Mastering Nouns and Adjectives: Forms and Meanings

The Noun: Forms and Meanings

Form: Substantive features can receive inflections of gender and number. For example: Dog: Dog-o (masculine gender inflections).

Grammatical Number and Inflections

The Number: This is a grammatical change that provides information as to whether the referent of the noun is one (singular) or more than one (plural). Inflectional markers include -s and -es for plural, or a null marker for singular.

Classification of Nouns by Meaning

• Common or Proper Names: Common names refer to all beings in the same class (e.g., piano, balcony). Names of people are called anthroponyms (e.g., Gabriela, Maria, Mario), and place names are called toponyms (e.g., Madrid, Salamanca).
• Concrete or Abstract Names: Concrete names designate specific sense-perceptible things, even if they are imaginary (e.g., unicornio, house, table). Abstract nouns denote an idea or a quality of being (e.g., hermosura, tranquil beauty).
• Individual and Collective Nouns: Individual nouns designate a single element of a class or assembly in the singular (e.g., arbol, bee). Collective nouns are singular terms designating a set of individual beings considered similar or alike (e.g., grove, swarm).
• Countable and Uncountable Nouns: Countable nouns designate things that can be separated and counted (e.g., minute, leaf, house). Uncountable nouns cannot be counted, even if they can be measured or weighed (e.g., sugar, time).

The Adjective: Characteristics and Values

Form: Morphologically, the adjective is a class that receives nominal inflections of gender and number.

• Gender: There are adjectives that do not mark the distinction by a gender morpheme (e.g., agradable, idealistic). Consistency is maintained in the masculine or feminine through other words instead of a morpheme (e.g., an idealist male, an unhappy female).
• Number: Adjectives have the same morphemes as nouns: singular (null) and -s or -es for the plural. Only some maintain the same form for both singular and plural (e.g., free).

Adjective Values and Functions

• Specifying Value Adjectives: These draw a property that distinguishes the object designated by the noun from among other possible ones (e.g., the blue pen, the White House).
• Explanatory Value Adjectives: These indicate a property of a being or object not intended to distinguish it from other beings that the noun can refer to (e.g., the white snow, the gentle breeze).

Degrees of Adjectives

• Positive Degree: This does not express any kind of gradation and simply expresses the quality (e.g., guapo, list, pretty, high).
• Comparative Degree: Intensity is expressed by putting the quality in relation to another element.
  • Superiority: More handsome.
  • Equality: Equally handsome, so handsome as...
  • Inferiority: Less tall.
• Superlative Degree: The quality of the adjective expresses a high degree or the maximum intensity.