Grading of Qualitative Adjectives

Most qualitative adjectives in English and Ukrainian are gradable.

Gradibility in both languages is achieved by means of the positive, the comparative

and the superlative degrees. The way of grading may be synthetic or analytical.

The synthetic way of grading is restricted to base (one syllable) adjectives (big,

bigger, biggest); two-syllable adjectives in -y, -er, -ow, -le (happy, clever, narrow,

simple); two syllable adjectives with the concluding stressed syllable (concise,

complete, etc). In colloquial emphatic speech they may be graded in the analytical

way, too: It appeared to me that he was more clever and cold than they

were…(Ibid)

The analytical forms of grading are more often employed in English than in

Ukrainian, eg.: important, more/less important, most/least important).

In Ukrainian the synthetic way of grading is more often used. It is formed by

means of the suffixes -іш/-ш and the prefixes най-, щонай-, якнай -, eg: добрий, добріший, найдобріший/якнайдобріший; сміливий, сміливіший, найсміливіший, etc.

The comparative and the superlative (or both) degrees of some Ukrainian

adjectives may be formed by analytical means, most of which are intensifying

adverbs більш/менш важливий, багато/набагато важливіший, значно

сильніший.

Of isomorphic nature in the contrasted languages is the existence of

suppletivity (in actually the same adjectives), eg: good, better, best; bad, worse,

worst; little, less, least; добрий, кращий, найкращий.

Ukrainian adjectives may be formed by diminutive and augmentative

suffixes, such as –еньк-, -есеньк-, -ісіньк-, -юсіньк -, (гарненький, тонюсінький), and – езн-, -енн-, -ач-/-яч-, -ущ-/-ющ- (величезний, добрячий,

багатющий).

Isomorphic is the process of adjectivation of some parts of speech: beaten

track – битий шлях, biting frost – пекучий мороз, the well-to-do people –

заможні люди, the then-trainer – тодішній тренер.

Common is also the process of substantivization of adjectives in English and

Ukrainian: a relative, a black/white, a monthly/weekly, Brown/the Browns;

прийомна, слідчий, черговий, Береговий – wholly substantivized; the poor, the

rich, the young; головне, важливе, основне, (ходити в) теплому, шовковому,

бути в літньому – partially substantivized, having no number, gender, case

distinctions in English, and being of neuter gender in Ukrainian.

 

The numeral. Classes of numerals and their isomorphic/allomorphic features in the contrasted languages.

 

The numeral in the contrasted languages has a common implicit lexicogrammatical

meaning expressing quantity (two, ten, twenty-one), part of an object

(one-third, two-fifths) or order of some objects (the first, the tenth).

The numerals in the contrasted languages fall into some common and

divergent subclasses. Common are 1) cardinal; 2) ordinal and 3) fractional

(common and decimal fractions). In Ukrainian all numerals are declinable, having

number, case and gender distinctions: десять, десяти, десятьом; другий,

другого, другому; дві цілих і три десятих, двом цілим і трьом десятим).

Apart from the above-given Ukrainian has two more subclasses of numerals.

They are: 1) the indefinite cardinal numerals (кілька/декілька,

кількадесят/кількасот, багато/небагато); 2) collective numerals which

denote totality or indivisible unity (двоє, троє, тринадцятеро).

The numerals in English and Ukrainian may have the following structure: 1)

simple (one, two; один, десятеро, двійко, чимало). 2) derivative numerals,

pertaining to English only (cf. thirteen … nineteen, twenty…ninety). 3)

Compound numerals in English are all from twenty-one to ninety - nine. In

Ukrainian, compound are numerals in – надцять (from одинадцять to дев’ятнадцять), all tens (from двадцять to дев’яносто) except сто; the fractionals півтора, півтораста; the indefinite cardinals кількадесят,

кількасот, and all ordinals derivated from compound cardinals (одинадцятий, двохсотий). 4) composite in the contrasted languages are numerals consisting of compound + simple numerals or vice versa, eg: twenty two hundred and thirtyone;дві тисячі триста сорок один). Composite are also fractional numerals, such as one fifth, three ninths, one and two fourths; одна третя, три цілих і одна четверта.

 

Isomorphism and allomorphism in the classes of verbs in the contrasted languages. Ways of expressing morphological categories.

