Grammatical classes of words. Adjective. Types of adjectives. Adverb.

This part of speech is characterized by combinability with verbs and adjectives as well as other adverbs being modified. Adverbs perform the functions of various adverbial modifiers: of time, or place, or manner, or other. Referring to whole situations adverbs are called situation “determinants”. There are definite contexts in which adverbs join with nouns and achieve a peculiar purpose of mixed adverbial-attributive character [Bloch 2002]. This is the result of the nominalization of syntactic constructions in which the correspondent adverb functions as a regular adverbial modifier. In a sentence adverbs can fulfill the function of conjunctions, attaching the main clause or joining independent proposals as well as some adverbs play the role of subordinate allied words.
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The traditional term “parts of speech” was developed in Ancient Greek linguistics and reflects the fact that at that time there was no difference between language as a system and speech, word as a part of an utterance and a part of lexis. The term “parts of speech” itself is established by linguistics as a conventional, or “non-explanatory” term to denote the lexico-grammatical classes of words which correlate with each other in the universal structure of language.
There are three types of grammatical properties of words which distinguish classes of words known as parts of speech and traditionally make the criteria for the classification of parts of speech. The semantic criterion refers to the widespread semantic properties general to the whole class of words. The formal criterion includes such formal features as word-building and word-changing that are typical for a part of speech [Rayevska 1976: 89-90]. Combinability is am additional significant formal feature for each part of speech.

However, this is not exactly the case. Firstly, there are a number of qualitative adjectives which have no forms of comparison because their own semantics is either inherently comparative or superlative, or incompatible with the idea of comparison at all. What is more, some relative adjectives, when used figuratively, perform the same semantic function of qualitative assessment as qualitative adjectives proper and in such contexts acquire the ability to change their form according to the category of comparison. Therefore, the grammatically relevant division of adjectives should essentially be based not on general semantics, but their semantic function: the crucial semantic function of qualitative adjectives is evaluation, and they normally form the degrees of comparison; the basic semanticfunction of relative adjectives is specification, and they normally do not form the degrees of comparison. However, both qualitative and relative adjectives, when used in the evaluative function, form the degrees of comparison; when used in the specificative function, neither qualitative, nor relative adjectives form the degrees of comparison.
Adverbs make up a group of words varying widely in form and distribution. Considered in their morphemic structure, adverbs may be classified in eight groups. The first and the second of them are the largest groups formed from derived and base adjectives by adding the suffix -ly. The third group consists of those that are formed by means of the derivational prefix -a to nouns, adjectives or verbs. The fourth group is originally considered to be miniature, but in nowadays English exhibiting signs of fast expansion includes those formed by adding the suffix -wise to nouns. Then comes a smaller group of adverbs formed by the addition of the derivational suffix -ward(s) to a limited group of nouns; in this case adverbs have two forms, one with the final s and one without, variously distributed; those without s are homonymous with adjectives. Additionally, there is a group of adverbs formed by combining the pronouns every, any, some, no with a limited number of nouns or pronominal adverbs. Two more groups of adverbs includes those formed with about, down, in, around, before, inside and those having no formal signals at all to be distinguished.
The adverb is a notional part of speech denoting property, like the adjective, but denotes non-substantive properties: in most cases the properties of actions, or the properties of other properties, or the properties of the situations in which the processes occur. In other words, the adverb can be defined as a qualifying word of the secondary qualifying order, while the adjective is a primary qualifying word. The adverb is the least numerous and autonomous of all the notional parts of speech, and it has a immense number of semantically weakened words intermediary between notional and functional words; this the reason is why its notional part of speech status was doubted for a long time: the first grammarians listed adverbs among the particles.
This part of speech is characterized by combinability with verbs and adjectives as well as other adverbs being modified. Adverbs perform the functions of various adverbial modifiers: of time, or place, or manner, or other. Referring to whole situations adverbs are called situation “determinants”. There are definite contexts in which adverbs join with nouns and achieve a peculiar purpose of mixed adverbial-attributive character. This is the result of the nominalization of syntactic constructions in which the correspondent adverb functions as a regular adverbial modifier. In a sentence adverbs can fulfill the function of conjunctions, attaching the main clause or joining independent proposals as well as some adverbs play the role of subordinate allied words.