The adjective is a word expressing a quality of a substance.

2. The adjective has the following morphological characteristics:

Most adjectives have degrees of comparison: the comparative degree and the s uperlative degree.

The comparative degree denotes a higher degree of a quality.

She is taller than her sister.

The superlative degree denotes the highest degree of a quality.

She is the tallest of the three sisters.

(The noun modified by an adjective in the superlative degree has the definite article because the superlative degree of the adjective always implies limitation.)

Adjectives form their degrees of comparison in the following way:

a) by the inflexion -er, -est (synthetically way);

b) by placing more and most before the adjective (analytical way).

I. Adjectives of two syllables which end in -у, -ow, -er, -le.

	happy	happier	(the) happiest
narrow		narrower	(the) narrowest
	clever	cleverer	(the) cleverest
	simple	simpler	(the) simplest

 

2. Some adjectives have irregular forms of degrees of comparison, e. g.:

good better (the) best

bad worse (the) worst

many, much more (the) most

little less (the) least

farther (the) farthest

far further (the) furthest

older (the) oldest

old elder (the) eldest

 

3. Spelling rules.

1. If the adjective ends in a consonant preceded by a stressed short vowel the consonant is doubled before -er, -est.

sad sadder (the) saddest

big bigger (the) biggest

2. If the adjective ends in -y preceded by a consonant, у is changed into i before -er and -est.

busy busier (the) busiest

happy happier (the) happiest

3. If the adjective ends in -e the -e is dropped before - er and - est.

brave braver (the) bravest

fine finer (the) finest

 

4. The adjective has the following syntactical characteristics:

In a sentence the adjective may be used as an attribute or as a predicative.

Laura was terribly nervous. (Mansfield) (predicative»

5. Morphological composition of the adjective.

Adjectives are divided into simple, derivative and compound. Simple adjectives are adjectives which have neither prefixes nor suffixes.  e. g. good, red, black. Derivative adjectives are adjectives which have derivative elements, suffixes or prefixes or both: beautiful, foolish, hopeless. Compound adjectives are adjectives built from two or more stems. The main types of compound adjectives are as follows:

noun-stem +f+ adjective-stem: snow-white.

noun-stem + participle-stem: life-giving, smoke-dried.

adjective-stem+ adjective-stem: deaf-mute.

adjective-stem +f+ noun-stem + suffix -ed: cold-hear Led.

noun-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: lynx-eyed.

numeral-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: four-wheeled.

adverb-stem + noun-stem + suffix -ed: over-peopled.

 

Grammar Practice.

1. Give the comparative and the superlative degree of the following adjectives.

bright, hot, wide, easy, brave, good, active, nervous, fine, fat, bad, profitable, dirty, old, beautiful, thin, courageous.

 

2. Answer the following questions.

1. Which month is longer: March or April? 2. Is Kiev larger than Minsk? 3. Which is the largest city in the Ukraine? 4. Which is the largest city in the United States of America? 5. Is the Black Sea deeper than the Caspian Sea? 6. Which is the deepest lake in the world? 7. When days are longer: in winter or in summer? 8. Which is the longest day of the year? 9. Which is the shortest month of the year? 10. When is it warmer: in April or in May? 11. When is it colder: in October or in November? 12. Which country is larger: England or the United States of America? 13. Which is the highest mountain in the world?

 

 

UNIT 4. 4.1 Reading Practice         THE CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT.

 

It is common practice in computer science for the words 'computer' and 'processor' to be used interchangeably. More precisely, 'computer', refers to the central processing unit (CPU) together with an internal memory. The internal memory, control and processing components make up the heart of the computer system.

Manufacturers design the CPU to control and carry out basic instructions for their particular computer. The CPU coordinates all the activities of the various components of the computer. It determines which operations should be carried out and in what order.

The CPU can also retrieve information from memory and can store the results of manipulations back into the memory unit for later reference. In digital computers the CPU can be, divided into two functional units called the control unit (CU) and the arithmetic-logical unit (ALU). These two units are made up of electronic circuits with millions of switches that can be in one of two states, either on or off. The function of the control unit within the central processor is to transmit coordinating control signals and commands.

The control unit is that portion of the computer that directs the sequence or step-by-step operations of the system, selects instructions and data from memory, interprets the program instructions, and controls the flow between main storage and the arithmetic-logical unit. The arithmetic-logical unit, on the other hand, is that portion of the computer in which the actual arithmetic operations, namely, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and exponentiation, called for in the instructions are performed. Programs and the data, on which the control unit and the ALU operate, must be in internal memory in order to be processed. Thus, if located on secondary memory devices such as disks or tapes, programs and data are first loaded into internal memory.

Oral practice