Слова английского языка делятся на 8 частей речи. Каждый член английского предложения принадлежит только 1 части речи. Поэтому для представления картины предложения необходимо определить принадлежность его членов. Третьим по важности после глагола (обозначающего действие) и существительного (обозначающего человека, место или предмет) считается имя прилагательное.
Вкратце, прилагательное описывает существительное. Это его главная и единственная функция, для выполнения которой оно отвечает на 3 вопроса.
Который?
Which one? – The big combo – Какой из них? – Большой ансамбль
that lovely dress – то милое платье
the blue color – синий цвет
Что за…?
What kind of? – The growing crisis – Какого типа? – Нарастающий кризис
a green apple – зелёное яблоко
a great job – великолепная работа
Сколько?
How many? – 5 measly dollars – Сколько? – 5 жалких долларов
several people – несколько людей
very numerous mistakes – куча ошибок
При этом артикли, местоимения и числительные перед прилагательными выступают как бы полуприлагательными, описывающими последующие существительные. Они стоят в функции определения, но ещё сохраняют свои части речи.
English Joke
A woman was thinking about finding a pet to keep her company at home. She decided she would like to find a beautiful parrot; it wouldn’t be as much work as say, a dog, and it would be fun to hear it speak. She went to a pet shop and immediately spotted a large beautiful parrot. She went to the owner of the store and asked how much. The owner said it was 50 bucks. Delighted that such a rare looking and beautiful bird wasn’t more expensive, she agreed to buy it.
The owner looked at her and said, ” Listen, I should tell you first that this bird used to live in a whorehouse. Sometimes it says pretty vulgar stuff. ” The woman thought about this, but decided she had to have the bird. She said she would buy it anyway. The pet-shop owner sold her the bird and she took it home. She hung the bird’s cage up in her living room and waited for it to say something.
The bird looked around the room, then at her, and said, “New house, new madam. ” The woman was a bit shocked at the implication, but then thought, ” That’s not so bad. ” A couple of hours later, the woman’s two teenage daughters returned from school. When they inspected the bird, it looked at them and said, ” New house, new madam, new whores. ” The girls and the woman were a bit offended at first, but then began to laugh about the situation.
A couple of hours later, the woman’s husband came home from work. The bird looked at him and said, ” New house, new madam, new whores; same old faces. Hi, George! “