Intro: English Language Phrases Professor Sabine Mendes The adjective phrase

Very common in all registers, but less common than noun and verbs. Like nouns, adjectives are more common in news and academic prose than in conversation. The distribution of adverbs is like that of verbs: most common in conversation and fiction. Why?

Because… …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 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 Morphological Inflection Attributive rolePredicative roleDescriptive 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.

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!).

General trends for the formation of comparative and superlative adjectives Characteristic of AdjectiveForm of comparative/superlativeExamples 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