Adj Adv
Adj Adv
Adj Adv
Grade
Inflectional: She is tall. She is taller than you. She is the tallest of them all. Marked by more and most: This is useful. This is more useful than that. This is the most useful one.
Determiners
Nouns take determiners, Adjectives dont which judge? my size; some silk *which wise? *my big *some smooth
Function
Nouns can also function as attributive modifiers and predicative complements Nouns can head phrases in subject and object position, adjectives cannot
The judge arrived. Its size amazed me. I like silk. *Wise arrived. *Big amazed me. *I like smooth.
Modifiers
Function
terribly cold
a terrible cold
The cold was nasty. Dont catch a cold.
Partitive
I couldnt afford [even the cheapest of them]. Clearly not a noun it is in the superlative
Special
This tax cut will benefit [only the rich]. Modifiable by an adverb: the extremely rich Not like other nouns: *a rich, *some rich, *two riches
Modifiers
Verbs and adjectives are both modified by adverbs, but some adverbs modify only adjectives: very, pretty, too These adverbs only modify scalar adjectives Im very fond of her. Hes pretty sad. She was too appreciative. *I very love her. *He regrets it pretty. *She too enjoyed it.
Non-gradable adjectives
Denote non-scalar properties an alphabetical list, the chief difficulty, my left arm
Modifiers
Adverbs: extremely hot; morally wrong; very useful Determinatives: this young; much better; old enough PPs: cautious to excess; dangerous in the extreme NPs: five years old; two hours long; a bit overpowering
Adjunct
Unwilling to accept these terms, Max resigned. A supplement, detached from the rest of the clause Still predicated of Max
Some post-head dependents show up as indirect complements of the noun a better result than anyone expected
External modifiers
[How long a delay] will there be? Hed chosen [too dark a color]. It seemed [such a bargain]. [What a fool] I was.
Exercise #1
For each of the following adjectives, decide whether it can be used in attributive function, whether it can be used in predicative function, and whether it can be used in postpositive function 1. alone 2. available 3. ersatz 4. galore 5. immune 6. latter 7. marine 8. previous 9. prime 10. sleepy
Adverbs
Where adjectives modify nouns
a happy family a greedy child a passionate lover
Verb
It virtually evaporated. He almost died.
Adjective
It was virtually impossible. He was almost dead.
Adverb
He spoke virtually inaudibly. He was wounded almost fatally.
PP
I did it virtually by myself. It lasted almost until midnight.
NP
Im virtually his only friend. I bought almost the last copy.
Warning: addition of ly sometimes forms adjectives, not adverbs beast-beastly coward-cowardly death-deathly father-fatherly friend-friendly prince-princely woman-womanly
Modifiers
Usually adverbs: She sang very well. I did it rather hurriedly. He spoke remarkably clearly. Determinatives: I didnt do it that well. They arrived much sooner than we had expected. PPs: They behaved badly in the extreme. He didnt answer at all convincingly. NPs: We arrived three hours late. It had all happened a bit suddenly.
Exercise #2
Classify the underlined words below as adjectives or adverbs 1. Fortunately, he had plenty of time. 2. He was going far too fast. 3. She seemed a very kindly old soul. 4. We were annoyed at their late arrival. 5. Theyre becoming increasingly unruly. 6. I was feeling quite poorly. 7. She works extremely hard. 8. We made too many concessions. 9. Kindly refrain from smoking. 10. That was very ungentlemanly.