English adjectives used only predicatively: alive, afloat, alight

—   Hello, our dear friends! My name is James Wilson.

—   And my name is Martin Green.

—   Nathaniel Fleming is also with us today.

—   Welcome to our lesson, boys and girls!

—   Yesterday James and I were watching TV when suddenly Nathaniel came to my place.

—   We weren’t expecting him.

—   Yeah. I just got bored, so I decided to visit you.

—   Well… When Nathaniel came to my place, the three of us started watching the cartoon “One sad family”.

—   There was nothing else on TV.

—   When the main characters started talking, we were shocked.

—   They made three mistakes in their dialogue.

—   Now listen to their conversation.

—   This will help you to guess the topic of our lesson today.

—   Charles, I saw an alone woman yesterday. She was buying some vegetables.

—   Dorothy, there is nothing strange about that. Why are you telling me about her?

—   Well… When she was buying those vegetables, a man with an asleep baby ran up to her.

—   Mum, what happened next?

—   Oh, Willie, it was a really strange situation! The man asked that woman to hold the baby for a moment.

—   So what, Dorothy?

—   Charles, when she took the baby, that strange man ran away.

—   Oh my God, it’s so terrible! Did he come back?

—   No, Charles, he didn’t! That’s why I’m in shock!

—   Poor baby! Mum, what happened after that?

—   Well… As far as I know, the woman took that afraid baby to the police station.

—   Oh, how awful! I hope the baby will be fine!

—   Don’t worry, Willie! He will be, because now the baby will live with us!

—   Really? Is that true?

—   Yes, it’s true! I will go to the police station after the dinner and bring the baby home.

—   It’s so cool! I will have a younger brother! Hooray!

As you can understand, today in the lesson we will:

·        revise the definition of the term “adjective”;

And

·        talk about the English adjectives which are used only predicatively.

—   Let’s start our lesson.

—   First of all, do you remember what an adjective is?

—   If you don’t, we will remind you the definition of this term in a few minutes.

—   After that we will discuss what a predicative adjective is.

—   Then we will talk about the English adjectives used only predicatively: “alive”, “afloat”, “alight”, “alike”, “awake”, “alone”, etc.

“Adjective” is a word that describes a noun or pronoun.

Adjectives are one of the four major word classes, along with nouns, verbs and adverbs.

Let’s look at some examples of adjectives:

·        Large

·        Colorful

·        Dangerous

·        Emotional

·        Healthy

·        Good-looking, etc.

Adjectives give us more information about people, animals or things represented by nouns and pronouns.

Most adjectives can be used in two positions.

When they are used before the noun they describe, they are called attributive.

For example:

It was a brown dog.

It is a glamorous girl.

It was a sad woman.

It is a heavy suitcase.

When they are used after a verb such as be, become, grow, feel, turn, look, or seem, they are called predicative.

For example:

The dog was brown.

The girl looks glamorous.

The woman looks sad.

The suitcase seems heavy.

Some adjectives are only used in predicative position. They usually begin with the letter a. The examples of these adjectives are: afloat, afraid, alight, ashamed, alike, alive, alone, asleep, awake and afire.

Now let’s look closely at these adjectives.

The first word is afloat.

The translation is “на воде, на плаву, плывущий по воде, покрытый водой”.

For example:

Bobby, how long did you spend afloat?

Or

That beautiful ship was set afloat in the evening.

The second word is afraid.

The translation is “боящийся, испуганный, напуганный”.

For example:

Jillian, don't be afraid to ask for help next time.

Or

Hillary was afraid to jump down from the sofa.

The following word is alight.

The translation is “зажжённый, горящий, охваченный огнём”.

For example:

The night sky was alight with stars.

Or

His blue eyes were alight with mischief.

The fourth word is ashamed.

The translation is “пристыжённый, совестно, стыдно”.

For example:

Paul and Felix were ashamed to admit their mistake.

Or

Wendy was ashamed that her family was poor.

Now let’s talk about the word alike.

The translation is “подобный, одинаковый, похожий”.

For example:

Susan, our political views are very alike.

Or

The message of this film is that rich and poor people are alike.

The following word is alive.

The translation is “живой, действующий, бодрый”.

For example:

Jennifer is lucky to be alive after the fire.

Or

I think that all people need to keep hope alive!

The seventh word is alone.

The translation is “одинокий, единственный, уникальный”.

For example:

Madison decided to climb the mountain alone.

Or

Regan is alone in her ability to solve financial problems.

Now let’s talk about the word asleep.

The translation is “спящий, вялый”.

For example:

Helen fell asleep watching cartoons with her kids.

Or

Oliver lost his concentration and fell asleep.

The following word is awake.

The translation is “бодрствующий, бдительный, настороженный”.

For example:

It was hard for Megan to stay awake after a very tough night.

Or

The traffic noise kept Veronica awake.

And the last word is afire.

The translation is “в огне, охваченный пламенем”.

For example:

My neighbor’s house was afire!

Or

One of the boats had been set afire.

There are a few popular expressions with some of the predicative adjectives. Let’s look at them.

1. To be afire with enthusiasm.

Быть охваченным энтузиазмом.

For instance:

Sarah was afire with enthusiasm after the international exhibition.

2. To set something afire.

Поджигать что-либо.

For instance:

Focused light rays can set something afire.

3. To be fast asleep.

Крепко спать.

For instance:

Nick was fast asleep with his mouth wide open.

4. To be all alone.

Быть в полном одиночестве.

For instance:

The main character of the film “Home alone” was all alone during the Christmas holidays.

5. To leave somebody alone.

Оставить кого-либо в покое. 

For instance:

Victor, just leave me alone!

6. To be very much alone.

Быть в полном одиночестве.

For instance:

Darcy was very much alone during the last two weeks.

7. To be very much alive.

Быть полным энергии и жизни.

For instance:

The volcano is very much alive.

8. To feel ashamed for somebody.

Стыдиться за кого-либо.

For instance:

When Robert started dancing, Amalia felt ashamed for him.

9. To make somebody ashamed.

Пристыдить кого-либо.

For instance:

When Ryan broke the vase, his mum made him ashamed.

10. To be ashamed of something.

Стыдиться чего-либо.

For instance:

Zoe was ashamed of what she did.

11. To be very much awake.

Быть абсолютно без сна.

For instance:

Mr. Mills was very much awake.

12. To be wide awake.

Не смыкать глаз.

For instance:

Lily, I promise I will be wide awake the whole time!

13. To be all alight.

Быть полностью освещённым.

For instance:

The night city was all alight.

14. To catch alight.

Становиться очень популярным, приходить в восторг, загораться.

For instance:

Tyler’s car caught alight after a collision with a bus.

15. To be safely afloat.

Надёжно держаться на воде.

For instance:

The ship was safely afloat.

16. To put afloat.

Спускать на воду.

For instance:

Dan’s boat was put afloat.

17. To make somebody afraid.

Напугать кого-либо.

For instance:

The angry dog made Jessica afraid.

18. To be very much afraid.

Быть сильно испуганным.

For instance:

I don’t know what happened to that girl, but she was very much afraid.

—   Guys, now you know everything about the predicative adjectives.

—   We have also learnt a few popular expressions with some of them.

—   That’s all for today, our dear friends.

—   We hope that the lesson was interesting and useful for you.

—   See you soon, boys and girls.