Some adverbs have degrees of comparison.

(a)If the adverb is a word of one syllable, the comparative degree 's formed by adding -er and the superlative by adding -est.

fast — faster — fastest hard — harder — hardest

(b)Adverbs ending in -ly form the comparative by means of more an d the superlative by means of most.

wisely — more

wisely — most wisely

beautifully — more

beautifully — most beautifully

(c) Some adverbs have irregular forms of comparison:

well — better — best

badly — worse — worst

much — more — most

little — less — least

 

§ 4. According to their meaning adverbs fall under several groups:

(1)adverbs of time (today, tomorrow, soon, etc.);

(2)adverbs of repetition or frequency (often, seldom, ever; never, sometimes, etc.);

(3)adverbs of place and direction (inside, outside, here, there, back­ward, upstairs, etc.);

(4)adverbs of cause and consequence (therefore, consequently, ac­cordingly, etc.);

(5)adverbs of manner (kindly, quickly, hard, etc.);

(5)adverbs of degree, measure and quantity (very, enough, half, too, nearly, almost, much, little, hardly, rather, exceedingly, quite, once, twice, firstly, secondly, etc.).

Three groups of adverbs stand aside: interrogative, relative and conjunctive adverbs.

Interrogative adverbs (where, when, why, how) are used in special questions.

Conjunctive and relative adverbs are used to introduce subordinate clauses.¹

Some adverbs are homonymous with nouns, adjectives, prepo­sitions, conjunctions², words of the category of state³ and modal words⁴.

See Chapter XVII, The Complex Sentence.

² See Chapter XII, The Preposition.

³ See Chapter VI, The Words of the Category of State.

⁴ See Chapter X, The Modal Words.

 

 

Chapter X

 

THE MODAL WORDS

§ 1. The modal words express the attitude of the speaker to the reality, possibility or probability of the action he speaks about.

§ 2. According to their meaning modal words fall under the following main groups:

(1)words expressing certainty (certainly, surely, assuredly, of course, no doubt, apparently, undoubtedly, etc.);

(2)words expressing supposition (perhaps, maybe, possibly, prob­ably, etc.);

(3)words showing whether the speaker considers the action he speaks about desirable or undesirable (happily — unhappily; luckily — un­luckily;fortunately — unfortunately).

§ 3. In the sentence modal words are used as parentheses.¹ Sometimes they are used as sentence-words.²

Certainly you'll admit we could finish all this in a month. (Wil­son)

"Will you allow me to detain you one moment," said he. " Cer­tainly," replied the unwelcome visitor. (Dickens)

§ 4. Most modal words have developed from adverbs, so very often there exists a formal identity between modal words and adverbs. For instance such modal words as certainly, surely, happily are homonymous with the adverbs certainly, surely, happily.

Such modal words as possibly, probably, indeed, also derived from adverbs, have no corresponding homonymous adverbs because the latter ceased to be used in Modern English.

Though formally identical with adverbs, modal words differ from them in meaning and syntactical function.

See Chapter XV, The Simple Sentence.

²Modal words used as sentence-words are similar to the words yes and no ex pressing affirmation and negation, which are also sentence-words.

If he were not married as happily as he was, might not something come of it? (Dreiser) (ADVERB)

... she hauled me to the washstand, inflicted a merciless, but happily brief scrub on my face and hands with soap water, and a coarse towel... (Ch. Bronte) (MODAL WORD)

Lamlein rose. "We have fulfilled our obligations," he said pomp­ously, and yet not quite certainly. (Heym) (ADVERB)

Soames smiled. Certainly, uncle Jolyon had a way with him. (Galsworthy) (MODAL WORD)

Slowly, surely, with the secret inner process that works the destruction of an old tree, the poison of the wounds to his hap­piness, his will, his pride, had corroded the comely edifice of his philosophy. (Galsworthy) (ADVERB)

Over the ridge she would find him. Surely she would find him over the ridge. (Wells) (MODAL WORD)

 

Chapter XI

THE INTERJECTION

§ 1. The interjection is a part of speech which expresses various emo­tions without naming them.

 

§ 2. According to their meaning interjections fall under two main groups, namely emotional interjections and imperative interjections.

1. Emotional interjections express the feelings of the speaker. They are: ah, oh, eh, bravo, alas, etc.

... A man jumped on top of the barricade and waving exuberantly shouted, "Americans! Hurrah!" (Heym) (joy)

Alas! The white house was empty and there was a bill in the window "To let". (Dickens) (sorrow)

Psha! There's no possibility of being witty without a little ill nature. (Sheridan) (contempt)

Oh, bother! I can't see anyone now. Who is it? (Shaw) (indigna­tion)

" Dear me!" says Mr. Chillip meekly smiling with something shin­ing in his eyes. (Dickens) (surprise)

2. Imperative interjections show the will of the speaker or his order or appeal to the hearer. They are: here, hush, sh-sh, well, come, now, etc.

