BASIC ENGLISH REVIEW
9. ADJECTIVES / ADVERBS
9.1 ADJECTIVES
9.1.1 COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES
The three degrees of comparison:
Absolute: young / easily.
Comparative: younger / more easily.
Superlative: youngest / most easily.
The inflectional suffixes are -er for the comparative and -est for the superlative. A small group of adjectives form comparatives and superlatives in a different way: good ... better ... best; bad ... worse ... worst; far ... further / farther ... furthest / farthest. See the changes in spelling (final): big ... bigger ...biggest; early ... earlier ... earliest; brave ... braver ... bravest; free ... freer ... freest.
Inflection of adverbs: well ... better ... best; little ... less ... least; badly ... worse ... worst; much ... more ... most.
9.1.2 QUANTIFIERS (ADJECTIVES)
Many / a few / several occur only with plural count nouns: ‘the few words were well chosen’. ‘He found a few individuals [= several] / ‘He found few individuals’ [= not many]. ‘It contains a little sugar [= some/ / ‘It contains little sugar’ [= not much]. NOTICE: the quantifier little must be distinguished from the homonymous adjectives as in ‘A little bird is singing’.
Some/any. Some means ‘a certain (not large) number or amount of’, and is mostly used in affirmative sentences: ‘She’s got some interesting ideas’. But also in questions when a yes is expected: ‘Could I have some coffee’? Any is used in negative sentences, in most questions, with if, and with words like hardly, without, doubt ... [= a negative kind of meaning]. ‘Do you know any good books on biology’? ‘If you find any mistakes, tell me’. ‘We got there without any difficulty’. ‘There’s hardly any book left’.
Enough: used with count and non-count nouns: ‘There are enough plants in this area’ / ‘He has enough experience’. It can also be used alone (without noun): ‘I can give some pieces if you haven’t enough.
Too: it has sometimes, a negative force as in ‘She’s too old to do any work’ / ‘The grass is too short to cut’ / ‘He’s too poor to own a car’. It has the sense of ‘more than enough’ as in ‘It’s too long’.
NOTICE: the opposite of ‘He didn’t pass the exams because he didn’t work hard enough’ is ‘He passed the exams because he worked too hard’.
NOTE on usage of also / too / as well: ‘He speaks English and he also writes it’ [= it seems more formal]. ‘I’ve read her articles on this subject and I’ve read her book as well / too [= are less formal and usually come at the end of the sentence].
9.1.3 ADJECTIVES: ORDER BEFORE NOUNS
a) colour // origin // material // purpose // noun
brown // Brazilian // leather // riding // boots
a Venetian // glass // flower // vase
b) SIZE, LENGTH and HEIGHT COME FIRST
'a long, flexible steel rod'; 'a tall, thick ancient oak-tree'.
c) NUMBERS USUALLY COME FIRST
'six large eggs'; 'the second big explosion'.
9.2 ADVERBS (and CONJUNCTS)
ADVERBS WITH THE VERB (WORD ORDER):
a) Before the verb (when using always and almost): ‘I always go by walking’. ‘She almost fell as she was going down the stairs’.
b) Before the negative: ‘He probably will not see you’.
c) After am / is / are / was / were: ‘Besides feeling tired I am also hungry’. ‘The traffic is not usually bad’. ‘After the field work we were terribly thirsty’. ‘You are never on time’.
d) After the first verb: ‘I can never remember her name’. ‘Are you definitely going tomorrow’? ‘His car has probably been stolen’.
AS MODIFIERS:
a) An adverb may premodify an adjective: ‘That was a very funny situation’. ‘It is extremely good what happened’. ‘The bird has a really beautiful colour’.
b) An adverb postmodifies an adjective: ‘high enough’.
c) Besides very, other adverbs are intensifiers: so / pretty / rather / unusually / unbelievably. Many are restricted to a small set of words: deeply / highly / strikingly / sharply. There are also expressions like ‘technically possible’, ‘theoretically sound’ ...
d) Intensifiers: quite / rather. ‘The animal is quite strong but rather slow-moving’ [quite with a positive idea and rather with a negative idea]. Rather is mainly used with a negative idea: ‘It’s rather difficult, I’m afraid’! Quite is less than ‘very’ but more than ‘a little’: ‘That scientist is quite famous’ / ‘It’s quite cold today’.
Quite means completely with a number of adjectives, especially: sure / certain / right / wrong / true / safe / clear / obvious / different / unnecessary / incredible / extraordinary / amazing / impossible. We can say ‘I quite agree with you’ [= I completely agree] and ‘I don’t quite understand what you mean’ [= not completely].
e) Still / yet / already
Still is used to say that a situation or action is continuing: ‘It’s 10 o’clock and she is still in bed’. ‘Is it still raining’? [it usually goes in the middle of the sentence].
