AntonymyClassification of Antonymy Gradable antonymy(分等级的反义关系)Complementary antonymy(互补反义关系) Converse antonymy(相反反义关系)Gradable AntonymyThis is the commonest type of antonymy. When we say two words are antonyms, we usually mean pairs of words like good: bad, long: short, big: small. As the examples show, they are mainly adjectives. And they have three characteristics.Gradable AntonymyFirst, as the name suggests, they are gradable. That is, the members of a pair differ in terms of degree.The denial of one is not necessarily the assertion of the other.Something which is not "good" is not necessarily "bad". It may simply be "so-so" or "average".They can be modified by "very“, and have comparative and superlative degrees.Gradable AntonymySecond, antonyms of this kind are graded against different norms.There is no absolute criterion by which we may say something is good or bad, long or short, big or small. The criterion varies with the object described. A big car is in fact much smaller than a small plane. A micro-computer is giant by the standard of microorganism.Gradable AntonymyThird, one member of a pair, usually the term for the higher degree, serves as the cover term.We ask somebody "How old are you ?" and the person asked may not be old in any sense. He may be as young as twenty or three. The word old is used here to cover both old and young. The sentence means the same as "What is your age?"Complementary Antonymy alive: dead odd: evenmale: female pass: fail ( a test )present: absent boy: girlinnocent: guilty hit: miss ( a target )Complementary AntonymyNot only the assertion of one means the denial of the other, the denial of one also means the assertion of the other. Not only He is alive means "He is not dead", He is not alive also means "He is dead". There is no intermediate ground between the two.In other words, it is a question of two term choice: yes or no. So the adjectives in this type cannot be modified by "very". Onecannot say somebody is very alive or very dead. And they do not have comparative or superlative degrees either.Complementary AntonymySecondly, the norm in this type is absolute.For example, the criterion for separating the male from the female is the same with human beings and animals. And the death of a man is the same as that of an elephant, or even a tree, in the sense that there is no longer any life in the entity.Complementary AntonymyThirdly, there is no cover term for the two members of a pair.If you do not know the sex of a baby, you ask "Is it a boy or a girl?" not "How male is it?"The word male can only be used for boys, it can not cover the meaning of girl.As a matter of fact, no adjective in this type can be modified by how. This is related to the fact that they are not modifiable by words like very.gradable complementaryA B A BConverse AntonymyPairs of words like buy-sell, lend-borrow, parent-child, husband-wife, teacher-student, above-below, before-after belong to this type of antonymy.They show the reversal of a relationship between two entities.X buys something from Y means the same as Y sells something to X. It is the same relationship seen from two different angles.Converse AntonymyThis type of antonymy is typically seen in reciprocal social roles, kinship relations, temporal and spatial relations. It is in this sense that they are also known as RELATIONAL OPPOSITES. There are always two entities involved.Converse AntonymyIf there is a buyer, there must also be a seller. A parent must have a child. Without a child, one can not be a parent. If X is above Y, there must be both X and Y. And one cannot simply say "He is a husband". One must say whose husband he is.。
