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Descriptive Grammar handout 5

A

DJECTIVES

1. Syntactic functions of adjectives

both attributive and predicative, e.g.: a hungry man ~ the man is hungry.

a] attributive – premodifies the noun, i.e. appears between the determiner and the head of the

noun phrase, e.g.: the beautiful painting

attributive only, e.g. an utter fool ~ *the fool is utter.

 intensifying adjectives: emphasizers (e.g. a real hero) and amplifiers (e.g. a complete

fool

).

 limiter adjectives, e.g. the main reason, the only occasion.
 related do adverbials, e.g. my former friend (= formerly my friend)
 denominal adjectives, e.g. criminal law

Ordering of adjectives in the attributive position






b] predicative – can be subject or object complement, e.g.: Your daughter is happy.

He made his wife happy

.

predicative only, e.g. *an afraid boy ~ the boy is afraid

most common are those referring to health or lack of health, e.g. faint, ill, well, unwell.

afraid, conscious, fond, etc.

ex 72, pp. 42-43

c] postpositive – follow the item they modify, e.g.: I want to try on something larger.

d] head of a noun phrase, e.g.: The wise look to the wiser for help.
The Dutch are admired by their neighbours.
The (very) best is yet to come.

ex 69, p. 41

e] verbless clause, e.g. Nervous, the man opened the letter.
Enthusiastic, they make good students.

ex 70, pp. 41-42

f] exclamatory adjective sentence, e.g. How wonderful!

2. Semantic sub-classification of adjectives

a] stative / dynamic

*He’s being tall.

He’s being careful.

*Be tall.

Be careful

.

b] gradable / non-gradable

tall – taller – tallest

very tall

extremely tall

quite tall

________ ________ ________ ________ NOUN

I II III IV
precentral central postcentral prehead
a fantstic big pink plastic box

2

c] inherent / non-inherent - inherent adjectives characterise the referent of the noun directly,
non-inherent adjectives do not characterise the referent of the noun directly, e.g.

a firm handshake ~ a firm friend

a perfect alibi ~ a perfect stranger

ex 71, p. 42

3. Adjective and participle

many adjectives have the same form as participles, e.g.

His views were very surprising.

his surprising views

The man seemed very offended.

the offended man

His views were very alarming.

vs. His views were alarming his audience.

adjective participle

ex. 75, p. 44

A

DVERBS

the majority of adverbs have the derivational suffix –ly.

Ex. 77, p. 44-45

1. Syntactic functions of adverbs

a] adverbial

adjuncts

They’re waiting outside.
I can now understand it

.

disjuncts – express an evaluation of what is being said, e.g.

Frankly, I’m tired.

They are probably at home

.

conjuncts – have a connective function, e.g. If they open all the windows, then I’m leaving.

b] modifier of adjective

That was a very funny film.

It is extremely good of you.

He was tall enough to reach the

shelf.

c] modifier of adverb

They are smoking very heavily.

I could see him clearly enough

.

d] modifier of prepositional phrase

The nail went right through the wall

.

e] modifier of determiner, postdeterminer, predeterminer

Nearly everybody came to the party.

They will stay about a week

.

f] modifier of noun phrase

He told such a funny story.

It was rather a mess.

We met the day before

.

g] complement of preposition

No one visited us since yesterday

.

There is no one over there

.

Ex 78, p. 45