The Classification of Words

§ 106. The same holds true with regard to (the) most beautiful and (the) least beautiful. But here a new objection is raised ^г. In the expression a most interesting theory the indefinite article is used, whereas* a prettiest child is impos­sible. Thus there seems to be some difference between the synthetic superlative and the analytical one.
One must not forget that more and most are not only word-morphemes of comparison. They can also be notional words. Moreover, they are polysemantic and polyfunctional words. One of the meanings of most is "very, exceedingly". It is in this meaning that the word most is used in the expression a most interesting book ².
The notional word more in the meaning "to a greater extent" can also be used to modify adjectives, as in It's more grey than brown (Hornby). More grey is here a com­bination of words. It is not the comparative opposite of grey.
¹ В. Н. Жигадло, op. cit., p. 42.
² See M. Ganshina, N. Vasilevskaya, op. cit., p. 70. Note.
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§ 107. As we know (§ 61), with regard to the category of the degrees of comparison adjectives fall under two lexico-grammatical subclasses: comparables and non-comparables. The nucleus of the latter is composed of derived adjectives like wooden, Crimean, mathematical, etc., denoting some relation to the phenomena the basic stems refer to. Thus, a wooden house is 'a house of wood', Crimean 'weather is 'weather typical of the Crimea', etc. These adjectives are called relative as distinct from all other adjectives called qualitative.
Most qualitative adjectives buildup opposemes of compar­ison, but some do not:
a) Adjectives that in themselves express the highest degree
of a quality.
E. g. supreme, extreme, etc.
b) Those having the suffix -ish which indicates the degree
of a quality.
E. g. reddish, whitish.
c) Those denoting qualities which are not compatible
with the idea of comparison.
E. g. deaf, dead, lame, perpendicular.
Naturally, all the adjectives which have no comparative and superlative opposites are outside the category of com­parison, but they are united by the oblique or lexico-gram-matical meaning of the positive degree *.
§ 108. The positive degree does not convey the idea of comparison. Its meaning is absolute. It is, as it were, the initial stage, the norm of some quality. As Jespersen puts it, the positive degree is, as a matter'of fact, negative in relation to comparison ².
E. g. A nice girl, a witty remark.
The comparative degree and the superlative-degree are both relative in meaning. If we say Peter is older than Mary, it, by no means, implies that Peter is old (he may be five years old, whereas Mary is four), it only indicates that Peter

¹ See § 44.
² О Есперсен.
Философия грамматики. М., 1958, p. 285.

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has more of this quality (being old) that Mary. James is the oldest boy in our class does not signify that James is ad­vanced in years, it just shows that he has the highest degree of this quality as compared with the rest of the class.
A. I. Smirnitsky \ following O. Jespersen ², thinks that there is good ground to speak of two forms of comparison only: the positive degree and the relative degree which exists in two varieties — the comparative degree and the super­lative degree.
§ 109. In all the Indo-European languages adjectives can be substantivized, i. e. converted into nouns. In English it is easier than in other languages owing to the scarcity of stem-building elements. Cf. (a) chick (n.)—sick (a.), ted­der (a.) — gender (п.).
When adjectives are converted into nouns they no longer indicate attributes of substances, but substances possessing these attributes. / felt it my duty to help the sick.
Adjectives wholly converted into nouns acquire not only the lexico-grammatical meaning of nouns, but their typical morphological categories and combinability, as in a young native ' s hut where the word native not only expresses 'substantivity' but has the grammatical" meanings of num­ber and case, left-hand connections with an article and an adjective ³.
In "He is one of those bitter sceptical young moderns, with no real knowledge of the world" (Galsworthy) moderns is a 'plural', 'common case' noun, modified by a demonstra­tive pronoun, some adjectives, etc.
More frequently substantivization is but partial. Adjec­tives may acquire the lexico-grajimatical meaning of the noun and to some extent its combinability, as in the follow­ing sentences:
She has as much faith in what the British Government's going to do for t h e deserving poor as the rest of us. (Gil­bert) . All the self-righteous are going to say he is infernally careless. (Gilbert). It means the ugly have a look in. (Galsworthy). Here the poor, the self-righteous,
¹ А. И. Смирн и цки и, op. cit., 153.
² O. E с n e p с e n, Ib.
- сее л. k_J. иархудар о к и Д Л. Ш т е л н н г, op. cit., р. 115; В. Н. Ж и г а д л о, И. П. И и а н о в а, Л. Л. И о' ф и к, op. cit., p. 44—45.
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the ugly express 'substantivity' and are associated with the definite article, but unlike the noun native, the word poor has no case and number opposites. It may be modified by an adverb, as in the fabulously rich. Such partially substan­tivized adjectives as the rich, the young, etc. mostly have collective force, while in earlier English substantivized adjectives were freely used to denote individuals. In con­temporary English this is rare, though-possible.
E. g. Many times he looked over the people's heads to where his son's wife sat alone, and he saw the fair face the unforgiven dead had loved. (Burnett).
Theoretically speaking, any adjective may be converted into a noun, though the conversion is often temporary, un­stable, conversion "for the nonce", asinT h e mysterious attracted him ¹.