Yet means ‘until now’; it is used mainly in negative sentences and questions: ‘It’s 10 o’clock and she hasn’t got up yet’. ‘Has it stopped raining yet’? ‘I have written the letter but I haven’t posted it yet’. ‘I am hungry. Is dinner ready yet’?
Already is used to say that something happened sooner than expected. It usually goes in the middle of the sentence: ‘They’ve arrived already’. ‘I’ve only just had lunch and I’m already hungry’. NOTICE the difference between already and yet in questions: ‘Haven’t you seen him already’? [= it expects an affirmative answer] / ‘Haven’t you seen him yet’? [= yet leaves open whether the answer is negative or positive].
AS INTENSIFIERS:
‘Emphasizers’ (most are adverbs): actually, certainly, clearly, definitely, indeed, obviously, plainly, really, surely, for certain, for sure, of course; and frankly, honestly, literally, simply, fairly (BrE), just. Maximizers: absolutely, altogether, completely, entirely, fully, quite, thoroughly, utterly; in all respects; most. Boosters: badly, deeply, greatly, heartily, much, so, violently, well; a great deal, a good deal, a lot, by far; exclamatory how; more.
See some differences: ‘They wounded him deeply’ (emotional wounding) / ‘They wounded him badly’ (physical wounding). Greatly is used with verbs having a favourable implication: ‘Your help would be greatly appreciated’; and utterly with verbs having an unfavourable implication: ‘She utterly failed in her MSc thesis’.
‘Downtoners’ with a lowering effect on the force of the verb: the diminishers partly, slightly, somewhat; in part, to some extent; a little; a bit; the negative minimizers barely, scarcely, hardly, little; in the least, in the slightest, at all; and the approximators: almost, nearly, as good as, all but.
OF FREQUENCY
a) always, continually, frequently, occasionally, often, once, twice, periodically, repeatedly, sometimes, usually etc.
b) ever, hardly ever, never, rarely, scarcely ever, seldom.
CONJUNCTS
Most conjuncts are adverb phrases or prepositional phrases (see PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES, in 7). A list of common conjuncts (the majority is used in ‘Scientific English’) is given below:
Enumerative: first (ly), secondly, thirdly, to begin with, to start with, in the first place, in the second place; next, then; finally, last, lastly; to conclude.
Reinforcing: also, furthermore, moreover, in addition, above all, what is more.
Equative: equally, likewise, similarly, in the same way.
9.3 EXERCISE
Match the expressions of the left with the ones on the right:
1 chocolate milk........a)book describing cases
2 milk chocolate........b)chocolate made with milk
3 book case.............c)leather for making shoes
4 case book.............d)drawing done in ink
5 leather shoe..........e)garden with flowers in
6 shoe leather..........f)ink used for drawing
7 flower garden.........g)milk flavoured with chocolate
8 garden flower.........h)piece of furniture for books
9 ink drawing...........i)flower that grows in gardens
10 drawing ink..........j)shoe made of leather
ANSWERS
1g; 2b; 3h; 4a; 5j; 6c; 7e; 8i; 9d; 10f.
Try to get the best understanding on the sentences below (and the best 'understandable' translation)
1. a) The new government measures angered employers and employees alike.
b) The government new measures angered employers and employees alike.
2. A recent nuclear accident in Japan was worse than previously realized.
3. a) The actual safety procedures raise suspicious that the government may be guilty of negligence.
b) The safety procedures actually raise suspicious that the government may be guilty of negligence.
4. a) Learning systems is important.
b) Learning systems are important.
5. ‘Forest precedes civilization, deserts follow them’ [François Auguste René de Chateubriand].
6. a) It was not apparent how the whale died, it seemed to have no injuries.
b) The solution to the problem was apparent to all.
c) He was the apparent winner of the election.
7. 'Pontal dos Seixas' is the easternmost point of Brazil.
8. See the difference:
a) I used to study hard every night.
b) I am used to study hard every night.
