ADJECTIVES

BY:
HAMADAH ASHFIYA
UMMI FADLILAH
ALFI RIANIS TSANI
 Distinctive properties of prototypical adjectives
A. Function
ATRIBUTIVE CLAUSE An old car Black hair
PREDICATIVE CLAUSE The car is old Her hair is black

B. Grade
PLAIN COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
i. She is tall She is taller than you She is the tallest of them all
ii. This is useful This is more useful than that This is the most useful one

C. Modification
too old
remarkably tall
extremely useful to us
 ADJECTIVES VS NOUNS

A. Inflection
Plural Forms With –s or –es Superlative Forms With –est
a. N Judges sizes siks b. *judgest *sizest *silkest
a. Adj *wises *bigs *smooths b. wisest biggest smoothest

B. Determiners
i. N which judge? my size some silk
ii. Adj *which wise? *my big *some smooth
 ADJECTIVES VS NOUNS

C. Modifiers
i. N a remarkable judge its incedible size this wonderful silk
ii. Adj remarkably wise incredibly big wonderfully smooth

D. Function
i. N The judge arrived Its size amazed me I like silk
ii. Adj *Wise arrived * Big amazed me *I like smooth
 Overlap between the categories
ADJECTIVE NOUN
i. INFLECTION colder, coldest colds
ii. DETERMINERS my cold, which cold?
iii. MODIFIERS terribly cold a terrible cold
iv. FUNCTION The cold was nasty. Don’t catch a cold
 The fused modifier-head
construction
i. SIMPLE The first version wasn’t very good but [the second] was fine
ii. PARTTIVE I couldn’t afford [even the cheapest of them]
iii. SPECIAL This tax cut will benefit [only the rich]
ADJECTIVES A. Inflection and grade
PRETERITE FORMS COMPARATIVE FORM
VS i. a. V loved regretted enjoyed b. *lover *regretted
*enjoyer
VERBS ii. a. Adj *fonded *sadded *appreciatived b. fonder sadder [n

B. Modifiers
i. V *I very love her *He pretty regrets it *She too,enjoyed
II. V * He regrets it pretty *He regrets it pretty *She enjoyed it to
iii. Adj I’m very fond of her He’s pretty sad She was too,
aprreciative

C. Function
i. V They love you We regret it You enjoy it
ii. Adj They are fond of you We became sad You seem appreci
Overlap
between the
categories
a. They are entertaining b. The clock was
broken
 Adjectives vs Determinatives

DETERMINATIVE
a. *She gave me the some apples
apples
a. Some guy called to see you
you
a. I took some of the books
ADJECTIVE
b. He gave me the good
b. *Good guy called to see
b. *I took good of the books
 GRADABLE AND NON-GRADABLE ADJECTIVES

NON-GRADABLE USE GRADABLE USE

i. a. in the public interest b. a very public quarrel
ii. a. the British government b. a very British response
iii. a. The motorway is now open b. He was more open with us than the boss
 The Structure of
Adjective Phrases
a. Complement

a. [19] afraid of of the dark

b. kind to children

c. [20] glad it was over

d. busy making lunch

b. Modifiers

a. i. extremely hot morally wrong very useful

b. ii. this young that old no different

c. iii. cautions to excess dangerous in the extreme an [in some respects good] idea

d. iv. five years old two hours long a great deal smaller
 PREDICATIVE COMPLEMENTS AND PREDICATIVE
ADJUNCTS

[22] COMPLEX-INTRANSITIVE CLAUSE COMPLEX-TRANSITIVE CLAUSE

a. The suggestion is ridiculous b. I consider the suggestion ridiculous

[23] i. PREDICATIVE COMPLEMENT Max was unwilling to accept these terms

ii. PREDICATIVE ADJUNCT Unwilling to accept these terms, Max resigned
 ADJECTIVES RESTRICTED TO ATTRIBUTIVE OR
PREDICATIVE FUNCTION
ATTRIBUTIVE USE PREDICATIVE USE
i. a. a huge hole b. The hole was huge
ii. a. utter nonsense b. *That nonsense was utter
iii. a. *the asleep children b. The children were asleep

(a) Attributive-only adjectives

these damn budget cuts the eventual winner her former husband
our future prospects the main problem a mere child

(b) Never-attributive adjectives

The house was ablaze The boy seemed afraid The child was alone
Something was amiss It was devoid of interest Corruption was rife
RESTRICTIONS MAY APPLY TO SENSES RATHE THAN LEXEMES

i. a certain country the late queen the lawful heir

ii. I feel faint He was glad to see her I’m sorry you
missed it
Structural restrictions on attributive adjectives
PREDICATIVE ATTRIBUTIVE
i. a. She was devoted to her children b. *a deveted to her children mother
ii. a. She was cautious to excess b. *a cautious to excess manager

There are a few post-head dependents that can occur with attributive adjectives, though, as seen in
i. a. The house was big enough b. a big enough house
ii. a. The result was better than expected b. a better than expected result
iii. a. It was better than anyone expected b. a better result than anyone expected
 Other functions of AdjPs
a. Postpositives
a. Postpositive adjectives function in NP structure as post-head internal modifier. There are three cases to
consider:
b. i. everything useful somebody rich somewhere safe those
responsible
c. Ii. children keen on sport a report full of errors a suggestion likely to effend
d. Iii. The only modification possible the one asleep the president elect

b. External modifiers
Certain forms of AdjP occur right at the beginning of the NP, before the indefinite article a:
i. a. [How long a delay] will there be? b. He’d chosen [too dark a colour]
ii. a. It seemed [such a bargain] b. [What a fool] I was
THANK
S!