Here! I've had enough of this. I'm going. (Shaw) (protest)

"Upon my word I was not awake, sir," replied Oliver earnestly. "I was not, indeed, sir." " Tush, tush, my dear!" said the Jew abruptly resuming his old manner. (Dickens) (order)

 

§ 3. Interjections may be primary and secondary.

1. Primary inteijections are not derived from other parts of speech. Most of them are simple words: ah, oh, eh_f pooh, hum, fie, bravo, hush. Only a few primary interjections are composite: heigh-ho! hey-ho! holla-ho! gee-ho!

2. Second interjections are derived from other parts of speech

They are homonymous with the words they are derived from. They are: w ell, now, here, there, come, why, etc.

(Derivative interjections should not be confused with exclamation- words, such as nonsense, shame, good, etc.)

Derivative interjections maybe simple: well, here, there, come, etc. and composite: dear me, confound it, hang it, etc.

Interjections are used as independent sentence-words or independ­ent elements of the sentence.¹

TheDaughter: Sixpence thrown away! Really mamma, you might have spared Freddy that.

TheGentleman: Phew! (Shaw)

Well, I don't like those mysterious little pleasure trips that he is so fond of taking. (Voynich)

Note. Formulas of courtesy, greetings, etc. should not be regarded as interjections. Thus, good-bye, thank you art not interjections because they do not express emotion or will.

See Chapter XV, §42.

 

Chapter XI

 

THE PREPOSITION

 

§ 1. The preposition is a part of speech which denotes the relations between objects and phenomena. It shows the relations between a noun or a pronoun and other words.

Usually the preposition is not stressed and stands before the word it refers to.

Desert moved quickly to the windows. (Galsworthy)

Sometimes, however, a preposition maybe separated from the word it refers to and placed at the end of the sentence or clause. In that case it is stressed.

But he sounds as though he knows what he's talking about. (Wilson)

The preposition may be weakly stressed before a pronoun.

She wrote the words to them herself, and other poems. (Galsworthy)

The preposition is stressed when its meaning is emphasized.

The book was in the table, not on it.

 

§ 2. As to their morphological structure prepositions fall under the following groups:

simple (in, on, at, for, with, etc.);

derivative (behind, below, across, along, etc.);

compound (inside, outside, within, without, etc.);

composite (because of, in front of in accordance with, etc.).

 

§ 3. According to their meaning prepositions may be divided into Prepositions of place and direction (in, on, below, under, between, et c .), time (after, before, at, etc.), prepositions expressing abstract relations (отвлеченные отношения) (by, with, because of with a view to, etc.).

The lexical meaning of some prepositions is quite concrete (e. g. j_n below, between, before, after, till, etc.), while that of some other prepositions may be weakened to a great extent (e. g. to, by, of).

For instance, the preposition to generally indicates direction or movement towards something:

Every night Sissy went to Rachel's lodging, and sat with her in her small neat room. (Dickens)

But in some cases the lexical meaning of the preposition to is weakened.

... all the house belongs to me, or will do in a few years. (Ch. Bronte)

Some prepositions are polysemantic and may express different relations; e. g .for:

Never once had Erik sensed the struggle for life. (Wilson) (pur­pose)

Even when their eyes had met and her sister had approached the bed, Louisa lay for minutes looking at her in silence... (Dickens) (time)

She could scarcely move her head for pain and heaviness, her eyes were strained and sore, and she was very weak. (Dickens) (cause)

§ 4. Some prepositions are homonymous with adverbs and conjunc­tions.

For instance, the prepositions after and before are homonymous with the adverbs after and before and with the conjunctions after and before.

There is an old saying that if a man has not fallen in love before forty, he had better not fall in love after. (Shaw) (ADVERB)

When he got back to Ann Arbor, he found Savina in a state of excitement because Trasker had heard from Regan after Erik had left. (Wilson) (CONJUNCTION)

"Where do you intend to stay tonight?" she asked after a mo­ment. (Wilson) (PREPOSITION)

The colour rushed into Bosinnev's face but soon receded, leaving it sallow-brown as before. (Galsworthy) (ADVERB) He did not write to her, and it was almost a year before he began to see her again. (Wilson) (CONJUNCTION)

This letter seemed to afford her peculiar satisfaction; she read it through twice before replying to the landlady. (Mansfield) (PREPOSITION)

Though identical in form, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions are different parts of speech. The adverb, unlike the preposition and conjunction, serves as part of the sentence, e. g. after is an adverbial modifier of time, etc.

 

§ 5. Some prepositions (on, in, by, over; off up) are homonymous with postpositions.¹

A preposition as well as a postposition does not perform any in­dependent function in the sentence. But while a preposition denotes the relation between objects and phenomena, a postposition is part of a composite verb.

A preposition is not usually stressed, while a postposition usually bears the stress.

We've got to live on what we earn. (Cronin) (PREPOSITION)

He liked Erik more than any of the assistants the department had taken on in a long time, as much as he could like one of the younger men. (Wilson) (POSTPOSITION)

See Chapter VII, §2.

 

 

Chapter XIII

THE CONJUNCTION