CHAPTER 7 Adjectives and Adverbs Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English Biber; Conrad; Leech (2009, p )

Adjectives and adverbs are lexical word classes which are very common in all registers, but less common than noun and verbs. Adjectives and adverbs differ in their frequencies across registers. Like nouns, adjectives are more common in news and academic prose than conversation. But the distribution of adverbs is like that of verbs: most common in conversation and fiction. These facts reflect the typical uses of adjectives and adverbs. 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.

GRAMMAR BITE A Adjectives have certain typical characteristics in their form, meaning and use. ◦Central adjectives share all of these characteristics. ◦Peripheral adjectives vary in the extent to which they share the characteristics. Adjectives have two major functions: attributive and predicative. New adjectives can be formed in three ways: the use of participial forms (e.g. amazing, advanced), the use of derivational suffixes (e.g. cordless, continous), and compounding (e.g. full-time). Adverbs have two major functions: modifier (integrated into an element of the clause) and adverbial (element of the clause). Adverbs have four major forms: simple (e.g. already), compound (e.g. anyway), forms with suffixes (e.g. fatherly; afterward) and fixed phrases (e.g. at last). Some adverbs have the same form as adjectives or, informally, adjective forms are used as adverbs (e.g. good, real)

Variability in the defining characteristics of adjectives Morphologi cal Inflection Attributive role Predicative role Descriptive meaning GradableExample +++++Big -++++Beautiful -++?-Absolute --+++Afraid --++?Alive -++-+Different -+?+?Lone ?+---Mere

GRAMMAR BITE B Adjectives can have two different kinds of meaning: they can be descriptors (e.g. red) or classifiers (e.g.Chinese). Adjectives are sometimes combined in interesting ways: repetition of a comparative adjective shows increasing intensity (e.g. smaller and smaller), combination with good and or nice and intensifies the meaning (e.g. good and ready) Attributive adjectives occur mainly before common nouns, but they can also occur before proper nouns (as in little Laura Davis) and personal pronouns (as in Silly old him). ◦The frequency and use of attributive adjectives varies greatly between conversation and academic prose. Predicative adjectives can function as subject predicatives (That’s right) or object predicatives (You’ve got your priorities wrong). ◦Conversation and academic prose tend to use different kinds of predicative adjectives. Only a few adjectives are common in both predicative and attributive positions. Adjectives have five syntactic roles in addition to their attributive and predicative roles: postposed modifier, noun phrase head, linking expression, exclamation, and free modifier.

Adjectives: roles and meanings: some important definitions Descriptors are adjectives that describe color, size and weight, chronology and age, emotion, and other characteristics. They are typically gradable. Classifiers limit or restrict a noun’s referent, rather than describing characteristics in the way that descriptors do. Most classifiers are non-gradable. A postposed adjective is part of a noun phrase but it follows the head word. Postposed adjectives are most common with indefinite pronouns as heads, such as no one. Similarly, when a modifying adjective phrase is very long, the adjective phrase will often follow the head noun. Adjectives can also function as the head of a noun phrase (the rich) ; they sometimes serve to link clauses or sentences to one another (Worse he had...) ; they can be syntatically free modifiers of a noun phrase, having a peripheral role in the clause (Victor chucked, highly amused); and they often serve as exclamations, especially in conversation and fictional dialog (Great!).

GRAMMAR BITE C Adverbs have many syntactic roles: modifier of adjective, modifier of other adverb, modifier of other element such as pronouns (Almost nobody, it seemed, could eat that.) and prepositional phrases (-well into their seventies), complement of preposition (...recognized since then), adverbials (element of a clause), and stand-alone adverb (Really!; Exactly!). ◦Adverbials: circumstance (these add information about the action or state that is described in the clause); stance (assessment of the proposition in the clause); linking (connect stretches of text) Adverbs belong to seven major meaning categories: place (there), time (now), manner (well), degree (almost), additive/restrictive (also/only), stance (actually), linking (however; thus). The meaning of an adverb often varies with its context of use, and sometimes meanings are blended together. The frequency and use of common adverbs differs greatly between conversation and academic prose.

Semantic categories of adverbs Degree adverbs ◦Amplifiers/intensifiers: degree adverbs that increase intensity.Some of these modify gradable adjectives and indicate degrees on a scale (so). Others indicate an endpoint on a scale (totally). How is also used as an intensifier in exclamatory sentences. ◦Diminishers/Downtoners: degree adverbs which decrease the effect of the modified item (slightly). They are related to hedges (conveying imprecision, like kind of) ◦Choices among degree adverbs as modifiers: academic prose uses more formal amplifiers. Stance Adverbs ◦Epistemic stance adverbs: variety of meanings (probably, typically) ◦Attitude stance adverbs: emotional attitude toward a proposition. ◦Style stance adverbs: manner of speaking. Semantic domains of adverbs in conversation and academic prose ◦Four common adverbs in conversation refer to time and place: here, there, now, and then. These adverbs are deictics – i.e. they make reference to the time and place of speaking.

GRAMMAR BITE D For gradable adjectives, comparative and superlative forms can be expressed with inflections (-er, -est) or as a phrase (with more and most). ◦Length, spelling, emphasis, and other factors contribute to the choice between inflection and phrase. ◦Comparative forms are more common than superlative. ◦The use of both comparatives and superlatives is more common in academic prose than conversation. ◦Inflectional comparison is more common than phrasal. Adjectives which are not strictly gradable (e.g. unique) are nevertheless marked for comparative or superlative degree. Adverbs can also have either inflectional comparison (-er, -est) or phrasal comparison (more, most). Adjectives and adverbs can take six different complement structures that show comparison. ◦1) poorer (than), 2) as deep (as), 3) so calmly (that), 4) so far as (to), 5) too numerous (to), 6) strong enough (to)

General trends for the formation of comparative and superlative adjectives Characteristic of AdjectiveForm of comparative/superlative Examples Gradable adjective of 1 syllableAlmost always inflectionalOlder, youngest Two syllables ending in yOften inflectionalEasier, happiest Three syllables ending in yOften phr., sometimes inf.More unhappy, unhappier Adjectives ending in lyVaries with adjectiveEarlier, most likely Two syll. ending in unstress v.Often inflectionalNarrowest Ending in syllabic r, lOften inflectionalCleverer Ending in –ere and –ureOften phrasalMost sincere Gradable adjectives of 2 s....Often phrasalMore common Other adj. Longer than 2 s.Almost always phrasalMost incredible Adj. ending in derivat. SuffixAlmost always phrasalMost useful -ed and –ing participialsAlmost always phrasalMore bored