9. ‘Experience is the name that every one gives to their mistakes’ [Oscar Wilde]
10.‘The first aim of education should not be to prepare young people for careers, but to enable them to develop a respect for life’ [Norman Cousin]
11. ‘There is no “applied science”, but application of science’ [Louis Pasteur]
12. ‘The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error’ [Bertolt Brecht]
13. ‘God is an invention of Man. So the nature of God is only a shallow mystery. The deep mystery is the nature of Man’ [Nanrei Kobori, Buddhist Sanctuary, Kyoto]
14. ‘Many are called but few are chosen’ [The Bible]
15. ‘Brush your teeth with the best toothpaste. Then rinse your mouth with industrial waste’ [Tom Lehrer]
16. ‘Religion without science is blind; science without religion is lame’ [Albert Einstein]
17. ‘We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect’ [Aldo Leopold]
18. ‘I thought I saw a blue jay this morning. But the smog was so bad that it turned out to be a cardinal holding its breath’ [Michael J. Cohen]
19. ‘We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer, Tomorrow. His name is Today’ [Gabriela Mistral, Noble Prize-winning Poet from Chile]
20. ‘True growth occurs as civilizations transfer an increasing proportion of energy and attention from the material side of life to the nonmaterial side and thereby develop their culture, capacity for compassion, sense of community, and strength of democracy’. [Arnold Toynbee]
21. ‘It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practise either of them’ [Mark Twain]
22. ‘A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal’ [Oscar Wilde]
23. ‘...I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character’ [Martin Luther King]
24. ‘A technological society has two choices. First, it can wait until catastrophic failures expose systemic deficiencies, distortions, and self-deceptions...Second, a culture can provide social checks and balances to correct for systemic distortions prior to catastrophic failures’ [Mahatma Gandhi]
25. ‘He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career’ [Bernard Shaw]
26. ‘Alcohol is a very necessary article...It enables Parliament to do things at eleven at night that no sane person would do at eleven in the morning’ [Bernard Shaw]
27. ‘Some people think football is a matter of life and death...I can assure them it is much more serious than that’ [Bill Shankly]
28. ‘All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others’ [George Orwell]
29. ‘When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food they call me a communist’ [D. Helder Pessôa Câmara]
30. ‘Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism’ [Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychologist]
31. ‘What is the worst ethical sin in science? Fraud. What next? Plagiarism’ [CBE, Scientific Style and Format]
32. ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics’. [Disraeli, nineteenth-century British prime minister]
33. ‘I hate to spread rumours, but what else can one do with them’? [Amanda Lear]
SCIENTIFIC TEXT
Since 1988 hundreds of lives have been saved by the three ounces of blood contained in a typical placenta and umbilical cord. That blood is now known to be a rich source of so-called hematopoietic stem cells, the precursors of everything in the blood from infection-fighting white blood cells to the red blood cells that carry oxygen to the platelets that facilitate blood clotting after an injury. The stem cells from a single placenta are sufficient to rebuild the blood and immune system of a child with leukemia, whose own white blood cells are abnormally dividing and must be killed by chemotherapy. In the past, physicians had to seek a living donor to provide such children with transplants of bone marrow, which also contains stem cells that produce blood and immune cells. Cord blood, which can be stored, is more likely to provide a suitable match and less likely to cause complications, because its stem cells are immunologically different from and more tolerant than those in adult bone marrow.
The umbilical cord blood transplantation can also help to restore normal red blood cells in people with sickle cell anemia, to reconstitute the immune system of infants born with severe combined immunodeficiency and to treat fatal inherited enzyme deficiencies.
Recognizing the apparent advantages of umbilical cord blood transplantation, a number of medical centres have established banks so that a mother can donate her baby’s cord blood for use by a stranger in need. But like many new scientific discoveries, umbilical cord blood transplantation brings with it a set of ethical questions. The New York Blood Center’s Placental Blood Program now has 13,000 banked donations. Who owns umbilical cord blood: the parents, the mother, or the infant? What happens if a mother donates her baby’s cord blood to a bank but the child later develops leukemia and needs it? Is it right for the company that maintain the bank to market their services which can cost $1,500 for collection and $95 per year for storage when the chance a child will ever need his or her cord blood ranges from 1 in 10,000 (according to New York Blood Center) to 1 in 200,000 (according to the National Institutes of Health)?
There are more exciting uses for cord blood. One day an infant born with a genetic defect of the bone marrow or blood may be able to have his umbilical cord blood harvested at birth, repaired by genetic engineering and then re-infused, so that he would never need suffer the negative effects of his or her genetic inheritance.
N.B. The title of this text is: CORD STEM CELLS SAVE LIVES BUT RAISE QUESTIONS (Scientific American, April 2001: 32-37)
QUESTIONS
1. Why could blood from placenta and umbilical cord be deemed as a rich source of life?
2. Which cells in the organism play the role to stop bleeding?
3. Why stem cells would be important for children with leukemia?
4. Which old technique would be replaced by the use of stem cells in children with leukemia?
5. What is said in the text about the use of stem cells for treating anemia, enzyme deficiencies, and immunodeficiencies?
6. What is alleged in the text, in statistics terms, about the right of the company to exploit stem cells transplantation?
7. How would genetic engineering would make use of cord blood?
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