The adjective phrase

1. The adjective phrase Intro: English Language Phrases Professor Sabine Mendes

2. Very common in all registers, but less common than noun and verbs. • Like nouns, adjectives are more common in news and academic prose than in conversation. • The distribution of adverbs is like that of verbs: most common in conversation and fiction. Why?

3. Because… …adjectives commonly modify nouns, so they add to the informational density of registers like academic prose. In contrast, adverbs often occur as clause elements (adverbials); they occur together with lexical verbs adding information to the short clauses of conversation and fiction.

4. GRAMMAR BITE A • Adjectives have two major functions: attributive and predicative. • Newadjectivescanbeformed in threeways: the use ofparticipialforms (e.g. amazing, advanced), the use ofderivationalsuffixes (e.g. cordless, continous), andcompounding (e.g. full-time). • Adverbshavetwo major functions: modifier(integratedintoanelementoftheclause)andadverbial(elementoftheclause). • Adverbshave four major forms: simple(e.g. already) , compound(e.g. anyway) , formswithsuffixes(e.g. fatherly; afterward)andfixedphrases(e.g. atlast). • Some adverbshavethesameform as adjectivesor, informally, adjectiveforms are used as adverbs(e.g. good, real)

5. Variability in thedefiningcharacteristicsofadjectives

6. GRAMMAR BITE B • Adjectivescanhavetwodifferentkindsofmeaning: theycanbedescriptors(e.g. red) orclassifiers(e.g.Chinese). • Adjectives are sometimescombined in interestingways: repetitionof a comparativeadjective shows increasingintensity(e.g. smallerandsmaller), combinationwithgoodandorniceandintensifiesthemeaning(e.g. goodandready) • Attributiveadjectivesoccurmainlybeforecommonnouns, buttheycanalsooccurbeforepropernouns(as in little Laura Davis) andpersonalpronouns(as in Sillyoldhim). • Thefrequencyand use ofattributiveadjectives varies greatlybetweenconversationandacademic prose. • Predicativeadjectivescanfunction as subjectpredicatives(That’sright)orobjectpredicatives(You’vegotyourprioritieswrong). • Conversation and academic prose tend to use different kinds of predicative adjectives.

7. Adjectives: roles andmeanings:some importantdefinitions • Descriptorsare adjectivesthatdescribecolor, sizeandweight, chronologyand age, emotion, andothercharacteristics. They are typicallygradable. • Classifierslimitorrestrict a noun’sreferent, ratherthandescribingcharacteristics in thewaythatdescriptors do. Mostclassifiers are non-gradable. • A postposedadjective is partof a nounphrasebut it followstheheadword. Postposedadjectives are mostcommonwithindefinitepronouns as heads, such as no one. Similarly, when a modifyingadjectivephrase is verylong, theadjectivephrasewilloftenfollowtheheadnoun. • Adjectivescanalsofunction as theheadof a nounphrase(therich); theysometimes serve to link clausesorsentences to oneanother(Worsehehad...); theycanbesyntaticallyfreemodifiersof a nounphrase, having a peripheral role in theclause(Victor chucked, highlyamused); andtheyoften serve as exclamations, especially in conversationandfictionaldialog(Great!).

8. General trends for theformationofcomparativeandsuperlativeadjectives