Hullo afresh
May anyone clarify what's the difference between base adjectives and strong adjectives and how can I differentiate between them ? And why are those sentences wrong?
1- She is very beautiful*
2- I was very exhausted*
And is it right that we use very with base adjectives and absolutely with strong adjectives ?!and whY?
And I'll be thankful
*****
NOT A TEACHER *****
Sir Shakespeare,
Thank you very much for your question. I am also waiting for a teacher
to answer. I will share with you the very little that I have learned.
(1) I do not think grammar books here in the United States use the
terms "base" and "strong" adjectives. I did some googling. I think
(think) that most Americans use the word
gradable adjectives
(for "base" or "weak" adjectives) and the word
non-gradable
adjectives ( for "strong" adjectives).
(2) As you know "gradable" (base) adjectives have degrees. For example,
"old" is a gradable adjective because you can say old/older/oldest. So
I can say that I am
very old.
(3) Non-gradable (strong) adjectives cannot have degrees. The books
tell us not to say "very dead." A person is dead or not dead. You cannot
say that X is deader than Y. Both X and Y are dead. That's it.
(3) Yes, I have read that some people classify "beautiful" as a
non-gradable adjective. They say that you cannot say "very"
beautiful. But I think that most Americans feel that "very beautiful"
is good English. We often say that X is more beautiful than Y. Of course,
if your teacher says that "very beautiful" is wrong, you must not
disagree with him/her. But I think that other posters will agree that
native speakers have no problem with "very beautiful."
(4) Regarding "exhausted," I found on the Internet a lesson from the
BBC (that wonderful radio station in London). It says that "exhausted"
is a non-gradable adjective. I guess that means that you are exhausted
or not exhausted (like "dead," "perfect," "unique," etc.). So that lesson
says you should not say "very exhausted." Rather, you should say:
"absolutely exhausted."
Well, that is all that I know (think I know) about this matter, so I shall
stop and wait for the teachers to explain more to us.
*****
NOT A TEACHER *****