

various qualities of substances, which admit of a quantitative

estimation.

 adjectives have two degrees of comparison: comparative and

superlative.

 Armenian adjectives are words that describe or modify another

person or thing in the sentence.

 as in English, Armenian adjectives are also derived into

qualitative and relative subclasses.

 in Armenian there are three degrees of comparison: positive,

comparative, superlative.

The present study reaches to the conclusion that attributive

adjectives are more complicated in English than in Armenian. In English

there are several exceptions of forming the comparative and the

superlative while in Armenian it is steady in general. When we

form the comparative and the superlative we do some letter

changing, but in Armenian no. We use ''the'' with superlative, in

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Armenian there isn’t any article. We saw that in English we have to do

classification when we use a few adjectives in a sentence, but in

Armenian it is easy, because we don't classify the adjectives. Both in

English and Armenian the adjective is one of the most used parts

of speech and it modify the noun. According to position, they are

also alike. We put the adjective before the noun. Also, we have

studied form and we can conclude that in English, adjectives have no

special form, but some adjectives are characterized by certain suffixes

and some of them are considered to be irregular past participle forms of

verbs. On the other hand, in Armenian adjectives, in general have

certain suffixes.

Thus, we can see that there are not many differences between

Armenian and English adjectives.

Bibliography

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1. Հ. Բարսեղյան,Փ. Մեյթիխանյան, Հայոց լեզու 7, Երևան,
Աստղիկ գրատուն 2011,176 էջ
2. G. Gasparyan,N. Hovhannesyan, H. Khachberuny, English 7,
Yerevan 2008,Մակմիլան-Արմենիա,159 page
3. Ա. Սուքիասյան, Ք. Սուքիասյան, Մ. Ֆելեքյան
Ժամանակակից հայոց լեզու Երևան, ԵՊՀ հրատ., 2017,462 էջ

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2. http://elengyulumyan.wordpress.com
3. http://shahbazyansona2005.wordpress.com
4. https://www.learngrammar.net/english-grammar/adjective
5. http://guidetogrammer.org/grammer/adjectives.htm
6. https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/english-adjectives
7. https://www.ef.com/ca/english-recources/english-grammer/
comparative-and-superlative
8. https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/145683/conundrum-
cleverer-or-more-clever-simpler-or-more-simple-etc

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