English grammar - Roger Berry 2012

A4.1 Adjectives
A4 Adjectives, adverbs and prepositions
Section A. Introduction

In A2 we dealt with the most numerous word class, nouns, and in A3 with another word class closely connected with nouns: determiners. Here we will deal with three more word classes: adjectives, adverbs and prepositions. Other word classes are dealt with in B2 (pronouns), A5 (verbs), A6 (auxiliaries) and A9 (conjunctions).

A4.1 Adjectives

Adjectives are an open word class (see B1). In notional terms they are often said to refer to qualities and attributes. But we can argue that nouns also do this. Whether we say ’The mountain is high’ or ’The height of the mountain . . .’ we are talking about an attribute of the mountain.

Activity A4.1

Identify the adjectives in this sentence, noting the criteria you used:

No other nation can produce a book collector on quite the heroic scale of Sir Thomas Philips, who amassed the greatest private library the world has ever seen.

As usual, we must turn to formal characteristics for a useful, applicable definition. A word is an adjective if it meets all or some of the following conditions:

□ it can be used as a premodifier in noun phrases: a red car. This is called the ’attributive’ use of adjectives

□ it can be used as a subject and object predicative (see A8): Her car is red. I painted it red. This is called the ’predicative’ use of adjectives

□ it has comparative and superlative forms: happier/happiest

□ it is gradable: very happy

□ it occurs in postmodification: after indefinite pronouns (e.g. something red, nothing interesting), with certain adjectives (e.g. the only information available), and in special phrases (e.g. the president elect).

□ (rarely) it is the head of a noun phrase after the definite article: the poor (see the Website Reference A3.1 for more adjectives used in this way).

Of these it is the first four characteristics that are most important in recognising adjectives. These are discussed in pairs below.

Attributive vs predicative

Most adjectives can be used in both positions, e.g. It’s good food (attributive) and This food tastes good (predicative). However, a number of adjectives only occur as premodifiers of nouns, e.g. an utter fool, the chief troublemaker, my former boss, a lone traveller. You cannot say ’my boss is former’. These are called attributive adjectives. And some only occur after verbs such as be, e.g. afraid, asleep, unwell, e.g. She’s unwell, not ’she’s an unwell person’. These are called predicative adjectives. (See the Website Reference A4.1 and A4.2 for more adjectives used in these ways.)

Predicative adjectives tend to refer to situations that are not lasting, whereas attributive adjectives refer to more permanent characteristics. This explains why you cannot talk about ’an unwell person’ or ’an afraid person’; but you can say a sick person or a frightened person.

Sometimes an adjective which can be used in both positions may change its meaning:

Attributive: My old friend . . . (referring to the length of the friendship) vs

Predicative: My friend is old. (referring to someone’s age)

Attributive: My late husband . . . (he’s dead) vs

Predicative: My husband is late.

Gradability and the comparison of adjectives

Many adjectives are ’gradable’; that is, the ’quality’ they refer to can have different degrees, and so they can be used with a wide range of adverbs that are sometimes called ’intensifiers’, such as very, quite, rather, fairly, pretty, so, too, how, incredibly, completely:

very happy, too expensive, how big

One such adverb is placed after the adjective: happy enough.

One very obvious feature of some adjectives is that they can change their form, like nouns and verbs; they have special endings, or inflections. The two forms that we are talking about here are the comparative and superlative, for example:

basic form: tall

comparative: taller

superlative: tallest

The inflections -er and -est are added to the end (or -r and -st, if the word already ends in -e, and -ier or -iest to replace a final -y if preceded by a consonant). This changing of form is known as the ’comparison’ of adjectives.

Not all adjectives have inflectional comparison; many, generally longer adjectives have ’phrasal’ comparison (i.e. more than one word), using more and most as adverbs to modify them:

basic form: beautiful

comparative: more beautiful

superlative: most beautiful

The rule that is usually given for deciding between the two possibilities is as follows:

□ one-syllable adjectives have inflectional comparison, as with tall

□ adjectives with three (or more) syllables have phrasal comparison, as with beautiful

□ two-syllable adjectives are variable; those ending in -y, -ow, -er, -ere, -ure may inflect (wealthier, shallower, cleverer, sincerer, securer), but they can also have phrasal comparison. This choice also applies to a number of other two-syllable adjectives (politer/more polite), otherwise phrasal comparison is the norm.

Section C4 investigates this in some detail and finds that these ’rules’ often do not apply. For example, some one-syllable adjectives can have phrasal comparison and some three-syllable adjectives can have inflectional comparison.

Two adjectives have irregular forms for comparison: good (better, best) and bad (worse, worst). Two others have irregular alternatives to the regular forms: far ( farther/ further, farthest/furthest) and old (older/elder, oldest/eldest).

The comparison and gradability of adjectives are related. Obviously, if we can talk about a quality that has different degrees (very large, quite large) then we can also use it in comparisons (larger). Some adjectives, however, have one but not the other

(see, for example, glad in Activity A4.2 below); and many adjectives, e.g. electric, national, have neither possibility.

Two types of adjective that are particularly noteworthy are -ed and -ing adjectives: an interesting story a bored listener

These are derived from the equivalent participles (see A5), but we can tell they are adjectives first by their attributive position and by the fact that they may be gradable (very interesting) and can have comparison (more interesting).

The meaning of comparative and superlative forms

The three forms of adjectives are often introduced in teaching materials with a picture of three children or buildings, or trees, as in this diagram:

Figure A4.1.1 The meaning of comparatives and superlatives 1

This may give the impression that they describe three different degrees of tallness, but this would be incorrect. The meaning of tall is established in absolute terms, whereas taller and tallest are established relatively. Thus it is perfectly possible to be ’taller’ or ’tallest’, but not ’tall’, as these examples show.

She’s taller than him, but I wouldn’t say she’ tall.

He’ the tallest in his class, but I wouldn’t say he’s tall.

So this diagram is also accurate:

Figure A4.1.2 The meaning of comparatives and superlatives 2

We should not forget that there are other ways of making comparisons using adjectives: . . . (not) as tall as . . . , . . . less tall than . . . , . . . least tall . . .

Activity A4.2

How ’adjectival’ are these adjectives? Look at the adjectives in the table below and put a tick where the property applies. Use your intuitions (or a dictionary).

Table A4.1.1 How ’adjectival’ are adjectives?

Adjective phrases

Many adjectives in predicative position can be followed by a phrase or clause to give more information. For example:

I’m happy for you.

I’m happy that he’s finally found someone.

And some have to be:

I’m fond of her. (Not ’I’m fond.’)

They’re unable to come.

These phrases or clauses which complete the meaning of the adjective are sometimes called ’complements’. (See A3 and A10 for more on complements.) Many adjectives are typically associated with a particular preposition in such phrases, e.g., fond of or dependent on.

Adjective phrases can also occur as postmodifiers of nouns: a plan bound to fail. Such cases can be related to a relative clause (a plan which is bound to fail - see B10).

Adjective phrases are also common with comparatives and intensifiers to give more information about the basis of comparison or ’intensification’.

She’s happier than she has ever been.

We’re as happy as it’s possible to be.

The difference is too small to worry about.