The structure of adjective phrases Kuiper and Allan Chapter 7.1.4

Adjective phrase Examples a. quite old b. moderately expensive c. quite moderately long in the arms

Representing the structure of adjective phrases adjective phrase degree adverb adjective quite old adverb phrase

moderately adjective phrase adverb phrase adverb adjective quite degree adverb long prepositional phrase adverb phrase in preposition noun phrase noun determiner the arms

Constituents of adjective phrases Modifiers –adverb phrases (including degree adverbs) e.g. moderately expensive –prepositional phrases e.g. long in the arm

Adjectives in attributive and predicate position attributive position, e.g. the red sky –sequencing restrictions predicate position, e.g. The sky is red.

Application The choice between attributive and predicative adjectives can have an impact on descriptive writing. Look, for example, at the following description of an Icelandic warrior....he was tall, strong, and skilled in arms, even- tempered and very shrewd, ruthless with his enemies and always reliable in matters of importance. from Njal's Saga translated by Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson

Exercise Identify the adjective phrases in the following passage and underline their heads. In other ways he was a very hard man. He was big and rather clumsy-looking, with big heavy bones and long flat muscles, and he had a big, expressionless, broken-nosed face. Yet he moved with surprising ease and silence as well as having a gift for stillness. from A Soldier's Tale by M.K. Joseph

Adverb phrases adverb as head very similar to adjective phrases can together be called AP