张维友英语词汇学教程第四.ppt

Words fully converted: A noun fully converted from an adjective has all the characteristics of nouns. It can take an indefinite article or –(e)s to indicate singular or plural number. Words partially converted: Nouns partially converted from adjectives do not possess all the qualities a noun does. They must be used together with definite articles as nouns while retaining some of the adjective features. The gradable adjectives can keep their comparative or superlative degrees. Words in this category generally denote a group of the kind. 3) Miscellaneous Conversion This covers nouns converted from other classes rather than verbs and adjectives such as conjunctions, modals, finite verbs, prepositions, etc. 2. Conversion to verbs As is often the case, a noun can be converted to a verb without any change. Denominal Verbs converted from nouns are semantically related to the original nouns in a variety of ways. 2) De-adjectival Conversion of adjectives into verbs is not as productive as that of nouns. The verbs thus converted are semantically simple, that is, they can be used either transitively to mean ‘to make…A’ or intransitively ‘to become A’. Occasionally, one may find pairs of verbs, one being converted from the adjective and the other derived from the adjective through suffixation. The two verbs are interchangeable. 3. Conversion to Adjectives This type of conversion is much less productive than the other two that have been discussed. It occurs mostly between nouns and adjectives. Generally, mass and material nouns can be used as adjectives. Some nouns are used simply to replace the derived adjectives from the same word. There is not much different between the noun-form adjective and the adjective as far as meaning is concerned. Others, however, show a great discrepancy. Phrases hyphenated can be used as adjectives. In some cases, conversion is accompanied by certain nonaffixal changes which affect pronunciation or spelling or stress distribution. The most common