Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4
Adjectives and Adverbs

1. Characteristics of Adjectives
2. Syntactic functions of Adj
3. Syntactic subclassification of Adj
4. Semantic subclassification of Adj
5. Semantic sets and adjectival order
6. Characteristics of Adverbs
7. Syntactic subclassification of Adv
8. Comparison and intensification
9. Correspondence between Adj and
Adv
10. Adj and other word classes
11. Adv and other word classes
 can be both attributive and
predicative
 attributive only
 predicative only
1.  can be premodified by the
CHARACTER intensifier ‘very’
ISTICS OF  can take comparative and
ADJECTIVES superlative forms (by means of
inflection or by the addition of
the premodifiers ‘more and
most’).
2. SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS OF ADJECTIVES
 Attributive and predicative
+ attributive when modifying nouns (ie appearing between the

determiner and the head of the NP)
eg: an interesting film; his serious problem
+ predicative: Cs, Co
eg: Her company is very big (Cs)
You make me happy (Co)
 Postpositive (following the item they modify can be regarded as a
reduced relative clause)
 Head of a noun phrase
 Verbless adjective clause
 Exclamatory
 Indefinite pronouns ending in -body, -one, -
thing, -where: modified only postpositively.
 Postposition: obligatory for a few
adjectives, which have a different sense
when they occur attributively or
predicatively (elect, proper)
 In several compounds (mostly legal and
quasilegal), the adjective is postposed POSTPOSI
TIVE
(attorney general, court martial…)
 Postposition (in preference to attributive
position): usually for a few a-adjectives (see
5.42) and for ‘absent’, ‘present’, and
‘concerned’, ‘involved’, which normally do
not occur attributively in the relevant sense
POSTPOSITIVE
 Some postposed adjectives (esp those ending in ‘able’, ‘ible’) retain basic meaning in
attribute position but convey the implication that what they are denoting has only a
temporary application.
eg: visible stars and stars visible
 Postposition is normally not allowed if an adj is alone or premodified by an intensifier but
if the NP is generic and indefinite, coordinated adj or adj with a clause element added can
be postposed (though not frequent).
eg: A man usually honest will sometimes cheat
But more common: A man who is usually honest will sometimes cheat
 Adj with complementation is postpositive but it’s usual to prepose the adj and postpose
the complementation
eg: They have a much larger house than yours (= a house much larger than yours)
 If adj is modified by ‘enough’, ‘too’, ‘so’, the modified adj normally cannot be seperated
from its complementation.
HEAD OF A NOUN PHRASE
 Adj can function as heads of NP → do not inflect for number or the

genitive case; must take a definite determiner; have personal reference;
have generic and plural reference.
eg: the rich, the poor…
 Adj denoting nationalities can be NP heads
 Some adj can function as NP heads when they have abstract reference →
take singular concord; a few are modifiable by adverbs (superlatives).
eg: the latest, the very best…
VERBLESS ADJECTIVE CLAUSE
 Adj can function as a verbless clause → the implied subject is usually the
subject of the sentence
Eg: Nervous, he made a presentation
 If the clause contains additional clause constituents, its implied S can be
other than the S of the sentence.
Eg: She glanced at the cat, quiet in her daughter’s lap
 The implied S of the adj can be the whole of the superordinate clause
Eg: Strange, it was she who initiated divorce proceedings
 An adverb may replace (with little difference in meaning) an adj
functioning as a verbless clause.
 Contingent adjective clause
- expresses the circumstance or condition under which
what is said in the superordinate clause applies.
- The implied S of the contingent adj clause is normally
the S, but can also the O, or can be the whole of the
superordinate clause.
 Exclamatory adjective sentence

- An adj or an adj as head of an adj phrase can be an
exclamation
3. SYNTACTIC SUBCLASSIFICATION OF ADJECTIVES
 Both Atributive and Predicative

 Attributive only
 Adj that characterize the referent of the noun directly are
termed ‘inherent’; those that do not are termed ‘non-
inherent’
 Some non-inherent adj can occur predicatively
+ Intensifying adjectives: (= adj having a heightening or
lowering effect on the noun they modify)
 two types: emphasizers (having a general heightening
effect)
amplifiers (scaling upwards from an assumed
norm, denoting the upper extreme of the scale or a high
point on the scale)
+ Limiter adjectives: adj particularizing the reference of the
noun
+ Adj related to adverbials
• Other adj that are attributive only can be
related to adverbials
• Eg: my former friend ; formerly my friend
• If the adj premodify agentive nouns, the latter
suggests a relationship to the verb base
• Eg: a careful driver; a driver who drives
carefully
• Some of these adj have a temporal meaning
• Eg: a fast car
+ Denominal adjectives
• some adj derived from nouns are attributive
only
Eg: criminal law, medical school
 Predicative only
- Most like verbs and adverbs → tend to refer to a
condition rather than to characterize (most common are
those referring to health or lack of health) (well,
unwell…)
- A large group comprises adj that can or must take
complementation; many closely resemble verbs
semantically (afraid of, fond of…)
 Stative / dynamic
 Adj are characteristically stative, but many
can be seen as dynamic (adj that are
4. susceptible to subjective measurement; adj
that can be used with the progressive aspect
SEMANTIC or with the imperatives)
SUB-  Gradable / non-gradable

 Most adj are gradable (can be modified by
CLASSIFICA adverbs which convey the degree of

intensity of the adj)
TION OF  Gradability includes comparison and other
forms of intensification.
ADJECTIVE  All dynamic adj are gradable; most stative
adj are gradable, some are non-gradable
S (technical adj, adj denoting provenance)
 Inherent / non-inherent
5. SEMANTIC SETS
AND ADJECTIVAL
ORDER
 intensifying adj (real, perfect…)
 postdeterminers, and limiter adj (the fifth, main,
only…)
 general adjectives susceptible to subjective measure
(lovely, honest, careful…)
 general adjectives susceptible to objective measure,
including those denoting size or shape
 Adj denoting age
 Adj denoting colour
 Denominal adj denoting material, and denoting
resemblance to a material
 Denominal adj denoting provenance or style
(Vietnamese…)
6. CHARACTERISTICS OF
ADVERBS
 most common characteristic: morphological (having
suffix -ly)
 Two types of syntactic function that characterize
adverbs, but an adverb needs to have only one of those:
+ adverbial
+ modifier
7. SYNTACTIC
SUBCLASSIFICATION OF ADV
Adverb as adverbial
• An adv may function as adverbial, a constituent distinct from S, V, O,

C
• Three classes of adverbials (adjuncts, disjuncts, conjuncts) are
discussed in Chapter 8
Adverb as modifier
• Modifier of adjective
• Modifier of adverb
• Modifier of prepositional phrase
• Modifier of determiner, predeterminer, postdeterminer
• Modifier of noun phrase
• Adverb as complement of preposition
8. COMPARISON AND
INTENSIFICATION
3 degrees of comparison
Basis of comparison
Gradability
Unmarked term in ‘how’ questions and measure phrases
Inflection of adj for comparison
Inflection of adv for comparison
Modification of comparatives and superlatives

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CHAPTER 4

Adjectives and Adverbs

 Attributive and predicative

+ attributive when modifying nouns (ie appearing between the

 Adj can function as heads of NP → do not inflect for number or the

 Exclamatory adjective sentence

 Both Atributive and Predicative

SUB-  Gradable / non-gradable

CLASSIFICA adverbs which convey the degree of

• An adv may function as adverbial, a constituent distinct from S, V, O,

Unmarked term in ‘how’ questions and measure phrases

Inflection of adj for comparison

Inflection of adv for comparison

Modification of comparatives and superlatives

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