 

The main classes of verbs as to their functional significance are common in

the contrasted languages. These are a) notional verbs (go, ask; іти,

запитувати); b) auxiliary verbs. The latter split into primary (be, do, have; бути,мати), modal (can, may, must, could, should, need; могти, мусити, сміти,мати, etc.) and linking verbs (appear, look, become; ставати, виявлятися,здаватися).

English lexical/nominal verbs split into two subclasses which are not

available in Ukrainian. These are: 1) regular verbs forming their past stem and the

past participle with the help of the ending – ed: dressed, worked; 2) irregular

verbs having their past stems and the past participle formed by the way of

alteration of their base vowel: bind – bound – bound, take – took – taken.

Suppletive verbs are common in English and Ukrainian: cf. be – was – were, go –

went; бути – є, іти – пішов, пішла.

Ukrainian nominal verbs may belong either to the first declension group or

to the second declension group. Verbs of the first declension group have the ending

– уть, -ють in the third person plural (ведуть, дають). Verbs of the second declension group have the ending –ать, -ять in the third person plural (кричать,горять).

As regarded their role in expressing predicativity, verbs in the contrasted

languages may be a) of complete predication or b) of incomplete predication.

Verbs of complete predication split into some common groups singled out on the

basis of their implicit dependent grammatical meanings. These groups are:

1. Subjective verbs (always intransitive), like to act, to go, to sleep, to

glisten; діяти, йти, спати, блищати, тощо). 2. Objective verbs (transitive

only): to give, to take, to envy; брати, давати, заздрити і т.д.). 3. Terminative

verbs, expressing action having final aims: to close, to open, to come, to find;

зачиняти, приходити, заходити). 4. Durative verbs, expressing action with no

final aim: to like, to love, to hate, to hope; подобатись, любити, ненавидіти. 5).

Mixed-type verbs, which can have both terminative and durative meaning: to sit, to

stand, to know, to remember; сидіти, стояти, знати. 6. Reflexive verbs, which

are formed in English with the help of reflexive pronouns oneself, myself,

ourselves: to wash oneself, to shave oneself, to see herself in the mirror, etc.

Note. Closely connected with impersonal and reflexive verbs in Ukrainian

are a number of impersonal verbs used to form impersonal sentences. The verbs

constitute semantically different groups, like вечоріє, дніє, розвидняється,

примерзає, нудить, хочеться, віриться; не було, не стало, таланить; бракує,

вистачає тощо.

Verbs of incomplete predication are presented in English and Ukrainian in

three common groups which are as follows:

1. Auxiliary verbs (to be, to do, to have, shall/will), which are used in the

corresponding person and tense form to express in English the following categorial

meanings of the verbs: a) the continuos aspect (he is/was reading a book); b)

some forms of the subjunctive mood (He ordered we should go);

c) the passive voice (The passage is/was translated). Auxiliary verbs in Ukrainian

are restricted to one бути which is polyfunctional and is used to form: a) the

passive voice (текст був перекладений); b) the analytical future tense (текст

буде перекладений); c) some subjunctive mood forms (якби я був знав, я був

би прийшов); d) the pluperfect tense form, which fully corresponds to the English

past perfect. (Cf. Ніби й задрімав був зразу, але щось приверзлось, то й

проснувся. (Головко).

2. Close to the auxiliary by their function (and often by their lexical

meaning, too) are English and Ukrainian modal verbs. Their number and

nomenclature is larger in English than in Ukrainian. Cf.:

English: can, may, must should, would, ought, have/be, shall, will, dare, need.

Ukrainian: вміти, могти, мусити, слід, треба, мати, сміти, потребувати.

3. Linking verbs in both languages form a verbal or mixed-type compound

predicate. They fall into three groups:

a) Linking verbs of being: to be, to feel, to look, to seem, to taste, to smell

– бути, виявлятися, зватися, вважатися, доводитися (He looks young/tired).

b) Linking verbs of becoming: to become, to get, to grow, to turn –

ставати, робитися (They grew stronger / Вони стали сильнішими)

с) Linking verbs of remaining: He remained silent / Він зостався

задоволений.

English auxiliary verbs are used to form the present, past and future

continuous tenses (I am/was, shall be reading); the interrogative, negative and

future forms of the Indefinite group of tenses (Does he speak English? He did not

know me. Will he come soon?); the imperative mood/imperative and incentive

meaning (Do it now!) and the perfect forms of the verb (I have done it.)